Seeking advice on bike purchase

[d3vi@nt]

I've been lurking a long time here, and finally have a question to post to solicit advice.

I'm looking at an '09 696 with less than 300 miles. It's a repo and is being sold on a car lot. They don't know much about bikes, they have no service records and don't know the bike's history. They don't have the owner's manual or the code card, but do have both keys. However, they do have what I'm told is the immobilize code written on an 'SOS Diagnostic' business card. So I'm guessing that they had to send the cluster and a key to SOS for code retrieval.

Does anyone have any experience with repo's and what to look for. I'm guessing if the bike was grabbed, this would explain why they don't have the card and owner's manual, but how did they get the keys? Does this seem fishy?

I didn't know as much at the time of inspection about codes, etc. but I didn't see anything that looked like tampering, parts that were newer/older, fresh screwdriver marks, etc.  The bike starts with the key and the seat lock works. I forgot to check the gas cap lock, though.

In short, I don't know what may have been tampered with and I'm not sure how not having the code card might affect resale value in the future.  I also understand that the immobilizer can be disabled all together. Is this something that would necessarily affect resale value in the future?

Thanks for the help. Just trying to get all my ducs in a row!

[ChrisH]

Remember that not all repossessions occur in the middle of the night via ninja stealth. There are times where the owner willfully gives up the keys. I would imagine this is more likely with a bike given that most bikes sit in garages. Based on the fact that they have both keys, I'd imagine that the owner handed them over and possibly called later with the code, or the dealer provided it perhaps? Of course it always possible that the gauge cluster was sent off to retrieve the code and verify the key pattern, if so no biggie as long as it works.

If it's just got 300 miles on it, and everything looks clean and intact it should be fine. It's not even hit the mileage count for the first service/inspection, although I'd take it in to a duc dealer for a service anyway just to double check. If they are selling this for a fair price, jump on it IMO.

[d3vi@nt]

Thanks for the quick reply. "Ninja stealth" made me laugh.

I'm just a skeptical dude, particularly when dealing with used car lots.  What caught my paranoia was the fact the code was written on an SOS Diagnostics business card. They're located in another state (OR), and do things like pull immobilizer codes, "cluster mileage correction", and lost key replacement.  I just don't know all the ins and outs of keys, codes, cards and ECU's to know if this should raise flags.