Craigslist good deal or no ?

you'd be surprised how many people don't know the year. cheap bike if you want to put some work into it. might be worth it. might not.

"Starts hard"

Bet it has one of those sweet aftermarket powerbands.

Have a lot, and I mean a lot, of spare time? Then hell ya. Otherwise, don't touch that thing..

97-98

looks like a 98, different swingarm

Im goin 98

That bike is only worth like $1500 in good condition. Buying at $850 and then doing a motor for close to $1000 i just dont see it. If youre buying to just ride and not care if it blows up then you can sell it for $500 and take a $350 loss. Youre losing money either way. Id say stay away from it unless you dont care about the business side of it.

the forks dont seem to be leaking.
It wouldn't take a $1000 to fix the motor. At most, a new top end and crank, which you could most likely do yourself. He would probably negotiate on the price.

I paid 400 for a 2001 cr in similar condition, was in about 1500 by then time i went thru everything and had it all tits.

I bought a brand new 1998 RM250, transmission went out after 4-5 rides. Dealer repaired it, and gave me a discount on the bill, made it another 4-5 rides before it went out again. I fixed it myself the second time and traded it in.