How do you judge hours on a bike?

Same as women. How nice was it before it had an owner, and how's it look now.

Front sprocket wear (most people never think about changing it -even after hundreds of hours on the bike), fork lug wear, bottom of frame wear, swing arm wear (side and bottom), chain guide wear, and abnormal engine case wear/rubbing.  Also worth checking the upper fork tubes as they can get hit with roost and show some wear.

Easiest way is tire rub on rim, peg wear, shifter wear and bottom of frame. But just look at the bike as a unit.. it's easy to see a 10 hour bike vs a 100 hour bike. Condition of fasteners is also a clear giveaway

Things like rubbed clutch cover can happen in less than 3 hours. A front sprocket can be toast, and usually is within 15 hours.

If it's less than 50 hrs - o.g chain and sprockets, o.g brake pads, wear on rear rim from changes.

- if it's older: footpeg wear

I completely disagree regaring tire rub on rim. If you ride wet/moist deep sand you'll have the silver line around the rim within 10 hours in some cases.

I would feel more comfortable buying a bike that has an hour meter installed.  To me, this indicates that the owner is actually performing maintenance on a regular basis, and in this case, they typically have a maintenance log you can see.  Also, if the owner doesn’t have a service manual for a bike, that makes me nervous as well.

Now that  hour meters are so common 100 hrs is like the kiss of death, meanwhile that’s like 2 seasons of use.

5-10 years ago a bike ridden for two seasons wasn’t discounted by 85% but they seem to be now. 100 hour bikes are almost worthless now it seems. Pretty interesting thing I’ve noticed is all.

Just like your girl’s body count. Take whatever number they give you x3.

I always take a close look at the radiators, aswel as checking under the seat

I agree. I like to put 100 hours on a bike before selling because I hate selling bikes. I always give my bikes away for cheap. This bike had 105 hours

Back in the day of steel frames, crushed lower rails and foot pegs sagging & very loose would indicate high hrs… the bikes are built better today. Worn shifter tips, brake pedal tips, brake pads & grooved rotors. I always look for the most stock/ original bike if looking at used. I put a minimum of 100 hrs on all my KtM”s, they hold up very good with basic maintenance. Never have a problem selling them. Avoid any GNCC, hard enduro and hare scrambles bikes…. They are ridden in waist deep mud every race, bikes are hammered. 

Really hard to tell if someone is really good on maintenance and has covers over the side cases and frame to help with boot rub oh and lots of Shout to clean mud. My 350 has 180 hours half of which is hare scramble racing obviously new plastics/graphics every year. 

What bike are you looking at? On my 22 KX I had almost worn through the rear brake master cylinder at 60 hours. 

If the bike is only a year old, have him go in and ask his wife if he can go riding. If she says yes then it probably has 40 hours, if she says no it probably has 10 hours. 

good looking bike man!

Agree, but that's when you also look at the other stuff I mentioned and make an informed decision.

Rears can get rubbed very quick, fronts however can't. If the front has tire rub that bike has 50-70 hours+.

At 10 hours it should have stock chain and sprockets. Maybe pull the frame guards and check for worn paint. Look for where the throttle cables rub the frame.

I'm not a KTM guy, someone else should be able to help you more.

Does this seat cover look familiar?

Ten hours should look basically brand new. Original tires or very very new replacements. Wear on the clutch / ignition cover should be very minimal. Shouldn’t be any wear on the shifter. Chain wear should be very light. No slop in the rear linkage. 

I look at the hour meter, and than all the rider contact points.  The less sexy items that wear out like chain slider, the bolts themselves. Inside the airbox, the heads of the hardware.  Pull some plastic off and look for areas that have been rubbing. Honda 2 strokes used to trap sand on the backside of the shroud and it would get between the plastic and frame and rub grooves into the frame. I've seen similar spots on most bikes. Brake pedal and shifter tips. play in linkage or any bearings.  

Then compare how many hours it has on the meter to what it looks like. If it looks super clean , and has 100 hours on it I figure its been taken care of. 

If it looks rough and the meter says 10 hours. I know she's had a rough life.

I've know local Pro level riders who can ride a bike for 2 hours and it will look trashed. And then some Vet riders who can race an entire season and practice on the same bike , and the bike still looks new. There was a Vet rider who had 500 hours on an RMZ and amazingly the graphics were still in amazing shape. He rebuilt the engine multiple times before the graphics wore out.  

I don't think that just the number of hours on the meter should be considered when buying a used bike. Look at everything as a whole. I used to pull the OEM plastic and seat off my bike when it was new and put it away for when I sold the bike.  Touch up the paint on the engine covers , or  sometimes I would also pull them off when  new and run Hinson covers . And put the stocker's back on to sell.  

Remember back in the day before hour meters? You used your judgment and looked for things that were a tell if they maintained it nicely or treated it poorly. 

Now people are afraid to touch a used bike with 50 hours... Buy a 450 for 10K, sell with for 5k a year later...

I would take cosmic wear with a grain of salt.. you can pretty much disregard case wear, scratches etc. I have purchased brand new bikes and they have looked like 50 hour bikes after the first day in a gritty track. Case finish was completely worn off, frame buffed from boots, scratched plastics etc. 

I wouldn’t trust someones word on hours if they don’t have proof.

People also save stock parts for resale, so it’s really hard to gauge without documentation.

I always start by taking a nice big huff of the gas.

How do yall look at 2 strokes without an hour meter? Ive owned a bunch of them years ago. The 2009 i just bought has a new top end, including cylinder. Runs fine, shifts fine and looks pretty good. I figured if all that checked out , i was good. Probably paid a little too much at 3k , but 150sx is a tough one to find around here in NC.

This is one of my favorite things about the yamaha powertuner app...it has an hour meter on it...so no questions asked.  (Though I've questioned the accuracy of mine over the  past few years...it's a guaranteed installed at new hour meter...and better than looking at wear on the engine cases). 

If I ever buy a used two stroke I'm basically planning on putting at least a top end in immediately. Once apart you can usually tell how its been cared for and rode