What immediately throws you off when looking for a used bike?

When they promote it as “never raced”. Typically the bikes that aren’t raced are owned by individuals that have no idea what they’re doing for maintenance.

Also people who post dirty photo’s of the bike for their advertisement. If the bike is also on a homemade stand i.e a milk crate, piece of wood, etc that is a big red flag.

Background.The stuff in the background can tell you a lot of things if you know what to look for in my experience.

If it’s blue, says Yamaha or has a 51 sticker on it.

Black plastic, painted frames, painted wheels, and cut seat foam!

When they say they put a 250 powerband in their CR85.

Bald tires, beat plastic, dirty pics, never raced, trail ridden. I just look for lack of maintenance clues. If it's a craigslist add talking about how insanely fast it is, stay away.

The words "vet ridden" seem to usually get you a decent bike.

Most people will elaborate pretty good if you ask them how long they have been riding. I would stay away from inexperienced riders bikes.

Metal Mulisha stickers or a bunch of non-moto related stickers on the front and rear plates (like rock/punk/metal bands).

Also having all the energy drink brands logos on one the same bike, that screams cero maintenance to me.

Front brake line routed on the wrong side of the fork puts the seller’s wrenching abilities into question.

Paddle tire on it.

Front rim is diff from the back.

Lever position

Spelling mistakes on adverts. Especially when they can't even correctly spell the model of bike they are selling!

"Wheelies in every gear"
" Faster than my cousins Camaro"

This, and never raced, dirty pictures of bike

I hate when people post pictures of bikes for sale that are covered in dirt and even mud.

Then they get all mad when you low ball them on their DRZ125 that’s never seen an ounce of maintenance. Clueless owners think their stuff is worth its weight in gold.

Any mention of "Mint" in the first few sentences when clearly by your picture you don't know how to clean a bike.

When the post says bike needs nothing but the picture says it needs everything.

Lost title or bill of sale only.

Agreed. Only exception for me is older bikes (70s, 80s, and 90s bikes).

Leaning against the wall or something in the backyard.

Black swingarm. When the seller justifies his dirty bike saying, "It's dirty because it's a dirt bike!"
Asking 3k for a clapped out 1998 yz125...

Any four stroke over $1000.

floppy footpegs

-Paddle Tire
-Anything repaired incorrectly (non-factory bolts, mismatched plastic, anything that looks like it was a trailside repair that never got fixed).
-187, 420, 911, etc on the number plates...
-no title/bill of sale
-anyone who won’t meet at a police station or other public place for the sale
-anyone who advertises “fresh rebuild” unless they can show receipts for a professional shop. I’d rather buy a bike with runout engine that’s never been opened up. At least I know that some booger eater hasn’t used a screwdriver as a case splitter and a Stanley 12’ tape as a feeler gauge.

'First to see will buy'....

Bad description of the bike.

When they put the bike as a certain year, when it is clearly one or two generations previous to that. Drives me bonkers.

Bolts showing wear, like the wrong wrench used on them.
Mismatched bolts.
Sloppy levers.
Sagging foot pegs.

Paw Paw