Is this a Good Deal?

[New2GZ]

sorry for the late reply

[blaine]

The petcock is the valve that is located on the bottom of the tank on the left side.It controls your fuel to the carb.
:2tup:

[New2GZ]

^^ is petcock = choke?

thnaks

[Strelok]

New2GZ~

Your Petcock is for adjusting your Fuel.
It has 3 settings for your Gas for normal use
or Reserve when your Main Tank is getting to empty.
One more setting has to do with the Bike being unused.
This is located on the left underneath your Gas Tank itself.

Your Choke is a plastic lever on your left handlebar that is used
to give more Gas to your Engine for starting it. This is especially
helpful if the Bike has been sitting or when you have really cold weather.
You must pull in the Clutch when using the Choke and starting the Motorcycle.

[mrlmd1]

Download the owner's and service manuals on here and READ THEM. There are operating instructions which you must know if you are unfamiliar with a motorcycle, and oh yes, if you are new to this sport and have not ridden before, TAKE AN MSF COURSE for your own safety. Then you'll be a member here a lot longer.

[burkbuilds]

You stated that you are a complete newbie in your first post. I would not recommend trying to roll start the bike if you don't have any experience riding. If you do and it does start, you could find yourself in a very dangerous situation unexpectedly. If the bike was tuned and running 8 months ago, I'd ask your friend if he'd reimburse you for the cost of a new battery if the bike still won't start after you install one, drain out the old gas and put new gas in and give it a shot. If you can't get it to run, walk away from the deal. If it will start, $1500 is not a bad price for a low mileage bike in relatively good condition, it's not the bargain of the year, but not bad. Tires on a 2008 should still be fine and if the only other problem is some minor surface rust on the chrome, not bad.

[mrlmd1]

You said, "the guy said that the bike got tune-up on november 2010 and had never been ridden since it got tune up. so i assumed the carb was not gummed up".

I assume the bike was started and maybe ridden home after that, so there was gas in the carb, and if it has been sitting in there for 6-7 months, it could very well be gummed up. The volatile stuff in the gas slowly and eventually evaporates, leaving you with a thicker gooey residue which does not burn well if at all, may actually get solid (called "varnish"), and plugs up the jets in the carb. So it very well may need to be cleaned out, despite what he did in Nov. That's called "Atrophy of Disuse", borrowed from the medical profession. You may get lucky with some carb cleaner, or it may need to be taken apart and mechanically cleaned out, even if he had it done back in Nov., and a carb cleaning is generally not part of a tune up..