Bought a Motorcycle Without a Roadworthy - KTM 790 Adventure in Kingston
I inspected this KTM 790 Adventure in Kingston today. The owner had just bought it with only 15,000km on the clock. No roadworthy. He was keen to get it sorted quickly so he could ride it over the long Easter weekend.
It failed for leaking fork seals and oil-contaminated front brake.
No riding this Easter
You can see the oil on the fork tube in the second photo. The seal had been leaking long enough for fork oil to run down onto the front brake disc and pads. A brake soaked in oil doesn’t grip. On a motorcycle, where the front brake does most of the stopping, that’s not something I can overlook.
The owner was understandably unhappy. He begged me to pass it. I get it – new bike, long weekend, mates are waiting. But I can’t pass a motorcycle with a brake full of oil. It’s not safe for the rider and it’s not safe for anyone else on the road.
This is what happens when you buy without a roadworthy
The bike looked great. Low kilometres, clean, no obvious problems to the untrained eye. But underneath, the fork seal was already failing and the brake was compromised.
The seller got his money and walked away. The buyer is now stuck with a failed roadworthy, a repair bill for fork seals and brake components, and a long weekend without a ride.
If the seller had provided a roadworthy, this issue would have been found before the sale. Either the seller would have fixed it first, or the buyer would have known about it and negotiated the price down. Instead, the buyer paid full price for a bike that wasn’t roadworthy and now has to cover the repair costs on top.
A roadworthy is only a basic safety check
It’s important to understand what a roadworthy does and doesn’t cover. A roadworthy inspection checks minimum safety requirements – brakes, tyres, lights, suspension, steering, and so on. If the bike meets those minimums, it passes.
It does not cover the overall mechanical condition. It doesn’t tell you about engine health, transmission condition, clutch wear, or how long things will last. A bike can pass a roadworthy and still have expensive problems waiting around the corner.
A pre-purchase inspection goes further
If you’re spending serious money on a used motorcycle, a pre-purchase inspection is a smarter move than relying on a roadworthy alone. A pre-purchase inspection covers everything in a roadworthy plus the general mechanical condition of the bike – unusual noises, fluid conditions, chain and sprocket wear, overall assessment from an experienced mechanic.
If I had done a pre-purchase inspection on this KTM before the sale, I would have found the leaking fork seal and the contaminated brake. The buyer could have used that information to negotiate the price down, asked the seller to fix it before completing the sale, or walked away entirely and found a bike he could actually ride on Easter weekend.
Local Roadworthys offers mobile pre-purchase inspections for motorcycles from $200. I come to wherever the bike is – the seller’s house, a dealer, a car park – and go through it before you hand over your money. With over 10,000 inspections done, I can give you an honest opinion on what you’re about to buy.
