All other factors held constant (and price), I would any day prefer to buy a bike that has never been in the rain than one that has. Those who claim otherwise must be doing this just to stir up a discussion.
So what about one which is 3 years old and had done less than 100 miles? When I bought my 1198 (new) there was such a bike alongside it.
Unless you personally buy the bike from new, you can never guaranty if it has been in the rain or not
The motivation for my question was to find out if I’m significantly increasing the probability of needing to have remedial work done to keep the bike in tip top condition should I ride my bike in the rain. While I’m still not sure what the answer to that is I think @Ian made a fantastic point that supersedes any concerns I had. Having the bike sit in the garage is not free! I pay tax and insurance to keep it and it’s value is dropping daily regardless of what I do on it. I’d be a fool to not actually use it. I’m putting way more miles on it than I thought I ever would. For a while this bothered me as it’ll be a high mileage bike when I sell it. But now I realise it’s a false economy to TRY to minimise mileage on the bike. End result - I don’t think I’ll ride it that much in winter unless I know I can give it a thorough clean and dry immediately after the ride (weekend blasts maybe). For the rest of the year I’m going to enjoy that bike as much as I can, keep it extremely well maintained, and enjoy every mile on it I can.
Slightly off topic Last three bikes I traded in showed signs that they had been used all year in all weathers and it didn’t affect the deal at all, two were only walked past by the dealer and one was at home when we beat out the figures.. Private sale on a couple of bikes used all year required a deep clean and 50 quid ish on shiny new fixings and I could have got away with the no rain bit easily. ACF 50 and ACF 50 grease smeared on the easily damaged bits, use all winter and deep clean for summer Ride your bikes
Another thing to bear in mind is that during the time that roads are being salted it’s not a good idea the ride even on dry days unless you are prepared to clean your bike properly afterwards , the roads are covered in salt dust and this is kicked up by your tyres and coats the bike, one big benefit of cleaning your bike is you’ll notice any developing problems early, bits coming loose or corrosion starting and be able to act accordingly, I agree with using bikes and not worrying about resale value, life is short and the enjoyment derived from riding surely outweighs the joy of having an extra 1 or 2k at resale? , a multi millionaire mate of mine has Ferrari’s and bikes that he never uses because he doesn’t want to lose value due to mileage, but he’s got millions!, I finally persuaded him to buy a cheap bike (for him) to enjoy 6 weeks ago , an XSR900, he’s loving it, he’s done over 2k miles an describes it as a “new lease of life”, I was too kind to point out that he could have been enjoying that “new lease of life” for the last ten years if he hadn’t been such a twat with his other machines!
I used my Panther in the winter the oil leaks protect against the winter's worst. It's been joined by a Enfield bullet to share the winter riding There's no fancy pants anodised Ali or fasteners made of cheese just good old fashioned steel
Working on my earlier figures were I not to use my bike (sept 16 Panigale) I’d save about £40ish on depreciation. If I hadn’t bought it I’d save it all - but not to feel 200bhp trying to rip my arms off. Simple maths to me, pay it, ride it, enjoy it!
I’ve just been out for a couple of hours and got piss wet through AGAIN. If I never took a bike out when there’s any fear of rain I’d have a garage full of bloody ornaments at present. I did about 80 miles and got soaked for the last 25 or so. The bike is a rain magnet at present! (Tonight’s bike is a 93 Monster by the way.)
ACF 50 it, regularly wash it in the winter and ride it. Just polishing it, looking at it and only riding on dry days would drive me nuts. As for depreciation on the value, spending time worrying about that is just wasted time, better spent riding. You get hit with that (on a new bike) the moment you walk out of the showroom, another hit when the next upgrade/model of your bike appears, and another hit if you put any sort of decent mileage on it. So you might as well stop worrying about all that stuff and use the bike for what its made for and ride it.
Weather at the moment is bloody frustrating, weather forecasts that are usually reasonably reliable aren’t worth looking at, never known it to be so changeable, might move to Spain!
