Lookin to buy my first Honda...

[Blstr88]

Hey guys, Im looking to get a 400ex, my first Honda actually, Ive mostly been a Yamaha guy up till now. Anyway Im lookin at a 99 400ex. Is there anything in specific I should check out when I go to see it/test ride it? Anything periodically go wrong with these bikes? Thanks for the info guys, looking forward to riding some red. Thanks.

[81 clark racing]

imop what i would do is check the bearings, look over the hole quad, (check frame for cracks etc) and see if it smokes out the exhaust. if it does it could be that the jetting is off or the rings are buring up in the motor. i THINK that blue smoke means jetting black means rings im not positive on that tho

[redexrider]

I think it is the other way around, blue smoke means rings, because oil is getting into the head and igniting, causing blue smoke, black smoke would be jetting.

[duey]

One thing I would check into, ask the owner if he has serviced the swingarm bearings or removed the pivot bolt lately. I learned the hard way. You might even want to ask the owner to show you the pivot bolt moves. I just bought an '03 which the owner said he rode very little. What he should have said is he serviced it very little because it took me about 10 hours of cutting that pivot bolt out:mad: and $500 for a new swingarm. That and checking the frame and motor would be high priority.

[TANNER250r]

go with honda dont buy the frist one you see
look around for the best deal