First post for me. A little intro: I don't own a Superhawk but looking to buy one (more on that below). I presently own a 1996 Suzuki GSXR 750 that is my daily rider. I've owned 6-7 other bikes in the past, mostly sport bikes. I'm mechanically handy and do all the maintenance on my own bikes.

OK. I am looking at buying a 1998 VTR 1000 (branded Fireblade in Canada, Superhawk in USA). I haven't contacted the owner yet but from the pictures provided, it looks like a stock bike, other than 2 Yoshimura RS-3 exhausts (slip ons I assume). The ad says that the bike has recent chain/sprockets, brake pads, newer rubber, as well as manual cam chain tensions. It appears to be a clean bike - again, I haven't seen it or contacted the owner. The one concern I have is the bike has 145,000 km (90,000 miles) on the clock. There is no mention of the engine being rebuilt so I have to assume it has not. How reliable are these V-Twin engines? Are there known flaws or weak points on the bike that I need to be aware of? The ad says that the bike will soon be due for its valve clearance check/adjustment. I've done shim-under-bucket valve clearance adjustments on my present and previous bikes before so I'm not too worried about that.

In the end, the bike appears to be reasonably priced (considering the mileage), but I thought I'd reach out to the group to get your thoughts on whether it's worth pursuing this, or not.