Buying a motorcycle in Seattle

Posted May 30, 2002

This is a subject that seems to come and go around me, so I thought I'd put together a collection of links and descriptions that may help with buying a motorcycle in Seattle.

General

First, some generic stuff, and some links that aren't specifically dealers:

  • How to evaluate a used motorcycle - A good, long description of what to look for when looking at a used bike. Read this one before you get out to the seller's house.
  • Motorcycle Online review archive - Motorcycle Online is a pretty cool online-only magazine, and this is their archive of bike reviews.
  • SoundRider's website - SoundRider is a Puget Sound area motorcycle website. Some interesting articles, dealer links, classifieds, etc.

National sites

These are a few national listing services (and even international, really), and you can go through them looking for local bikes, or the perfect bike that you're willing to travel to acquire. (Note: never ever buy a used vehicle that you haven't seen yourself -- it's not worth the hassle, I know!)

  • IBMWR Marketplace - The Internet BMW Rider's club maintains this excellent classified listing service, but it's BMW-specific.
  • CycleTrader - CycleTrader has many thousands of motorcycles/ATVs/jetskis listed most of the time, and they have a handy geographical limiting search.

Local dealers

These are a few of the local motorcycle dealers. I'm sure I don't have all of them. They all have both used and new bikes, and dealers tend to carry their own brand of used bikes more than other brands.

  • University Honda - Up on Capitol Hill, these guys are really nice, but it's nearly impossible to get a testride, since Capitol Hill is such a crappy place to drive.
  • Ride West BMW - This is my BMW dealer of choice, since my favorite parts person moved here from Cascade (now defunct).
  • Cycle Barn - I'm not personally very fond of Cycle Barn, mostly for their sales practices. But it's a fabulous place to go look at a bunch of different brands: Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Triumph, Harley, and Buell, at least. They also have a large used bike department.
  • Aurora Suzuki - I don't know much about them, but they're on about 67th and Aurora north of downtown, right by Greenlake. They seem to have a decent used selection any time I've looked, although their used section hasn't been updated recently.
  • Moto International - Seattle's only Moto Guzzi dealer, and very pleasant people. I almost bought a Le Mans from them until I discovered I don't fit on them. They generally don't list used bikes on the website, and don't usually have many to choose from (they sell too fast). Used Guzzis are hard to find around here.
  • Eastside Harley-Davidson - I'm pretty sure there are other Harley dealers in the area, but this is the only one I could think of. I'm not personally very interested in Harleys, so I haven't paid a lot of attention to the scene.
  • I-90 Motorsports - I've never actually been to this dealership, but it's another mega-dealership, like Cycle Barn. They sell multiple brands of new bikes, and almost certainly have a large used selection.

Conclusion

That's my list for now. If you know of a dealer I should really put on here, please email me and let me know.

Created by Ian Johnston. Questions? Please mail me.