One of the best things about moto-YouTube is that there are so many different flavors of channels out there. You want a timelapse series of an expert doing a really nice, ground-up restoration of a bike? Cool. You want a mad engineering genius who builds a crossplane scooter engine out of thumper scraps? No problem.
You want a gifted mechanic who's clearly good at teaching people, and doesn't mind sharing his tips (good and useful tips, too) in approachable, extremely user-friendly, practical videos? The Bearded Mechanic has entered the chat! Or hopefully your YT queue, at the very least.
This time around, he's putting both his ace vintage Japanese bike mechanic and his dadding skills to good use. As you'll know if you have—or have ever been—a kid, they tend to grow pretty quickly, so they're constantly outgrowing everything. Not just foods and flavors they like, but shoes. Clothes. Bicycles. And, of course, dirtbikes, if you give them one. While that means there are lots of used, child-size dirtbikes on offer in your area on Facebook Marketplace, how are you supposed to know what's legitimately a good deal, and what's not?
That's what Craig—the Bearded Mechanic—wants to help you evaluate in this video. And it's super helpful.
Now, TBM might have some things that you don't. You might have more or less wrenching experience on these types of bikes than he does, or you might have more or fewer tools/workspace options. You also may or may not happen to have an entire spare parts bike sitting in a back room that matches the used bike you're potentially buying for your kid. There are a lot of variables to consider!
Still, the basics are the same, and what it mainly comes down to is your ability to separate your emotions from your practical ability to evaluate the bike's true state before you buy it. Does it have spark? Will the seller let you do a compression test? What kind of details can the seller give you about the bike and the life it's lived? If it's running and you can test it, great; but if it's not, can you identify why it isn't running? Does the engine turn over?
Depending on your level of experience and confidence in evaluating the state of the bike, gathering all that information can help you decide whether the bike in question, at its current price, is worth your time and effort. It's even better if you have a rough idea of what kinds of parts you might need to fix the issues with the bike, as well as how available they are (and what they'll cost you).
A bike like this little XR80 is cool because Honda made it for a long time, and there are a lot of them (and a lot of parts) out there. But if it's a different bike, and it has more parts that are unobtainium, that could change your math considerably.
This might not just be the kind of video you watch once. It's such a good resource, and it's absolutely brimming with useful and sensible tips about used bike evaluation and fixing of common issues. You might want to save this one after you watch it, as a resource you can consult in the future as needed.
Especially because it's spring, and those of us who live in places that get winter are totally itching to get outside right now. Tuck this one in your back pocket and save it for review next time you're going to eye up a new-to-you-bike, whether it's for your kids or not.
