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Delhi is full of used superbikes waiting to be sold. However at your budget i dont see alot of clean examples in terms of documentation and/or condition filtering through. All the legal litre class bikes in india touch over 13 lakhs ex showroom. i dont see them depreciating over 50% of their value in 2 to 3 years. You are probably looking at 06/07 models. Now a bike over 5 years old could have seen alot of action. its always a gamble . get in touch with a few dealers. bittu suzuki in lajpat nagar is one. he will have access to bikes you are looking at. however , all i would say is proceed with caution. You need to search around , ask bike owners and generally scan the classifieds. Its a tedious process but then again thats the only way of getting about it. unless you know someone who has a superbike who is selling buying used could be dicey and its better to take all precautions. lastly , you need to increase your budget if you looking at clean examples. i am not saying you l ll not find the bike you looking for in your budget hell i know someone selling a 06 gen 1 busa for 6 odd but a budget of 7/8 will get you indian invoiced bikes easily.

Thanks for the response bigron....So as recommended I will increase my budget to the 6-7 range (Unfortunately shifting it any more would mean I would have to live on the superbike) Also while I am fine with a '06/'07 model, I wonder if there are many with clean papers.

I will look into the Bitto Suzuki lead this weekend itself

Well I am being offered a Gen 1 Busa ('06) and was wondering if any of the experienced superbikers/ busa riders would have some time this weekend to help me check out the bike. Do let me know as any help would be appreciated. The particular busa is white and has run about 13000 kms, with ads on most of the websites, if any of the xBhpians know any more details about this ride, then that would be appreciated as well

Did you get a quote? If Yes, can you please share?

Same here

Even I m searching for busa around 5 to 6 lakhs .
Contact me 9981355555

Hey buddy , its good to see you that you are jumping over to sbk range. But I have few points to discuss over here. The Busa that you are being offered has been ridden too much that means that some or other parts either has been changed or will be changed (small parts), secondly if you spend all the money on the bike you will have to think again for riding gears and the servicing.
Try this group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sbkclsfd/ to get better deals.
IMO rather than spending so much for an old litre class, you could get a post 2007 600cc easily and honestly supersports will quench your thirst.

Coming to the mechanics, yes Bittoo Sir is there, alongwith that KRP (Kaulson Racing ...... GO !!!!!!!!!!!! For KRP) have also vast knowledge and network when it comes to the bikes that are doing rounds for sale. My friend gets his 600RR serviced from him and trust me, we both trust him. Even KRP can get OEM parts for you, have a word with them and you will know, even meet them and let them know about the busa that you are offered, they could give you the entire history of the bike.

All the best.

Well the update so far is as follows –
1. Bittoo didn’t pan out as they have a 2011 Hayabusa and 2012 Gixxer for sale both in high 10+ range. So no vehicles right now
2. The Gen 1 Busa I was being offered was for 6.5 but the owner is unresponsive when I ask for the paperwork ( I promised to even pay for the scanning). So I am gonna assume that the paperwork is not right
3. Have been offered another Gen 1 Busa for 5.5 but owner says partial duty paid (which means CKD = grey market)
4. Lastly I was offered a grey market 2008 R1 for 7lacs. At least in this case the dealer was kind enough to let me know it was a grey market piece. He also has a 2008 R1 indian invoiced, low mileage (4500 km), 2 owners for 8.5 so if anyone has that much of a budget, drop me a line and I will give you the contact details

@Prateek: I know that the 600cc should be enough for a quick zip but the problem is the market for them seems to be even worse than that for the litre class bike. Given the <800 cc regulations a large number of them appear to be grey market compared to litre class where there are atleast some good eggs

Lessons learnt so far –
Indian invoiced bikes are mostly from 2008 onwards and the pricing on them is 8.5 and up (Atleast what I have seen so far)
Pre-2007 means wear and tear but the bigger concern is paperwork, since wear and tear will damage your wallet but potentially not as much as a grey market piece
Used SBK market is definitely a long haul thing, so you potentially have to wait for a while before even a decent piece comes your way

Well so I continue my search and will keep updating the thread as I find more lemons or lemonade

@ prateek.- 13000 kms is hardly any mileage on a superbike. At that stage , it has gone over couple of tyre changes , spark plugs once and regular service. Nothing else needs change. You could look at the brake pads but they should be fine. I say this coz my busa has covered 17000 kms in 1 year and apart from the above mentioned i dint touch anything , no throttle body sync , still on ebc pads i changed from day 1 , clutch and r]brake bleeding once maybe but thats about it. If the bike has been regularly serviced it does not need any other attention. At 13000 kms the engine has only just started settling down.

@bigron : Yeah I meant the tyres, and the plugs and the brake pads. These machines are built to last long. I was just asking the ts to look for a sbk with less kms on the odo

I would recommend you to go for second hand bike only and only if the owner is your known person.

I have also been through all these second hand bike search process 2 years back and managed to get hold of 2 bikes ( one CBR 600R and other busa) but eventually i had to dop my plans as I was not sure about there paperwork and the bike reliability.

Then i decided to buy a new bike and still waiting , I will buy triumph as soon as it is launched .

After 2 year my budget is now increased from 6 to 8 lacs , but i will now buy a brand new bike only.


Don't go for second hand super bike , Buy a new one and rest in peace for whole life.

So my search has ended with my purchase of 2008 R1, but thought I will post my learning’s for the benefit of other users.

Step 1: Decide the type of bike you want – Legal vs. Grey
This may sound counterintuitive but based on my experience in trawling through dealers, online classifieds, forums and Facebook groups, it is not the budget which decides the type of bike you get, but more your insistence on a legal bike or a grey market import…. So if you decided on a grey market bike (read the section titled Grey Market) else if you want a legal bike (read the section titled Legal Bikes)

Grey Market
G1: So you want a grey market bike, and your budget is 5-6 lacs, there are a plethora of options for you. The most common grey market bike in this range that I was offered was the Gixxer (pre-2010 editions), R1 (pre-2009 editions) and the occasional Busa (pre-2007 editions). Strangely there don’t seem to be many Kawasaki’s Zx10R’s in the grey market at all while the Honda Fireblade seems to command a premium, so that even within the grey market there are none that I could see for less than 8 lakhs. While I personally would not advice the purchase of a grey market bike given the hassles with insurance and the risk to yourself as well as others in the case of an accident. But if you still want to go ahead with a SBK purchase then a fully loaded Gixxer 2010 edition for 5.5– 6.5 is not a bad start

Legal Bikes:
Point 1: For a budget of below 6 lakhs the only option is to buy a brand new Ninja 650, Hyosung 650 or 2011 Harley Iron 883. Not to say that there aren’t any clean bikes at all in this range. But the problem is for 6-6.5 lakhs you will only get a 2006 or older model. The 1^st problem with this is that there are no Indian invoiced bikes in 2006, so you are definitely looking for a DRI cleared or Duty paid bike. The most common one around India for this range is the Busa, but the harsh reality is that a lot of these are on fake papers, which sometimes even the owner may not be aware of (happened with one of the bikes I was offered where the seller was the second owner and assumed that he had all the paperwork). The Indian Govt also doesn’t help us in this regard as there is no real way to check the DRI history online (If I am wrong about this, I do apologize but I haven’t come across any method). So where does that leave you?

Point 2: Well if I have disappointed your superbike ambitions with Point 1 then I apologize but it’s the truth, the real starting budget for a legal SBK is 8 lacs (7 for a R6 but there are so few clean ones, that they seem to be strangely overpriced, I was offered one for 7.9 when I could get an R1 for 8.25).

Point 3: If your budget is 8-9 lacs then you are in the right price range for an 08 R1 (the 09 is priced higher due to its cross plane technology, but personally I like the 08 R1 better, but then again maybe I am just biased). The odo for these bike usually is around 10k – 20k kms which is decent for a 3-4 year old SBK. Specific pricing usually depends on a combination of the color scheme, aftermarket parts and mileage done.

Point 4: For 9-10 lacs, the markets open up to the cleaner 2009/2010 versions of the Fireblade, R1 and the Busa and above 10 lacs should get you the latest toys in the arsenal to play with

Overall Buying Advice:
Point 1: Talk to the world: Start talking to people…a good place to start is Facebook. The group “Superbikes Classifieds” is a good starting point for you to understand the pricing in general and also to meet some of the wheeler-dealers in the marketplace. Also look to the Facebook page of your local SBK groups (Delhi has G.O.D.S, Goa has G.E.A.R.S and so on, so forth…) These local SBK groups will help you get contacts of members who are trying to sell their bikes and if you are nice enough, will also tell you how the vehicle has been used by the owner.

Point 2: Avoid the online classifieds: Avoid olx, quickr and other online classifieds (as they have more scams than actual classifieds). Also avoid giving out your phone no on these sites if you are hunting for superbikes (I had 42 calls in 2 days after putting up my ad from people wanting to buy bikes from me, rather than the other way around…Lesson Learnt). Do understand that a superbike owner who is looking to sell his bike is not screening a million ads looking for people; it’s usually the other way around

Point 3: Dealers are not always the bad guy: The superbike community in India is still pretty niche and the market is still in its nascent stages, which means dealer do command a premium here for their networks. But do understand that this is not always a bad thing, a dealer can usually open doors to places and connect you to people that you don’t know. This does not mean you buy the 1^st bike he points out, but it just means that in your effort to save that 5-10k in commission fees, you may lose out on a better sale somewhere else, and when spending in excess of 5 lakhs, spending that little extra to look at 2-3 more bikes is always a good thing

Point 4: Be polite in your transactions: While I am not trying to preach here, but there will always be instances where you think the owner is quoting an unreasonable figure, but do look at it from his standpoint. He probably believes that is what the value of his dream is (which probably includes the cost of all the aftermarkets he put on there, the care and attention he paid to it, or he just loves the exact note that this engine makes). Since there is no fixed pricing for the SBK market, the pricing can seem it haphazard sometimes. My advice in this case is to suggest buying the bike as stock (i.e., offering the seller an oppty to sell his add-on aftermarkets separately and giving you a discount in the pricing for the same). While not all aftermarket parts can be easily sold, exhausts seem to have the largest market, followed by pazzo levers, etc… The reason why I stress on the importance of being polite is that the community of SBK riders is very small, and most of them tend to ride together, so if you earn a bad reputation with one, it will tend to follow, on the other hand the reverse is also true, so if you are polite enough, a seller may not agree with you budget but may give you the contact of a fellow rider whose ride may fall a little better in your budget

Point 5: Always, Always, Always get the bike serviced as soon as you take possession, if possible have the owner drop it off at the service station directly. This would help you avoid any unnecessary niggles in the future. Believe me you would end up paying the price otherwise

Well that’s all I had I apologize for the serious long-winded post but wanted to put everything that I have learnt from my experiences so that someone else does not repeat my same mistakes. And if all my pessimism has driven you down, then I hope the picture of my new ride should cheer you up.(Well, atleast it cheered me up quite a bit J .Just a side note, the other bike in the background is my Pulsar 220, the poor thing already feels neglected J ). Now I should be off to pick up some riding gear and learn how to ride so that I can join the ‘liter-high’ club as well

Thanks sandman,your post helped me a lot..

Glad that it did, I posted it here on xBhp so people like me who are on the hunt for the deal of a lifetime...now exactly what they are getting into :P