It's been a long search but it looks to be coming true now . . .

I will be purchasing a 2014 LS650 this coming Saturday morning.  It has 2500 miles and appears to be in like-new  condition.  Tires are original so probably a bit hard but seller says they have good tread are not cracked yet.   I'm no "Johnny Roadracer" and never ride in the rain anymore, so I will probably ride on the tires for a while.  It's been garaged so that helps a lot with . . . everything.

Here it is . . .

I've ridden bikes with 10 year old tires before.  As long as they aren't cracked I don't worry too much.  But I'm not going to see how far I can lean it over in the curves either.  At 70 yrs old, that kind of riding is far behind me . . .

   At 70 yrs old, that kind of riding is far behind me . . .  

That's a nice looking machine !   Its so "Clean" looking.   And only 2500 miles , Wow !      Keep the idle up past 1000 and it will wast forever .  

I'm almost 67 , and  the older I get the LIGHTER BIKE I want too.    

One of my friends (73 years old) bought a new 1800 G Wing for his old man bike .   First time we helped him pick it up he declared "Man that's a heavy bike" .   He don't even ride the Wing anymore .   He has had an Older Harley Soft-tail  for-ever , so he went back to ridding that.

I've got another friend my age that just bought a G-Wing too , well he has it all figured out   he slows down for curves on the interstate even.  

Most of the other ones have "Trike kits" on their monster bikes as they get older.   So we get out ridding and none of them can/will keep-up.   Sorta frustrating to get on a 'Fun Road" with that bunch.  

My heavy bike has a curb weight of 440 lbs but the LS is still lighter.  

DesertCat wrote on 01/08/20 at 05:54:23:

Check out the tech section, there's older version in there that'll do.

Look at the date code on the tires - just because the bike is a 2014 doesn't mean the tires are.  My 2010 NT700 Honda had tires on it that were made in 2008.

I don't see any big problem in riding your bike for a while with the original tires as long as you aren't planning any long trips or get too aggressive in the corners.  However - the stock tires aren't stellar even when new, and a good set of fresh rubber will improve the ride and handling.  100/90-19 front and 130/90-15 rear sizes will give you the best selection of tire choices.......the stock 140/80-15 is a strange size and most tire companies don't make a tire that size.

Sorry Dave, but the original rear tyre on mine was 140 80 15 from memory, which is a strange tyre. I replaced with 140 90 15 which was suggested on this forum



Yep.....you are correct the stock size is 140/80-15, and that is a weird size that is hard to find....I fixed my post.  Thanks Dave

Well, I bought it.  Yesterday I drove to Phoenix with my trailer and brought it home.  I will be making my first ride today -- I've sat on one before but never ridden one.  I'll let you know in a few hours . . .

I joined this forum 2 years ago, when I first started looking to buy an LS650.  It took a while.

One of the best looking paint scheme years..
Looks really good.
My 02 with the twelve or so years old tires handled much more sure footedly than the 05 off the showroom floor.