yet another reason I don't like the thought of buying a bike used.

Just gotta avoid used bikes that suck. :P

I've ONLY purchased used and hardly ever had a problem.
Just gotta know what you want, what you're looking at and who you're buying from.

If I only bought new I wouldn't have been able to purchase half the toys I've owned.

ZX6R - 4300
EX500 (set up to race) - 1500
Aprilia Tuono - 6000
KX250 (set up to race) - 1800
SV650 (set up to race) - 3000

So I've owned 5 motorcycles over the years, all of them used... and I spent a total of 16,600 dollars on them.
Had I bought all of these new & added the aftermarket parts that were on there at the time of purchase myself, I probably would have spent in excess of 30k dollars. Maybe 40.