i found someone selling a 90' kawasaki ex500 for $1k. The left side of the fairing is falling off(broke off from the bracket). The left foot peg is scraped and the clutch lever is scratched, leading me to think its been in an accident. But the fork allignment is ok and isnt leaking. The left turn signal is missing and the guy just bought it from a tow yard. The odometer says 9k miles but i dont know how long its been sitting. No leaks on the motor whatsoever so the motor seems ok, what do u guys think??oh yeah, it has a full yoshimura exhaust and has been jetted...

 

I would not get it. For a little more, you could get a bike that is in good shape. There are plenty around, just look around. Try the cycletrader.com.

 

Did you just eyeball it, or did the guy have them checked out professionally? It's possible for the inner tube to be tweaked enough to throw off your riding, but not be noticable to the eye.

Double check the gas tank and make sure there aren't any punctures or brazing marks where they tried to fix it.

Was this still a street bike? You said the turn signal was missing, was it missing as in, taken off for racing, or broken off from the fall?

In my experience, project bikes generally turn out to be just that, a huge project. For ever 1 thing you can see wrong, there's generally 2 others you can't see. If you can't stomach the thought of spending another $1000 on parts (not saying you will, just worse case), then you probably want to just let it slide.

If you know someone who knows bikes, ask them to take a look over it. It could be a steal, who knows. Worse case, you can get forks off e-bay for $300 if they are tweaked.

My $0.02