[was92v]

If a bike has been crashed (MOST 250s & 500s have been, a little) you can look at handle bar ends and levers for scrapes, engine side covers and the side panels and grab bar sides around the back of the seat. When sitting on the seat compare the angle of the bars to see if they look the same, ie; angle back and down. The bars on an EX500 are not adjustable so if one is angled back or down more than the other, it is bent. Look closely at that side of the bike. With the bike sitting upright, (I believe the EX has a center stand) and the front wheel pointing straight look at the forks from both sides and visually assess that they are vertically straight, as in the same angle from the top to the bottom of the fork. Look down through the top of the fairing, or/and from the bottom up, at the fork stop tabs on the lower triple tree and the frame and make sure they are not deformed or hammered looking where the lower meets the frame. If one side is pounded, look it over closely, if both side are beat up, so is the bike, regardless of how it looks now. If either side is broken or re-welded on it was either stolen, or crashed Really HARD at some point. If you see no damage, it looks good, is clean, chain lubed, starts and runs good, then it probably is good. Test ride it if you can. If a test ride is not allowed, ask the owner if they will start it on the center stand and run it through the gears at a moderate RPM to make sure the transmission and clutch operate ok, and it doesn't smoke or leak. That is really about all you can do. After that it is just a crap shoot.

You can also look at the NE Rally pics of Derf's brother's EX500 and get an idea of where to look for crash damage...