carb's if its red, di if its blue/gray
don't quote me on that, but i' think i'm right, too lazy to google it...
it will say on the side if its a DI model, and if it is, i'd recommend against it unless the price is super cheap.
anyway, the 951 is less reliable in general terms than the 787 but that really depends on the maintenance of the previous owner, where it was ridden, proper winterization, oil used, salt/fresh water, properly flushed, and just pure dumb luck...
but with that said, the biggest concern IMO is the crank, a 951 crank pushing 200 hours is beyond my comfort zone. (now,, this could last another 200 hours and 18 months from now you might come back here and tell me i'm an idiot, but my money is on you coming back next spring and saying.. "yip spimmy, you nailed it..., the crank blew at 215 hours, and took the cases with it". in case you don't know, when the crank goes on a 951 it has a much higher chance of blowing a hole right thru the cases than a 787 crank does, which increases your rebuild cost, quite a bit...cases are pricey
let me put it this way... I sold a similar model with 155 hours and the two buyers that were interested and knew a lot about ski's did not want to buy it when i told them 155 hours, the guy that knew diddy about ski's jumped all over it and bought it.
I also looked at a 951 last week with 190 hours, seller says it needed a top end and I said,, "no it needs a top end and a crank..its got 190 hours on it, i'm not running that crank on my personal ski" we never came to a deal on that.
so thats something to think about, or a bargaining chip when buying the ski...
what's the price ?
if it was me, (and i get free labor) i'd buy it, ride it this summer and around october i'd tear it down, inspect & sell the crank as a "good used" 951 crank, then find a POS core and send it in for a rebuilt crank with warranty... put it back together over the winter and come spring you'll have a 951 with a new crank and a nearly new top end... net cost maybe $250 max.... however, if you have to pay labor, now your adding $300-500, and it makes it not cost effective IMO since your paying too much for the "just in case it breaks" worry.
what i'd probably recommend is trying to pay about $300-400 less than you expected based on the age of the crank and see if the seller goes for it... and assuming you can't do the work yourself or with a helper that works for beer, then just ride that ski until she drops and hope for the best, you might get well over 300 hours b4 you have to worry...
if this was a 787 my concerns would be less, 787 cases rarely blow, the cranks seem to last longer and are cheaper, but since this is a 951 my concerns are valid, but really, i only have a 50% chance of being right... it will either happen or it won't...
