PPI for a bike purchase?

Going to get back into riding, as I now live closer to nice, open roads. Last time I owned a bike and rode regularly was when I was 23, and it was a $500 bike I bought from a friend sight unseen.

The bikes I'm looking at are cruiser-ish (Yamaha V-Star 650 and the like) and in the $2,000-$3,500 range.

I've always done PPIs with cars, so my question is: is it an accepted thing to do when buying a bike? What are typical things to look out for?

TIA for the advice.

I would at least take a friend who know his way around motorcycles. For 2-3k bike, I wouldn't do a PPI but then again I'm a serial bike buyer. Heck, I bought my $10k Harley without having it checked over and that worked out OK, too.

Typical things to check for with bikes - especially in places where you don't ride year round - are:

• Fuel system. On a non-FI bike, they like to gum up the carbs if the bike stands for a while. That can get pretty nasty
• head stock/triple tree bearings. They can get notchy and are annoying to replace. Easy to check on a bike with a center stand (put it on the stand and get someone to lean on the rear so the front wheel comes off the ground, then slowly turn the front wheel from left to right all the way, checking for notchiness), not that easy without a bike lift on a bike with no center stand.
• Swing arm bearings. Again, easy on a bike with a center stand, put in on the stand to get the rear wheel off the ground, then try to move the swing arm sideways. There should be no play.
• General condition and age of the rubber, especially tires. Bikes are toys and often not ridden that much so you're very likely to come across old hard tires with plenty of tread left that chuck you into the scenery at first opportunity
• Go online and look up the known mechanical faults. IIRC the Dragstar/V-Star 650 has been around since about forever and there are fairly few issues with them, but know what they are/can be.
• Be prepared to give it a full going over, especially if it sat for a while.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

+1 for all of that.....while sometimes people don't like "test rides" for obvious reasons, you can always show up on another bike(a friends or whatever would work), and request they go on a short distance ride with you. I've done that once for a friend of mine when I had my SV.