Wise to get a bike without title?

Ok, so yesterday I'm driving along with my stepdad and I spot this garage sale going on. After about fifteen minutes of looking around, I spot this 1978 Honda CB360 that's been converted to a cafe racer and it was about 300 bucks; it had some minor problems, like it was missing the tank, the rear wheel needed to be replaced, and it needed some carb cleaner to get all the junk out of the carb and engine. But the biggest issue was that it didn't have a title. So we asked the guy if he had the title to which he replied stating he lost the title 3-years back and hasn't had time to re-title it because he was out of the country (Iraqi/Afghanistan Vet). I then asked him if he could keep the bike for us overnight and we would come back the next day around lunch. Both me and my stepdad have experience with untitled bikes and they have been all good when it came to re-titling them but, my question is, is it even a good idea to buy a bike like this without a title or is it just a waste of time and money?

If he truly had title to the bike and lost it he should be able to get a duplicate without any problems. On the other hand, if he did not actually have the bike titled in his name and you buy it anyway, you may have to jump through some flaming hoops to get the bike titled; it all depends on the rules in your state.

If I was interested in buying the bike (BTW, I would have zero interest in that bike with the work it needs) I would tell the seller to go get a duplicate title before I payed anything for the bike. Otherwise you have no way of knowing if he is BS'ing you about ever having had a title; for all you know the bike could be stolen property. Ed

With the work that thing needs (missing tank, converted to a cafe racer etc) it's a hundred dollar bike, you can easily get a title most of the time, if he had the title (in his name) offer him some cash to get a new title.