Life of motorcycle motor 100,000km?

[SMOKEU]

'97 Subaru Forester 2 litre Turbo, 302,000km.

Not on the original rings though

[ducatilover]

There are so many variables to consider when talking why an engine will last xxxxxxkm I find it silly. Manufacturing quality, average operating speed, temp, oil/coolant temp/pressure etc etc maintenance.......
I have seen little CBR250RR's go around the clock, my BROS650 had around 129km or so when I purchased it. Clutch was slipping but it had a hard life.
I had an 89 Mazda familia with 377km on the clock, abused little 1300cc family car, only died when I put it into a VN commonwhore.

Yeah, too many variables.

[SARGE]

Just been thinking about what sort of motorcycle motor "generally" gives the longest life before it start needing bearings, rings and a good old overhaul.

Interested to hear from those oldies with genuine mileage, as to how far their bike engines have taken them, free of trouble.

i bought my first bike in NZ when i got here .. it was an 84 Yamaha FJ1100R .. had 200394 km on it when i got it ( documented).. when i parted it out .. had well over 300k on it and i understand the engine is still running in another FJ1100 in the Tron


i personally never had the engine apart and the previous owner claims just regular service since new


only reason i got rid of it was i bought Spooky and the fairings / etc on the old one were thrashed

[insomnia01]

Brought me BB 3+ yrs ago with 42000 on the clock, I'm currently sitting on 132580km & still going strong I would suggest she has heaps of life in her yet. Sticking to regular service intervals helps I'm sure

[Blackbird]

Brought me BB 3+ yrs ago with 42000 on the clock, I'm currently sitting on 132580km & still going strong I would suggest she has heaps of life in her yet. Sticking to regular service intervals helps I'm sure

Yep, I know of one or two Blackbirds in the UK and States with over 200,000 MILES on the clock with nothing more than a cam chain tensioner replacement. As someone else said, provided they've been looked after, it's hard to stress a big engine.

[Eddieb]

Not on the original rings though

Yes.

Not the original turbo though.

[MarkW]

My 1981 Suzuki GS450 went past 100,000km with no major work required;

Then I put over 70,000km onto an RG500 with only a replacement set of rings. This bike did two years AMCC Clubman racing and a summer trip through Death Valley when the temperature guage didn't get lower than one needle width below the red for a couple of hours. As well as being used as my (not very economic) transport.

My 600cc Honda Revere had over 145,000 MILES on the odometer when I sold it. A top end overhaul (replace the rear cylinder exhaust valve, new cam chains and rings) was completed at 100,000 miles and the waterpump died at 125,000.

My current D'eauville is just about run in at 67,000km and I have every intention of keeping this for 200,000km.

Regular servicing, sensible riding (and maybe a bit of luck) and modern motors run for a very long time.

[vifferman]

A mate in Hamilton had a 91 GSXR-1100 a few years ago, at 100,000km he got the shop to have a look inside, the only wear they could see was the a tiny amount on the right most camlobes, they reckoned it was from warming it up on the sidestand each morning, that was the highest point in the motor so the last to get oil.

This is a common habit for many owners, many of whom brag about how well they treated their engines, always fully warming them up before going on the road. Unfortunately, it doesn't circulate the oil as well as riding them does.
There's some evidence that camchain tensioner failure on VTR1000s may be due to excessive idling while leaned over on the sidestand.

[vifferman]

The Honda V4 configuration (750-800cc ) I have heard offer very high mileages before any trouble occuring.

Yeah, there's many guys in Mrka with over 100,000 miles on their VFRs, but the record seems to be held by a courier rider in London, who got a total of over 850,000 miles on two VFRs.

[danchop]

one of my uz125 suzukis down in the garage has done 86000kms with only one plug change and regular oil/filter changes,and was literally thrashed daily,its not going now cause the drivebelt came to bits on the motorway

[Bass]

I read an item that came from a report on the 2008 Australian Ulysses AGM.

The author got talking to a member there who had bought an R100 BMW on the day he retired in (I think) 1991 and set out to do some riding. In fact he set out pretty often.
In 2007, when the bike clocked over 500,000 km, he decided that it might be time to replace it and so he went shopping. He could find nothing that he liked - everything he saw was too complicated for someone who liked to do their own maintenance.
So he spent the money on getting the R100 completely rebuilt to near new specs and now he's busy working on the second half million km.

[insomnia01]

Yep, I know of one or two Blackbirds in the UK and States with over 200,000 MILES on the clock with nothing more than a cam chain tensioner replacement. As someone else said, provided they've been looked after, it's hard to stress a big engine.

I changed my CCT purely to tick off "another must do" before it gets to noisey down there

[insane1]

theres a few 650 burgman scoots in the states with over 90,000 miles on them ones just had a over haul .

[scott411]

we have a customer with a 01 ZRX1200 that he brought new, he has done 155000km on it, with only basic servicing, at 115000km it did need the valves being reshimmed,

he also brought a 07 VN1600 that he did 40000km on, all this with no motorcycle liceince, (he is about 75 and when he gets pulled up the cops let him off)

[Naki Rat]

Yeah, there's many guys in Mrka with over 100,000 miles on their VFRs, but the record seems to be held by a courier rider in London, who got a total of over 850,000 miles on two VFRs.

The warm-up period accounts for most wear so if an engine is permanently at or close to running temperature the expected life will be far greater. I've been in Commodore/Falcon taxis that have more than 500,000kms on the clock and I've heard that long haul trucks that are run non-stop for weeks on end (driver out/driver in) return engine live well over the million km mark.