How many km is too many?

[mowgli]

This is perhaps a dumb question but I really can't think of a better way to find out the answer.

I've been looking around the second hand market at bikes - VTR1000, SV650S, SV1000S, ER6 and VFR800. If these were cars then I'd be interested in cam belts at 100k and expecting things might be getting a bit loose from about 150k onwards. How many kms can a sport bike do before you start to think it's getting on a bit?

Obviously service history and presentation will play an important part in deciding what state a bike is in. But how many km's before road bikes start to need significant parts replaced?

Cheers,
Rob

[homer]

depends on the bike , just my opinion but any bike fully serviced all the time and not a jap import , maybe 100 000km is to high , if its a bmw or a gold wing 100 000 km is stuff all .
the price will relate to this .
if your not looking for to expensive then say a 4 - 6 year old bike for maybe $ 7 - 9 k with say 35000km up to 55 000km will be a good buy .
but theres a lot of exceptions .
check out what extras you get , or more like dont get
when i got my bike the 30000km on the clock was more than i wanted . 2 times more actually , but the 10 000km on others was good but no bag rack or after can , or hugger ,

all i wanted to do was get the bike and then soon trade up to new , now not so sure , maybe just keep what i got .
just my opinion anyways
you need to TEST ride what you think you like
dont think you want a ???? and then buy it , you may find its not at all what you thought.

[McJim]

I had a limited budget last time I bought a bike. Bought one with 37,000km on it. Still have the bike although it had a few problems arising from neglect which are now repared and it's done 50,000. I'll expect another 50,000 out of it too.

[trumpy]

My Speed Four has done just over 40,000 km's with no (touch wood) mechanical issues so far, in fact I'm still on the original chain and sprockets and there's another few thousand K's left in those as well.
I am rather anal about servicing though so oil and filter gets changed regularly, chain well lubed etc. also I'm a slow old fart so the bike is probably under stressed. Devil has done over 60,000 k's on his and is still going strong.
Find a bike that has had a mechanically sympathetic owner and mileage becomes less of an issue.

[backinthesaddle]

This is perhaps a dumb question but I really can't think of a better way to find out the answer.

I've been looking around the second hand market at bikes - VTR1000, SV650S, SV1000S, ER6 and VFR800. If these were cars then I'd be interested in cam belts at 100k and expecting things might be getting a bit loose from about 150k onwards. How many kms can a sport bike do before you start to think it's getting on a bit?

Obviously service history and presentation will play an important part in deciding what state a bike is in. But how many km's before road bikes start to need significant parts replaced?

Cheers,
Rob

Spend a bit of time looking, Trade me is good for this. My advice is that any 1000cc plus jappa or BMW should give you a good deal more mileage if they've been well maintained. Personally I would try to buy something at/under 30,000kms & about 5years old or less. This should put you in a reasonable price range & give you good value for money if you buy right.

[homer]

all serviced regular , i woulnt expect to touch a motor till even 130 000km and even then i dont see why i should have to .

[homer]

Spend a bit of time looking, Trade me is good for this. My advice is that any 1000cc plus jappa or BMW should give you a good deal more mileage if they've been well maintained. Personally I would try to buy something at/under 30,000kms & about 5years old or less. This should put you in a reasonable price range & give you good value for money if you buy right.

yeah thats a good bit of advice , for any bike buyer .
today engines arnt like engines of early times , oils are buy far more superior
id go with as new as you can get over all and sacrifice a bit of mileage

[Dino]

IMHO I would try to stick to something under probably 50 000kms, but having said that I think how the bike is serviced and looked after is far more important.

This is taken from a forum in the States, probably the extreme -

he was a motorcycle courier in LA- he had an early 2003 SV1000S with over 200,000 miles, many city miles..

.

[wharfy]

My Hornet 900 has done 83,000 HARD k's and has never missed a beat. I got it new and changed oil and filters on a regular basis. Of course some people will say it is not a REAL sportsbike, but its close enough for me :-)
But the engine is only part of it, suspension brakes, clutch, bearings paint - high K's takes its toll on all of them. So how many K's is to many ? - depends :-)

[Harry the Barstard]

When i first got my full licence i had a 1992 ZXR750 for $5K. when i was in a better finacal situation i replced her with an 05 zx6rr. The ZXR750 had 80,000kms the day i sold her. All she had was a was a hint of tappet noise starting. Went bloody well and still regret selling her, i wish i could have kept her and upgraded. Now im sad

[Pumba]

Well here is a SV on trade Me that has done 160,000km with not to many issues if the owner is to be believed, personally the less km's the better, I would be aiming for about the 30,000km mark, probally up to 50,000km of course all dependaent on how the bike has been serviced and what records are avaliable. Above that (dependant on age)I would be expecting a reduced purchase price to make up for the consumables (clutches etc) that may be starting to get towards the end of there life.

[slowpoke]

If you are interested in a particular bike then jump on an associated internet forum (R1-forum.com, Gixxer.com, BMW-CardiganWearers.com etc) and start researching amongst people with experience of that particular bike, otherwise it's just hearsay/innuendo and guesswork from people who may have no idea. Why 30,000km's? Why 50,000km's? What are these numbers based on?

There are so many variables it's not funny, and to make a general statement regarding mileage is almost impossible. A low mileage squid doing trackdays, every other weekend and ignoring maintenance is gonna stress a bike far more than the high miles Ulysses Club member doing his/her meticulously planned NZ circumnavigation twice a year.

Bikes and their history are as individual as people and have to be assessed as such.

[Radar]

FWIW: (found on Trademe last month, for a BMW)

$3554 for work done at 100,000km -

Bearings and seals in final drive.
Headset bearings.
Timing belt.
New Clutch.
Gearbox bearings and seals.
Second Gear cog.
Rebuilt rear shock.
new battery and rear tyre

The main reason anyone would get a bike with high kms is because it costs less to buy. But a cheap price may wind up being not so cheap if you have to do a lot of repairs.

Slowpoke has it right: go to a forum where the bike you are considering buying is featured, and ask the members what may have to be replaced. Or ask a mechanic who is familiar with the bike.

Aside from worrying about possible repair costs on a high km bike (eg clutch bearings belts shocks etc), there is another factor to consider: what will it be like when you eventually sell your bike - if you put 30 or 40k on a bike that first had 30 - 40k on it, then it probably becomes difficult to sell. I think most buyers would be ok with bikes under 20k, maybe 30k, but once they get over 50,000 the price has to be quite low in order to sell them.

[duckonin]

Wife and I have done 43560k's on our C50T brand new 06 so is now 20months old well seviced no abuse and still looks mint. All k's have been mostly long runs so the motor is always warm would expect bike to keep going for many a year yet, and shall worry about what it is worth when we have finished with it, maybe it will be worth nothing, but that would not be a problem, as we would of had our moneys worth of running anyway

[yod]

i bought an RF at 42,500 MILES and it ran sweet
i added 11,000 miles and it was still sweet

cowboyz just rolled over 100,000km on his ZX9R and it still goes like a shower of shit

high kms shouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker, it all depends on how it's been ridden/looked after