High K's? How high?

**Biff** · 23rd December 2004, 10:10

I've never owned any one of my bikes for more than 6 months and the highest mileage bike I've ever owned had about 16K miles on the clock.

What kind of K's can you get out of a modern bike?
I know a guy with 200K + on his GW.

**vifferman** · 23rd December 2004, 10:19

Originally Posted by Biff Baff

What kind of K's can you get out of a modern bike?

Lotsa variables, like what type of riding the bike is used for, how robust it is, etc. etc.
I know of several VFRs in the US with over 160,000 kms on them, and I think there was one wandering around somewhere with more than double that.

OTOH, a small two-stroke commuter bike may well be completely knackered after 20,000 kms.

When I traded my VTR1000 in recently, it had 65 or 67K on it, and I was told I should ditch it, as it was getting fairly geriatric; this despite running well, burning minimal oil (big V-twins do burn a little), still having a good gearchange, etc.
(Mind you, I was also told the braided lines, APE camchain tensioners, aftermarket R/R and all the other 'good' stuff were a liability, that it was worth stuff all, and they'd be lucky not to make a loss on it. They then put it on the lot for $2K more than they gave me, and $1K more than they said they'd ask for it.)

**MOTOXXX** · 23rd December 2004, 11:53

Yea its a bit of a tuffie as all bikes a different.
i guess one of the main things is, if a bike can do high kms and still be reliable, will it have an ok re sale value.

i see lots of bikes on trademe that have 30kms pluss that sit there for ages.

**merv** · 23rd December 2004, 11:58

Originally Posted by Biff Baff

I've never owned any one of my bikes for more than 6 months and the highest mileage bike I've ever owned had about 16K miles on the clock.

So you are happy with the depreciation that comes with trading so quickly?

**bear** · 23rd December 2004, 12:04

Isn't about 50k with an okay service history ok?

**manuboy** · 23rd December 2004, 12:40

Some of the lads at Magpie Madness knew of (or owned) Guzzi's that had over 200,000 km's on them - with not much done engine wise.

Spankme's SV1000 forum had a murkan bike courier that did 32,000 miles in 3 months (get ya calculator out) on an SV1000 (naked). Bike was still running like clockwork.

**Motu** · 23rd December 2004, 14:08

My XLV750 had done over 90,000km when I sold it - no noises,never burned a drop of oil,and when ever I had an engine case off (clutch and alt) you could wipe the inside of the cases with an old black T shirt it would be spotless.Subequent owners reap the benifits of others good maintenence.

**Posh Tourer :P** · 23rd December 2004, 14:37

You are barely running them in!!

The beemer's got 80,000kms on it and the pistons and barrels are spotless...
My little Honda CB125 had 40,000kms on it, and the MZ and 30,000 miles

The bigger the bike the longer they last (generally), and your CBR should be good for 150,000kms easily....

Have you ever done an oil change on your bikes? I'd keep em for longer TBH, rather than going through running it in and then selling it immediately...

**Eddieb** · 23rd December 2004, 14:40

I had a R80G/S 1981 that had done 150k and still ran sweet. It's still around Wellington.

A friend of mine had a GSX1100F, the electric windscreen model. At 95k the head was pulled off and the only sign of wear was slight rubbing on the r.h.s cam lobes where they had been a little dry when idling on the side stand while warming up.

**SPman** · 23rd December 2004, 15:55

Sold the FZR750 at 85K and it was running sweet - saw it earlier this year -116k and the owner reckons the engine's sweet as.

**Pickle** · 23rd December 2004, 17:34

Modern bikes last for ages so long as you maintain them properly, Our Zx6's have over 50tho on them still run well and use no oil.
Mate in Aussie has an old Kawasaki GT750 with nearly 500,000 on it, still runs good, he also has a Yamaha TT600 Tenere which he rode overland to England which has over 200,000 on it.
15 to 16 kms on your bike is barely run in, stop wasting money and go for a good long ride.