High mileage high horsepower.

[ManDownUnder]

Reliable bike, used daily, not thrashed, reasonably maintained... I'd say 150,000kms +

The RF I have at the mo should be good for 200,000. ONly things I need to watch are some of the moving parts (emulsion tubes in the carbs, and bearings in the alternator are known weaknesses)... but for $8,000 for 170,000km of motoring... I'd say it good value for money

[Katman]

The other parameter that is very important is - hot miles or cold?

I don't think that parameter is important at all. Todays water cooled motors are usually very carefully temperature controlled.

[Katman]

the high the BHP the less they are likely to last due to the extra stress put on the components

Only if you're actually using that extra BHP which under normal road riding conditions you're usually not.

[NZsarge]

BTW, Mangell6 has a 2000 FZ1 and his must have racked up over 130,000 km by now and to my knowledge, he's never laid a hand on it other than oil changes.

Sweet!

The other parameter that is very important is - hot miles or cold?

Yes indeed.

[WelshWizard]

Only if you're actually using that extra BHP which under normal road riding conditions you're usually not.

That depends on the rider, and even if they observe the 100kph speed limite that still allows a hell of a lot of leeway as to how they get to that speed

[Mort]

Modern engines are tested to almost unbelieveable levels - Like running on the redline for a week (168 hours)... Bikes used for a full season in BSB show no appreciable wear on major components. (Fair enough they have oil changed after every session).

If the bike is serviced regularly (according to schedule)with decent oil and fresh oil & air filters the engine will last for longer than you think. If you cheat on oil changes, thrash the bike from cold (regularly), race or trackday the bike without looking after it then you'll have problems at some point.

I think the engine will be the last thing to go on a bike. Its the other components (wheel, head and swing arm bearings, suspension, camchain & tensioner, chain sporocket, clutch and gearbox) that may suffer over time....

[martybabe]

A UK bike mag did a neglect test on a CBR600rrrrrrr something a while back.The idea was to run the bugger till it died with no maintenance at all,except bike parts ie chain tension brakes and so forth.

They put massive hard miles on it,it didn't die,so they stripped the engine down to inspect the wear and it was negligable,hardly any different to one that had done a similar mileage with the benefit of a full service record.

Although we're talking high performance engines here,there is still an amazing amount of reliability built in,I dont think a few more Bhp if moded well will make any difference on longevity.

[imdying]

Fair call, lets say the maintainance schedule is kept up and ridden moderately, not pamper but not continually getting thrashed either, just a bit of this and a bit of that....

In that case, I'd be very surprised if it didn't smash its way past 100,000km with ease. Most bikes become road kill well before that though.

[imdying]

Having read the thread now, you don't have much to worry about, because you're in control. You're going to do say 60,000kms in the next 4 years, and you're the one who controls what maintenance is done.

I would be more wary of buying something with 60,000 unknown kms on it, people are notoriously tight, and often neglect even the most basic of maintenance.

If you can be sure the maintenance is done, you can be sure it'll do the miles.

The amount of power they make isn't too important, the stress levels are likely to be similar to bikes of 10 years ago, as the quality of metals and improved designs increase what is possible. In other words, even though they're making more power now, they're still using similar margins (%) of safety/reliability. That would be my guess, given that warranty and servicing periods continue to be increased, even though output is going up.

[dipshit]

That depends on the rider, and even if they observe the 100kph speed limite that still allows a hell of a lot of leeway as to how they get to that speed

I very rarely get full throttle on my SV1000. (and that's even after fitting a 1/5 quick-throttle) You can accelerate quite hard and travel along bloody quickly and still only be using a small amount of throttle most of the time on the road. 120kph is just idling.

You really don't need to screw the ring off a thou like you would on a 250 or 400.

[Forest]

I know of a K1200GT that has done 90,000km in two years with only the usual dealer servicing.

IIRC the engine is factory rated at 167hp.

[MisterD]

The usual adage applies, I would think:

You can have fast, cheap and reliable - pick two.