Biker records one MILLION miles… on the one Harley!

[Bob]

Recording one million miles during a biking lifetime is a remarkable achievement, but Dave Zein recorded this feat… on the one motorcycle.

Vietnam veteran and former State Senator Zein racked up the million miles on a 1991 Harley FXRT. The bike is now to be inducted into the Harley-Davidson museum, with the Milwaukee company giving Zein a brand-new 2009 Road Glide, amongst other presentations.

Harley Vice-President Steve Phillips said “We are extremely proud that Dave has accomplished his goal of riding one million miles on a Harley-Davidson.”

[jrandom]

'On the one Harley Davidson'.

Reminds me of the man who's smoked the same pipe for fifty years.

Of course, it's had four new bowls and seven new stems during that time.

[MotoKuzzi]

Be interested to know how many engine overhauls etc it's had in that time. Then again he may have been using Amsoil and had none, or even changed his oil for that matter.

[6ft5]

just wonder how many times he would have been spending on the side of the road, cursing the beltdrive

[Dooly]

Geez.....thats a lot of waving he would of had to do.
Must have strong arms by now.

[Ixion]

Hm.

One million miles in 17 years. Thats 94000 odd kilometres each and every year. 260 km each and every day, no Sundays off. Wonder what he does for a job?

[xwhatsit]

Interesting. I just found this article. In there he has a 1982 bike, and he is approaching 600,000 miles in 2002. Is there a mix-up?

Regardless of what bike or how many different ones there were, sounds like he's into serious mileage anyway. He talks about doing Iron Butt events. Easy enough on flat straight roads though I suppose.

He's clearly fuck-nuts crazy though:

I feel strongly that motorcyclists are in contact with spiritual transcendence. Whenever I speak, I talk about the United States flag. The new US flag code in 1974 says that it's a living thing. We know that it has a spiritual transcendence that connects with all of those that have ever lived, loved, honored and cherished freedom, even before the great American Revolution. (Dave shows one of the flags waving from the back of his bike). This flag is the first flag of the United States - "Don't tread on me". In 1754 Benjamin Franklin said "We compare ourselves to that creature that will not strike unless it's molested. Once it's molested the results are swift, silent and deadly. That is the flag and symbol that took our country from disunity to defiance in the United States of America. It means less government. It means that foreign terrorists from across the ocean that choose to butcher our non-combatant women and children, like what took place on September 11th, had better think twice. It's a very strong, patriotic flag.

Bottom line, I feel that motorcyclists are in contact with that spiritual transcendence. We don't know what the human soul is. We know it has color and wing. We don't know how big the universe is but we know of 250 billion galaxies - millions of stars on each galaxy. We don't know how small the universe is but we now know of 200 levels smaller than the neutron, electron and proton. We think the universe is infinitely small, just as it is large.

How this relates to spiritual transcendence is that we're all inter-connected. With every breath we take we breathe in 150 million air molecules. (Dave takes two long deep breaths). With every breath we take, statistics have proven that we breathe in one air molecule that Jesus breathed when he was on earth for those 32 to 37 years. What that says about spiritual-transcendence is that we're all interconnected.

[jrandom]

He's clearly fuck-nuts crazy though

Deary me.



Still, a fair few Murkns sound like that. We're just not exposed to them on a regular basis, and one tends to forget the level of sheer loopyness that certain portions of their society embrace.

[Motu]

Any internal combustion engine will do huge miles,or kilometers,or hours if run long and hot and given regular maintenance.Doesn't matter if it's a Harley,Suzuki or BMW....it's gunna go for a long time,if ridden for a long time.Going from Auckland to Wellington and back day after day for 10 years would get bloody boring....but the same miles clocked up in North America would have you seeing something new every day.Good on him....but he's fucked in the head as we used to say....

[NZsarge]

Vietnam veteran and former State Senator Zein racked up the million miles on a 1991 Harley FXRT.

Umm.... Why?

All jokes aside, I guess that's pretty good going.... for a _______.

[nallac]

now thats pretty impressive..
1,600,000k's thats a hell of a lot of riding.

Oh to have that sort of free time..

[scumdog]

Like grandads axe a bit:

"The bike has original fenders, gas tank, oil tank, triple tree, handlebars, primary and tranny case (the main shaft is original but the gears have all been replaced).

There is no kill switch on the bike (ok, for the newbie bikers, that’s the on/off switch)
No kickstand (he had to lean the bike on curbs, against trees, etc)
No neutral or oil lights, tachometer doesn’t work, no horn and the odometer worked but the speedometer arm was broken so he guessed at speeds.

He had the motor rebuilt 10 times, with a remanufactured motor being installed last October in Yuma, Arizona at Bobby’s Territorial Harley-Davidson. The bolts holding the lower cases together had metal fatigue and have tyme serts holding them in.

The bike utilizes a roach clip jumper cable system from battery to coil for hard to start cold mornings. It has as an auxiliary 6-gallon fuel cell with John Deere petcocks to increase mileage on his endurance rides. On one leg of this journey he ran 31,000 miles in 31 days for another record.

The transmission was overhauled three days before his last leg ride to Florida. Due to excessive pressure buildup, the primary was drilled and vented one week before the final leg journey. Although the bike has a kick peddle, Zien uses a Phillips screw driver, which he inserts into a hole drilled in his starter, to bring the beast to life.

The bike has seen 105 rear tires and 65 front tires, 17 stators, 9 seats and Zien has worn out 13 pairs of engineer boots while riding Suzanna Ala Sha-Luck A Lay Ya, the name he affectionately calls his bike. "

but good on him, he RIDES, he doesn't just 'profile'...

[TOTO]

thats a true inspiration right there. I have only done 2.5 equators so far but even that is on 3 bikes rather than 1. my current one might be a candidate for the 2 000 000kms record one day tho...

[gijoe1313]

Whee doggy! Now that's the sorta pootling a biker can get to enjoy!

[Bob]

Interesting. I just found this article. In there he has a 1982 bike, and he is approaching 600,000 miles in 2002. Is there a mix-up?

Regardless of what bike or how many different ones there were, sounds like he's into serious mileage anyway. He talks about doing Iron Butt events. Easy enough on flat straight roads though I suppose.

He's clearly fuck-nuts crazy though:

As you say, that article was in 2002. It is now 2009. To do 400,000 miles in 7 years would require 150 miles per day.

57,100 miles a year = 4760 per month = 150 miles per day. I used to work with someone who lived 70 miles from work, so he'd rack up that kind of milage simply commuting.

As for the year? Well all the latest articles seem to think it is a 1991 model, but who knows? Still a phenomenal amount of miles.