Mileage

[GR4]

Hi.
This one is prompted by a similar thread over on General Gassing, and the 146k Blackbird. I am looking to buy a bike for the first time in many years, so my practical buying knowledge has got a bit rusty. I am looking at 600 and upwards sports tourers, and the budget dictates older secondhand.

How do bikes stand up to mileage these days ? How many miles does a well maintained four stroke four last before needing a rebuild, and when do they start to feel a bit tired.

I appreciate it all depends on how it has been used, but I assume that you will all have a rule of thumb when looking yourselves.

Back in the 80's, I would always have gone for under 20k.

Thanks for your help.

[dick dastardly]

I often see Jap bikes for sale with over 40,000 miles on. I don't think mileage is half the issue it used to be.

If you are interested this little beauty sounds like it would fit the bill

[Mon Ami Mate]

I've done 21,000 miles on my '98 ZZR1100 and the finish has so far held up very well indeed. I know people who have put 80,000 miles plus on theirs. So long as the bike has been properly maintained there is no reason why it shouldn't hold together for well over 50,000 miles without any significant work required.

[t-c]

It was my Blackbird with 146K on the clock and my previous 5 bikes all clocked up in excess of 100K without any problems what so ever, in fact my original CBR1000 I brought in 1989 is still running with over 300K on the clock and apparently it has had no major work on it and runs sweetly. I sold it at 167,000 miles.

Most bike engines are designed to rack up mileage without problems, and providing they are maintained and serviced properly, then mileage often is not an issue, in fact you may find a high mileage well maintained bike actually runs sweeter than a low mileage machine.

[GR4]

Thanks all. Looks like I shouldn't be too concerned about higher miles then. DD, if I want to know any more I'll drop you an e-mail.

[ninjaboy]

I would prefer to buy a bike that had been used and well maintained than a bike that had been started up once a week for 6 months.I also find some milages in ad's a bit unbelivable 1-2K for a 2 year old bike.

[iguana]

Engine miles dont bother me at all, other than knowing i will take a massive hit at sale time. Most bikes should hit 100k no probs. A heavily tracked screamer 600 may not, but then you are treating it like a race bike & they have engine rebuilds every season or so.

Then again BiKE mag stripped down their cbr6-FX engine with 22k on it and it had been tracked a fair bit & had done 500 odd miles of being thrapped round by Martin Child on the TT! and it was not far out of new tolerance specs although the gearbox had a few worn syncros.

Only thing I would look out for is wear on shocks etc, most modern bikes & particually budget bikes ie hornets fazers etc use chaper componants than pukka sports bikes & have a shagged rear shock at as low as 10k miles.

My bandit is up to 40k now & the shock only made it to 20k before it was competely fecked. Lots of replacement items out there are much better than the standard items & are not silly money, my Hagon was somat like £200.

Personally I feel that BMW's soak up the miles best, (nevr owned one but my neighbor did 100k on his K75 thing & it looked like new) Most jap sports stuff will get a bit tatty at 50k miles tho, but its mainly just cosmetic stuff like pitted forks etc & it all depends if the owned has rigerously cleaned it or the winter salt has attacked it.

IMHO Hondas lead the jap pack for quality & soak up the miles best. I've had kwacks & suzukis but neither have seemed to have been made to the quality of my 3 hondas.