Author Topic: Millage  (Read 3261 times)

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Offline nightrider

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Millage
« on: April 29, 2018, 09:01:49 am »
What's going on with the attitude towards mileage on motorcycles now days?
My bikes currently running 31000 miles and I would consider that low mileage for a nine year old bike,certainly it would be very low for a car of similar vintage.
My last bike,a Kawasaki 650, had done just over 4000 miles in nine months and the dealer said he considered that quite high for a new bike.
My car,Honda CRV,in contrast has done 38000 miles in two and a half years.
Am I wrong in thinking that a modern engine should be capable of clocking up 100,000 miles in its lifespan or am I being naive?
Finally what mileage have your bikes done and would a high mileage put you off buying a second-hand bike?
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Offline Blobby

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Re: Millage
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2018, 09:07:27 am »
Past motorcycles I've clocked well over 50k on them.

As for my present K it's 4 years old and just over 2,000 miles, see what happens when you don't have to do a 120 mile-a-day commute anymore..

Offline Eyore

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Re: Millage
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2018, 09:08:48 am »
My K 1200s has 35,000 on it which as far as I am concerned is nothing. Agree that anything much over 20k is considered high. Personally it dosen't bother me at all as long as it has been properly maintained.
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Re: Millage
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2018, 09:17:39 am »
Anything over 2.5K miles per year on a bike is classed as above average miles and dealers will start shaking their heads and making excuses why they can't give you a decent trade in.

Offline richtea

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Re: Millage
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2018, 09:26:20 am »
Bikes have a higher rev range compared to cars, and deliver more BHP from their smaller engines, which must increase stress on the components.
Doesn't that increase the engine wear? But not to sub-50k limits.

Having said that, Ks don't seem to suffer many engine-related failures as far as I can tell from this forum (Costas excepted  :().
It's the ancilliary parts that seem to require more frequent replacement - which would get more protection from the elements in a car.

Offline sudolea

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Re: Millage
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2018, 09:33:53 am »
Mine (2010 model) has 114000km, 70000 miles. I thought to ride it to 200000 km. However, that has proven to be too high a target, as it has shown to be too unreliable. High repair costs too. I then decided, around september last year, to sell it: I can't work on it myself - to start with, obtaining a service manual is a big first hurdle, not to speak of the special tools needed. Otherwise it would maybe be another story.

It's now at 5000€, and still not sold : hard to sell at higher mileages.

And I can only confirm this ...

... dealers will start shaking their heads and making excuses why they can't give you a decent trade in.

My own dealer (I had expressed my intention NOT to buy another BMW) doesn't even want to think of buying it. Hell, what a confidence in the bike he maintained for years himself  ::)
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Offline Phmode

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Re: Millage
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2018, 09:59:07 am »
4,000 a year used to be the 'average' across biking, including the all-year-round commuters, high mileage tourers and weekend warriors.

Recently, more affluent folks are buying bikes as toys and when you look at the mileages for 1 & 2 year old bikes in dealers some don't even need their first oil change.

The attitudes of the dealers toward mileage isn't based on prejudice (except in the case of K12/13s) but rather on what comes into their showroom and most bikers get bored easily and chop their low-mileage toys every year or so.

Offline TomL

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Re: Millage
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2018, 10:40:27 am »
For as long as I can remember I've always done about 12,000 miles a year with some years getting up to 20,000 miles. I very rarely get half way up the rev counter and nowhere near the red.
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Offline Eyore

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Re: Millage
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2018, 01:24:47 pm »
I m determined to get my K up to 100,000  (kilometres). I only do about 10k klm a year on average so it could take a while. :)
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Offline Phmode

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Re: Millage
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2018, 01:31:04 pm »
I think Martin (fjtwelve) is likely to be the next 100,000 miler, maybe in the next week or two 😎

Offline fjtwelve

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Re: Millage
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2018, 09:19:44 pm »
Eurotunnel booked for 7 may. I have some catching up to do after 12 weeks on planes

Offline black-k1

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Re: Millage
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2018, 08:25:08 am »
I have done around 18,000 a year for the last 5 years and averaged over 12,000 a year before that.

Generally, bike engines don't wear out any more. It's the cycle parts and the electrics/electronics that tend to fail with age/mileage.

Bikes have a higher rev range compared to cars, and deliver more BHP from their smaller engines, which must increase stress on the components.
Doesn't that increase the engine wear? But not to sub-50k limits.


I don't agree with the increased stress comment, at least for larger engined (600cc+) bikes. The revs may be higher but stroke is shorter so pistons are no faster, capacities are smaller so component mass is lower and the load conditions (vehicle load etc.) for a bike engine is a lot less.

As per my comment above, looked after engines (car or bike) really don't "wear" these days. You no longer need to replace pistons, rebore blocks. replace big ends, replace main bearings etc. (Costas situation a rare and exceptional extreme.)
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Offline Phmode

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Re: Millage
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2018, 08:41:43 am »
Certainly, 40 years ago only a brave or foolish chappie would invest in a Ford Cortina with 40,000 miles on the clock.

The 1600 that I bought (very cheap) needed a full rebuild and the local engine builder in Reading did a very nice price on a swap with a 2 litre motor. He was so busy in the engineering shop he had no time to spend in the shop shop and was losing customers and he didn't care. Engines were flying in and out of his doors faster than they ever went on the roads. These days, I doubt anyone is doing much rebuilding.

Offline TomL

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Re: Millage
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2018, 10:43:17 am »
Back in 1973 I started working for myself doing mobile tuning. That is setting up an engine with an oscilloscope (Bosch) most people would know of it as Crypton tuning and in fact my first scopes were Crypton. If the valves were adjustable then I would adjust them. Many mobile tuners were not capable enough to adjust valve clearances.

With experience I noticed that mileage was irrelevant. If you wanted a second hand car your best bet was to pick up an ex reps car regardless of the mileage. The worst cars I find are the low mileage motors and I wouldn't want a one lady owner car if it was given to me.

The business cars would be started and then perhaps driven for a few hours. They would spend a lot of their time thrashing up and down motorways. They would be serviced regularly. The engines would get up to temperature and continue long enough for the breather system to remove condensation, caused by cold starting, from the engine.

The low mileage pride and joy type motor generally did many trips where the engine had not got up to a proper operating temperature, where the cold start condensation had been properly dealt with by the breather system. This condensation builds up in the engine causing wear and corrosion. This is the main reason why engine oil should be changed regularely.

I had one customer in Knebworth who only used to use to drive her VW Polo down to the shops in Knebworth (about 300yds). She did about 50 miles MOT to MOT. Her poor engine would fill up with mayonnaise. We improved the situation by changing the oil twice a year and taking the rocker cover off to tip out the mayo.

As for the one lady owner especially young girls. They don't realise that cars have to be serviced. Some believe that an MOT is a service. After all the kind MOT man tells them when they need new discs and pads and tyres.
As I have grown older, I've learned that pleasing everybody is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.

Offline Phmode

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Re: Millage
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2018, 12:29:53 pm »
I agree.

Unfortunately the 1.6 I bought, which was a rep's car and so falls into the 'safe' category, belonged to an internationally famous name in the hair care industry and I found out where they saved the pennies. There were some rings left in that engine, but not many. The guy who exchanged it for a 2 litre had to go up three sizes in pistons when he bored it.

The moral of the tale, which modern drivers don't understand is that they don't realise how lucky they are. It was routine to have alternators and starters fail regularly and when they invented pre-engaged starters it was always the solenoids that took the whack.

Ignition systems didn't like the cold and damp and once Piranha after market electronic ignitions became fashionable in the '70's it was still the HT side that went out of flunter. Most mechanical auto-advance and vacuum-advance systems never got 'serviced' and performance suffered like crazy.

Auto-choke systems didn't work on the first cold mornings of the year and then all the neighbour's car batteries went dead with all the cranking. Wheel bearings and ball-joints didn't last forever like they do these days (can't believe I just typed that) and a four-year-old car had more rust than steel.

Friend's grandkids don't know they are born, their little 'first cars' will still be going in 20 years time; my ten year old first car was on its last legs bodily and the rest wasn't far behind. I knew the big ends were going and had a new set in the boot when all hell broke loose on the M6 one dark and rainy night.

I just drove it onto a couple of bricks, got underneath on the hard shoulder and pulled it all apart. I called the AA because I didn't have a torque wrench nor any oil and when the guy arrived he couldn't believe what he was seeing. But, that's how you had to keep your cars running back then.

And we think the odd thing going wrong these days is the end of the world 😎