Life of a motorcycle.

[YamahaWolf]

I have a Yamaha Thundercat sofar it as done 30k miles. It is well serviced and looked after, not ridden hard. How long should this motorcycle last before I should consider retiring it?

[Pete]

This is something I've considered as well. The only answer I've ever come up with is based on the fact that whenever I look at buying another bike if the mileage is over 30,000 I have to think really hard whether it's worth it or not and what other things like alarms/extras are included. The reason being that I don't mind a high mileage bike myself, but I know that I do a lot of miles and when the time comes to sell I don't want to be stuck trying to get rid of a 50,000 mile bike. When I look for a car it has to be under 70,000!

[Voodoo]

I'm willing to bet the engine will be good for 150000 miles, obviously you'd have to change the clutch plates once or twice and it'd need a new cam chain once in a while, but the engine will keep on going. Its the suspension, brakes and bearings that'll take some looking after. Also the fairing will start to fall apart etc... from the amount of times its removed or knocked. Personally I'd never buy a bike with more than 25-30k on the clock. Also the electronics (CDI) might fail and need replacing in that amount of mileage.

I read about a courier in London once who used a ZXR750 and he'd put about 150000 miles on it.

[Guest]

The bike will last out your enjoyment, before you trade her in for something new.. i doubt anyone has kept a bike longer than its life (125's/hacks not included)

[techno]

I always look for something under ten thou as i do so many miles a year it will have over thirty thou on it before its paid for but then its chopped in. But i have no desire to trade in the blade at the moment so one day may find out!

[Bill_on_a_bike]

I'm willing to bet the engine will be good for 150000 miles, obviously you'd have to change the clutch plates once or twice and it'd need a new cam chain once in a while, but the engine will keep on going. Its the suspension, brakes and bearings that'll take some looking after. Also the fairing will start to fall apart etc... from the amount of times its removed or knocked. Personally I'd never buy a bike with more than 25-30k on the clock. Also the electronics (CDI) might fail and need replacing in that amount of mileage.

I read about a courier in London once who used a ZXR750 and he'd put about 150000 miles on it.

 

Had this broom 15 years...6 handles and 12 heads.....

I was thinking about this the other day, when is a bike finished. I think Voodoo's right, from what i've heard the actual engine engine will bang on forever, i've seen blackbirds with 200,000 miles on the clock still running. But all those other things will start to need replacing, more and more so until it's costing alot just to keep it going.

[bex]

if its been looked after and you are willing to do a little maintenance then it will definately out live you and when you get rid am sure another newbie wil enjoy many miles on it, my bike has 33k+ miles and i not looking at changing it, if you know the history enough to be confident in it then keep it till your ready to move on

[Stu]

with the correct maintainence a engine will go on forever

i know of a few TL's with more then 200k on the clock and still going strong

[YamahaWolf]

That is nice to know, because my cat has done 30k miles so far and I ride all year through so she will have alot on her when I come to change.

[Stu]

mines has just gone over to 31k

but is sweet as a nut and should outlast me and if it breaks i simply strip it down and repair it

thats the thing with engines if the do blow they can usually be rebuilt cheaply if you do the work yourself if you cant then its easy enough to get another motor and just swap it

[hurtank]

hehe. as a wise man once told me

a bike will last aslong as you want. just dont f*ck it up

[Colin the Bear]

A bike will last until it becomes uneconomic to repair/maintain. Everything is mendable given time and money. Lots of running and mint examples from the 60's can be seen at the vintage Japanese owners club show. One mans shed is another mans classic. My Virago has 60K on it and I don't ride gently. Nothing major has gone. They reckon the engine is good for 250K.

An old high mileage vehicle of any kind is what it is. Everybody wants new and no fuss. A keen eye and a little spannering can result in bargain transport.

[rosszx9r]

the wear on the bike and engine are due to 2 factors...

1 - the weather the bike is riden in (effects general condition and items such as chain, brkaes, bearings)

2 - the way in which it is riden

the second point is probably more to do with what you are asking. if you stress any engine, it won't last. smaller engines are easier to stress. by stress i mean rev past 3/4 max RPM for whatever the bike is designed for.

the example of the zxr7 run by a london courier is a good one. there is little chance (even for a courier) to regularly rev the nuts off a bike like that in central london so it will see less engine stress through it's life (tho the guy must either be a midget or have arms like popeye ). it's also going to rack up a lot of miles quickly so rust and rot are likely to be less than a bike with similar miles in the hands of mear mortal

others mentioned 200k on a busa.... again, not really a surprize given the size of the lump. who could ever stress a busa or a blackbird

then there are the middle wieght bikes, these are the most likely to have early wear issues as they can be stressed on normal roads quite regularly and because it's good fun! (in the right place at the right time ). but if they are maintained and you can control your right wrist (while on the bike ) then it should be good for 100k

trouble with buying second hand is you've no idea how it's been treated. my bike is a case in point, 45k and the head gasket blew. done a bit of research and it's common on these typs of sports bikes that are thrashed (not nessesarily a knackered engine but still bloody expensive to repair). i haven't had it long enough to thrash it hard enough to damage it so it looks like i bought a bag of sh@t... just goes to show, you get what you pay for!....