In this thread: Why miles don't matter on a bike

I'm Fred · August 26th, 2012, 05:16 PM

I went to my second class of the equivalent of the MSF yesterday, and had the chance to ride a GS500E for a few hours. It was in pretty good shape with only a few scratches, no rust at all, looked like it was 2-3 years old.

Truth is, the bike had 691 800 KM on the meter lol. Anyone ever seen so many miles on a bike?

dirty nasty · August 26th, 2012, 05:28 PM

I feel like the only reason you hardly see high mileage bikes is because most motorcyclists (In the United States at least) are idiots. They get out of high school, get their first job, buy a fancy bike they don't understand how to ride or maintain, get some fun out of it, then get bored or scared of it, or worse, crash it. Hence why you see so many low mileage bikes for sale and the belief that anything over 10k is "high mileage" on a bike. Only because these moron kids didn't do any maintenance to their machines ever and mostly anything will be quite used up at 10k miles with no maintenance.

Most dedicated riders' bikes I see have quite high miles on them. Because they keep them maintained, (usually) stick with one ride(s) for a few seasons, and are not generally morons. I would never hesitate to buy a motorcycle that has very high mileage as long as I bought it from someone I believe cared for and understood their machine. It's the squid machines you need to watch out for. I'd be a bit more wary about buying a super sport with 5k miles on it from some kid that I think beat on it and didn't maintain it to correct the bearing compared to buying a bike from someone who even if they beat on their ride, kept it in great shape even if it had 50k for miles. Japanese bikes last quite a long time. Look at any Goldwing or touring bike. You regularly see 100k+ miles on those machines.

Most miles I've seen on a bike is 220k+ on my bud's dad's Goldwing. He recently put it up for sale because he replaced it with a newer generation due to the price being right on the newer one. His old bike still runs fantastic, he loved that motorcycle. However, after seeing the newer generation compared to the older one and hearing the deal he got on the newer one I couldn't really blame him for off-loading his old Goldwing. Something has to make the payment on the new bike, haha.

For sport bikes my bud has an '02 R6 with 28k on it. Everything on his machine looks and works great like it just rolled off the show room floor. Only issues are a skipping second gear, but these years of bikes were known for junk transmissions that Yamaha refused to do warranty work to.

Motofool · August 26th, 2012, 05:45 PM

Those are 429,864 miles!!!

Are you sure that you didn't include the tenth of a Km figure?

69,180 km is more reasonable for a 500 cc.

I'm Fred · August 26th, 2012, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motofool

Those are 429,864 miles!!!

Are you sure that you didn't include the tenth of a Km figure?

69,180 km is more reasonable for a 500 cc.

I'm 100% sure, I'll try to snap a picture on my next class

There was also another GS500 with 368 000 KM, i guess they maintain their bike amazingly lol everyone was impressed

dirty nasty · August 26th, 2012, 05:57 PM

I'm just curious how they got that many miles racked up being used as only learner bikes for a MSF course.

I'm Fred · August 26th, 2012, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

I'm just curious how they got that many miles racked up being used as only learner bikes for a MSF course.

Well in here the MSF course is 6 courses of 4 hours each, and you HAVE to pass it to have your license. I also know the company buys used motorcycle, so it probably had a good chunk of miles before lending in that parking lot.

In one class I did around 50 km, maybe a bit more..

ninjamunky85 · August 26th, 2012, 07:58 PM

Honestly, I've never seen that many miles on a bike. How many clutches would they have gone through?

matha028 · August 27th, 2012, 08:14 PM

429,000 miles on a sport bike? I call foul.
To the guy who wrote about the goldwings: how old was the 220k+ bike?
The see a bike with almost 2 times that, and a sport bike none the less. And in Canada, when you cannot ride year round? I highly doubt it has that many actual miles on it. Please send pix of the bike and odometer.

matha028 · August 27th, 2012, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjamunky85

Honestly, I've never seen that many miles on a bike. How many clutches would they have gone through?

On a learner bike, I would guess alot!

I'm Fred · August 28th, 2012, 12:21 PM

Not sure if I mentionned it before, but the bike's a GS500. I'll be sure to grab a quick pic on my next class!

dirty nasty · August 28th, 2012, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matha028

On a learner bike, I would guess alot!

Do you think so? I've never had issues with using up clutches until I figured out what it's really used for, which I didn't know when I first started riding. I usually smell my clutch at least once every ride.

alex.s · August 28th, 2012, 03:02 PM

there was a ninja 250 pregen (i think it was a 91 or 92) in my MSF class. i didnt get a chance to ride it, but it had over 200k miles. i was very impressed, its part of the reason i bought a ninja 250.

it definitely looked like it had 200k miles though.

matha028 · August 28th, 2012, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

Do you think so? I've never had issues with using up clutches until I figured out what it's really used for, which I didn't know when I first started riding. I usually smell my clutch at least once every ride.

Yeah I would think so. It's one thing to call your 250 a learner bike, and learn after a week or 2. But for a bike that has brand new riders each week that are still learning, then I think they would do more clutch damage.

matha028 · August 28th, 2012, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex.s

there was a ninja 250 pregen (i think it was a 91 or 92) in my MSF class. i didnt get a chance to ride it, but it had over 200k miles. i was very impressed, its part of the reason i bought a ninja 250.

it definitely looked like it had 200k miles though.

When was your MSF class? 2009? That would make that 250 17 years old, which means an average of 11,800 miles per year. That's alot of 1st and 2nd gear riding, would lead me to believe it had burned through some clutches also.

csmith12 · August 28th, 2012, 08:09 PM

Jiggles · August 28th, 2012, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csmith12

Robinhood · August 28th, 2012, 11:31 PM

Need pics!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiggles

the bird?

Jiggles · August 29th, 2012, 12:03 AM

Nope, the word

seanshawnS · August 29th, 2012, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I'm Fred

Well in here the MSF course is 6 courses of 4 hours each, and you HAVE to pass it to have your license. I also know the company buys used motorcycle, so it probably had a good chunk of miles before lending in that parking lot.

In one class I did around 50 km, maybe a bit more..

Whoa.. the laws in NS are nowhere near as impressive.

azimmer11 · August 30th, 2012, 11:47 AM

Jokes on you. The mileage counter only goes up to 99,999.

August 26th, 2012, 05:16 PM	#1
I'm Fred ninjette.org member Name: Jiggles knows Location: Montreal Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): None yet :( Posts: 102	In this thread: Why miles don't matter on a bike I went to my second class of the equivalent of the MSF yesterday, and had the chance to ride a GS500E for a few hours. It was in pretty good shape with only a few scratches, no rust at all, looked like it was 2-3 years old. Truth is, the bike had 691 800 KM on the meter lol. Anyone ever seen so many miles on a bike?

August 26th, 2012, 05:45 PM	#3
Motofool Daily Ninjette rider Name: Hernan Location: Florida Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2007 Ninja 250 Posts: A lot. MOTY - 2016, MOTM - Dec '12, Jan '14, Jan '15, May '16	Those are 429,864 miles!!! Are you sure that you didn't include the tenth of a Km figure? 69,180 km is more reasonable for a 500 cc. __________________________________________________ *Motofool* *.................................Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly* "Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy. Love is the bond between men, the way to teach and the center of the world." - José Martí

August 26th, 2012, 07:58 PM	#7
ninjamunky85 Que Buenos Son!!! Name: Ryan Location: Grovetucky, OH Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): Aprilia Shiver 750, Husaberg FE 450, Ninja 300 (sold), xr100 Posts: A lot. MOTM - Nov '14	Honestly, I've never seen that many miles on a bike. How many clutches would they have gone through? __________________________________________________ Don't do something because it's easy,.. Do it because it's not! If you aren't going forward, then you're falling behind. "Drive it like you stole it"!!!

August 28th, 2012, 03:02 PM	#12
alex.s wat Name: wat Location: tustin/long beach Join Date: Sep 2009 Motorcycle(s): wat Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 5 MOTM - Oct '12, Feb '14	there was a ninja 250 pregen (i think it was a 91 or 92) in my MSF class. i didnt get a chance to ride it, but it had over 200k miles. i was very impressed, its part of the reason i bought a ninja 250. it definitely looked like it had 200k miles though. __________________________________________________

August 28th, 2012, 08:09 PM	#15
csmith12 The Corner Whisperer Name: Chris (aka Reactor) Location: Northern KY Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 250 (track), 1992 250, 2006 R6 (street/track), 2008 R6 (track) Posts: Too much. MOTY 2015, MOTM - Nov '12, Nov '13	__________________________________________________ Goal: Shake A Million Hands \| Look through the corners \| Track Day Prep \| Closest track? \| The Mid-Ohio School

August 26th, 2012, 05:28 PM	#2
dirty nasty ninjette.org sage Name: Karl Location: MA Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2000 Kwak Ninja 250 and 1998 Yamaha YZ400F Posts: 534	I feel like the only reason you hardly see high mileage bikes is because most motorcyclists (In the United States at least) are idiots. They get out of high school, get their first job, buy a fancy bike they don't understand how to ride or maintain, get some fun out of it, then get bored or scared of it, or worse, crash it. Hence why you see so many low mileage bikes for sale and the belief that anything over 10k is "high mileage" on a bike. Only because these moron kids didn't do any maintenance to their machines ever and mostly anything will be quite used up at 10k miles with no maintenance. Most dedicated riders' bikes I see have quite high miles on them. Because they keep them maintained, (usually) stick with one ride(s) for a few seasons, and are not generally morons. I would never hesitate to buy a motorcycle that has very high mileage as long as I bought it from someone I believe cared for and understood their machine. It's the squid machines you need to watch out for. I'd be a bit more wary about buying a super sport with 5k miles on it from some kid that I think beat on it and didn't maintain it to correct the bearing compared to buying a bike from someone who even if they beat on their ride, kept it in great shape even if it had 50k for miles. Japanese bikes last quite a long time. Look at any Goldwing or touring bike. You regularly see 100k+ miles on those machines. Most miles I've seen on a bike is 220k+ on my bud's dad's Goldwing. He recently put it up for sale because he replaced it with a newer generation due to the price being right on the newer one. His old bike still runs fantastic, he loved that motorcycle. However, after seeing the newer generation compared to the older one and hearing the deal he got on the newer one I couldn't really blame him for off-loading his old Goldwing. Something has to make the payment on the new bike, haha. For sport bikes my bud has an '02 R6 with 28k on it. Everything on his machine looks and works great like it just rolled off the show room floor. Only issues are a skipping second gear, but these years of bikes were known for junk transmissions that Yamaha refused to do warranty work to.

August 26th, 2012, 05:57 PM	#5
dirty nasty ninjette.org sage Name: Karl Location: MA Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2000 Kwak Ninja 250 and 1998 Yamaha YZ400F Posts: 534	I'm just curious how they got that many miles racked up being used as only learner bikes for a MSF course.

August 27th, 2012, 08:14 PM	#8
matha028 ninjette.org guru Name: Adam Location: Orlando FL Join Date: Jun 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 Kawasaki Ninja 250R red/black SE <-- totalled now '11 650r BLACK Posts: 334	429,000 miles on a sport bike? I call foul. To the guy who wrote about the goldwings: how old was the 220k+ bike? The see a bike with almost 2 times that, and a sport bike none the less. And in Canada, when you cannot ride year round? I highly doubt it has that many actual miles on it. Please send pix of the bike and odometer.

August 28th, 2012, 12:21 PM	#10
I'm Fred ninjette.org member Name: Jiggles knows Location: Montreal Join Date: Jun 2012 Motorcycle(s): None yet :( Posts: 102	Not sure if I mentionned it before, but the bike's a GS500. I'll be sure to grab a quick pic on my next class!

August 29th, 2012, 12:03 AM	#18
Jiggles Jigglin' your Jiglets Name: Sean Location: San Jose, Ca Join Date: Jun 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2009 K1300S, 2013 Ninja 300, 2011 Ninja 250R, Faster than Unregistered's ninjette Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 1 MOTM - Apr '13	Nope, the word __________________________________________________ If the Ninja 250 doesn't have enough power for you, then you don't know how to ride it. AFM #676 Supersports are for n00bs

August 30th, 2012, 11:47 AM	#20
azimmer11 ninjette.org sage Name: Alex Location: michigan Join Date: Jul 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Ninja 250r Posts: 784	Jokes on you. The mileage counter only goes up to 99,999. __________________________________________________ Rockin' black on black since 2007.

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