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Whats the average lifespan of a motorcycle?

K

krunchykrome

Lifer
If a car has 100K miles or more, it's considered "not reliable" and pretty used. Now, when I look through used bike classifieds, the majority of bikes with the most miles have between 20K-30K. Why is that? Is 20K-30K alot of miles for a bike. A typical car can run with minor problems to about 120K miles. How many miles can a bike run for?
 
That's a GREAT question! I've often wondered that myself.......so maybe we'll get some answers! 🙂

jc
 
I think they just always get crashed, or abandoned/scrapped for newer bikes since a new bike isn't as much of an invenstment compared to a car.

The thing is, someone will buy it new, and crash it. That, or buy it, and after a couple years upgrade, and a newb comes a long, buys it for cheap and crashes it.
 
I ride a GS500, I got 10K on mine but GSjack of GStwin.com has 80K on his GS500. BMW tourers, Honda Goldwings, Harley Davidsons, Kawasaki KZ1000 Police Bikes regularly are found above 50K (these are ppl who ride them not sell them that often).

Edit: bikes require a bit more maintanence than an car, but for that you can get pretty reliable bikes. I know GSJack's GS500, even with 80K doesnt burn as much oil as it should. When a bike is treated well it will run forever. If it is not treated well it wont run that long.
 
my dad has a suzuki gs850g thats about 22 years old with 54k+ and its fine
he also has an 01 kawasaki concourse that he mainly rides now though 🙂
 
Originally posted by: krunchykrome
If a car has 100K miles or more, it's considered "not reliable" and pretty used.
Click to expand...

Really, REALLY depends on the car and the owner(s)...

I've seen plenty of dead reliable cars > 200,000. And it's model too, not just make, that counts. 😉
 
Bikers don't typically put as many miles on their bikes as people put on cars. A 30,000 or 40,000 mile bike is considered a high-miler just because for the typical rider to put that many miles on the bike will take 8-10 years. I know several people who ride far more than average too and who have put over 120,000 miles on Harleys with no real impact on the bike's reliability.

ZV
 
I have seen a car in my shop with over 300K and still looks liek it had 60K on it and I have seen motorcycles with 60K that still ran great.

Now the bikes I know with high miles were V-Twins, not some high reving kid owned 4cyl.

So like a car, a bike will last as long as someone takes care of it the RIGHT way. BUT it seems V-Twins last longer. That could be the lower power band in the RPM, USUALLY more mature rider that takes care of it (maintaince AND riding), etc...

OLD, and I mean OLD, harleys (and probable most other bike) would only last 10-15K befored needing major rework. When Harley came out with the evolution (sp?) motor they went from a 10K breakdown to 100K over night. The later Evo motors got better and the current Twin-Cam Harley motors are even miles ahead of what the first Evo's were.

So anything, for the most part, made after 1980 and been taken good care of should last 100K. But that MOSTLY depends on the rider and owner. The same can be said about a car.
 
Hell, my Honda which I crash on a yearly basis has almost 40k and still going strong.

Now if somebody would buy the other honda thats for sale (Sabre), I could get the CBR back on the road.
 
I was looking into the kawasaki 250R....the cheap one. And I was wondering how long it would last me if I used it every other day when it's not raining or snowing.
 
provided the motor is broken in properly, the oil is changed regularly (especially with a wet clutch) and with decent oil (Mobil 1 red cap - woot!), your bike will last indefinitely.

i'm talking motor only - the rest of the bike will need to be replaced piece by piece - seals, chain, sprockets, etc, but the actual engine and frame should last 100,000 miles if properly taken care of.

my future father in law had (he had a teenager pull out in front of him a month ago - bike is totalled) a mid-80's goldwing with over 200K miles on it - still ran strong until that last ride.

bikes are like anything else - take care of it and maintain it properly, and it'll outlast you.

/misses riding his F2
//hates all the friggin squids in this town
 
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