What are "too many" miles for a motorcycle to have?

Question

What are "too many" miles for a motorcycle to have?
I know that using a rule of thumb for cars, if it has over 100,000 miles it is "too many" to buy used. what is it with a bike?

Answer 1

It truly depends on the make of motorcycle. Hondas will go virtually forever if you keep the oil changed in them. My brother's friend rode a Harley to Los Angeles from the midwest and rebuilt the back cylinder when he got there. His buddy rode a Goldwing Honda and changed the oil when he got there.
It is also a function of how well maintained they are. I have seen bikes with 35,000 miles look great, run great, others with 15,000 miles have been thrashed.
Maintenance records and having it checked by a mechanic are the best way to check out a bike before you sink money into it.

Answer 2

Your using old thumbs. 100K miles was in the '70s.
Many cars are capable of over 200K now. I have two.
"Too many" miles is not a good way to look at a bike.
I've got almost 8000 miles on my 8 month old one, yet in the past I've bought bikes that were over 20 years old with the same mileage. How a machine is taken care of has a bigger effect than how far it's gone. Neglect shows more on a motorcycle.

Answer 3

it depends on the make of the bike, BMWs are known to have well over 100,000 miles on them, there are 200 and 300 clubs for BMWs where the bike must have at least 200,000 and 300,000 miles respectively to join. As long as the bike has been well maintained, there should be nothing wrong with a high mileage bike. My I put close to if not over 10,000 miles per year.

Answer 4

Mileage is a poor way to judge the mechanical condition of anything. I'd rather purchase a bike that had been driven 100k miles and routinely maintained and one that someone rode the piss out of for 10k miles then decided to ditch when things started going bad. It's better to look for signs of major problems (metal shavings in the oil, low compression, etc.) than to rely on an odometer.

Answer 5

Actually, you are ok to compare "like a car" but not so much HOW MANY miles but what KIND of miles.
A bike with 100k miles on the freeway is much better that a bike thats has 40k miles of trail/off road time.

Answer 6

Colby of route has no theory what he's talking about. 10 ok miles is fairly damaged in. yet see you later as each and each of the usual scheduled upkeep has been accomplished, mileage may be the perfect issue you trouble about. in case you want a range, 100k. by technique of then, if aspects havent been inspected and altered contained in the perfect servicing. It likely will this one. it truly is no longer unusual for traveling motorcycles to rack up those large figures.

Answer 7

It's really impossible to answer this. If a bike engine is well maintained, it's much easier to rebuilt parts of it than a car.

BMW bikes are known for their longevity and 100,000 miles is not much for one of them.

Answer 8

I was told by a motorcycle repair shop that anything under 750cc 25.000 miles were pretty wore out. and anything over 1000cc like a gold wing 100.000 is getting pretty much wore out. It all depends upon the abuse and upkeep and did they do well with both.

The lower the miles the better for bikes.

Answer 9

bike motors are held to tighter tolerances when built with the proper maint they wll last a long time 100000 is not uncomman on a goldwing 50000 is not uncomman for a vfr800 unless you know the person selling i would stick with as few as miles that you can find. Most people tend to do stupid stuff when it come to maint. on thier equip.

Answer 10

Any and all miles without an upset are "good" miles There are never "too many" miles.