400,000 miles, guess what kind of bike it is ...

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TechTMW · #1 Post by **TechTMW** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:25 am

This is a friend of mine from the states (Though he's visited me here in Italy once) Thought you bike nerds might be interested in his story

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1318917&secid=2

sharpmagna · #2 Post by **sharpmagna** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:45 am

Kewl. Reminds me of the story where this VW car did 1 million mile on the same engine. The owner used it as a daily driver too.

Let us know when your buddy hits 1 Million

Andrew · #3 Post by **Andrew** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:55 pm

I'm starting to see a common theme with these posts of yours Tech...

That's a little less that 12,000 a year. Not an inordinate amount of riding, but the bike definetly lasted a long time.

paul246 · #4 Post by **paul246** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:40 pm

Good story. Not to diminish it but I know of a Valkyrie that is only slightly behind him in accumulated mileage with NO engine rebuilds, and there are a bunch of others with over 250,000 miles...just maintenance, no major repairs or rebuilds. Maybe there IS something to that boxer layout.

jmillheiser · #5 Post by **jmillheiser** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:05 pm

I think the world record for accumulated milage is still held by a Volvo P1800. theres a few of those old toyota pickups that are creeping close to a million too.

I could definately see a valk or goldwing putting on those kinds of miles. It really is a pretty understressed engine with little vibration.

only VWs I could see putting on a million miles are the diesel ones. 100,000 was about the usable limit for a type 1 aircooled boxer and 250,000 was about the limit for a type 4 aircooled boxer. the type 1 (the beetle engine) engine case was made from a very soft magnesium alloy with cast iron cylinders and a rather soft aluminum alloy for the heads.

Watercooled VWs have pretty reliable engines but tend to need transmission rebuilds at 100K like clockwork. The diesel VWs were understressed enough to not kill their gearboxes

TechTMW · #6 Post by **TechTMW** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 7:54 pm

I posted cuz it's a friend of mine, not because it's an unheard of accomplishment - I love hearing about other bikes that have made it well past the 200,000 mile mark. If you guys n gals have stories, please share em! It shows real dedication to the bike not to mention a real satisfaction with the ride that hard to find these days when people are always looking to upgrade!

Another bit that's not mentioned in this story is that Matt owns 6 other airheads, strider is just his first. So while his mileage seems not so huge for the age of the bike, keep in mind he's also got those others to take care of.

He also owns a 1970 r60/5 and a 1971 r60/5 that he bought specifically for riding around europe (whith his wife). Last summer they completed a 3 month tour of europe, and they keep these 2 bikes garaged in Germany for whenever they return.

Stratus311 · #7 Post by **Stratus311** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:55 am

Tech: That's my local newspaper!!

Sweet article by the way.