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i dont know much about bike motors, but i'm planning on getting a used cruiser bike this year. somewhere between the years 2000-2005 with an 800 to 1100 cc motor. some of them have kilometers up in the high 30's mid 40's. which is 25,000 to 30,000 miles range. what i dont know is if thats high for bike motor and getting to point of having to be rebuilt or if it still has lots of running left in it. looking in the honda, yamaha, suzuki bike cruiser lineup. naturally if it has a lot less useage would be better, but if there ok with that kinda miles not to disregard even looking at them. the bike would be just for using back and forth to work weather permitting using highway about an hour each way, and weekend day trippping. bike would be from a dealer if that makes any difference or not. any comments would appreciated. thank you

My MSF instructor just ran into the Honda Dist. Service guy. Honda builds their engines to last 200k Miles. Every engine.

Now, weather that is real or marketing blather, you can decide.

Those numbers are not high at all, no matter what make it is.

thank you for your reply, i'll feel more at ease now knowing that with having that kind of mileage on them there ok to look at and consider purchasing. the ones i was looking at with that mileage were the 1100 V-star.

tymanthius wrote:My MSF instructor just ran into the Honda Dist. Service guy. Honda builds their engines to last 200k Miles. Every engine.

Now, weather that is real or marketing blather, you can decide.

Too bad they built their cam chain tensioners for 20,000 miles.

tymanthius wrote:My MSF instructor just ran into the Honda Dist. Service guy. Honda builds their engines to last 200k Miles. Every engine.

Now, weather that is real or marketing blather, you can decide.

I doubt that statement very much. Can anyone out there show me a bike from ANY manufacturer with the original engine with that kind of mileage on it? That may be Honda's ultimate goal but I don't think they are quite there yet.

To the OP when I'm looking at a bike I look for something with 3-4K per year. A 6 year old bike with 30K miles is, I think, "slightly" on the high side. This is my personal preference more than anything. It wouldn't stop me from buying it but I would ask for a little bit of leeway on the price. Mileage is not near as important as overall condition of the bike.

Gunslinger wrote: Can anyone out there show me a bike from ANY manufacturer with the original engine with that kind of mileage on it?

Sure - Voni Glaves' original BMW R1100RS, with over a third of a million miles: https://www.bigbend.net/users/glaves/voni.htm

But I agree with you, that overall condition and maintenance of the bike is more important than simply the number of miles. )She's lucky enough to have a live-in master tech.)

Recently I've bought a Suzuki SV650 with 50k miles, and this one seems to have had a "sexy time" with previous owners, but the engine still runs well. Only the noisy cam chain seems to be a problem...

So, I think, a cruiser engine should last even longer. Of course, when buying, you should put more attention checking, what you can check - gear changes, clutch, oil leaks...

Gunslinger wrote:

tymanthius wrote:My MSF instructor just ran into the Honda Dist. Service guy. Honda builds their engines to last 200k Miles. Every engine.

Now, weather that is real or marketing blather, you can decide.

I doubt that statement very much. Can anyone out there show me a bike from ANY manufacturer with the original engine with that kind of mileage on it? That may be Honda's ultimate goal but I don't think they are quite there yet.

To the OP when I'm looking at a bike I look for something with 3-4K per year. A 6 year old bike with 30K miles is, I think, "slightly" on the high side. This is my personal preference more than anything. It wouldn't stop me from buying it but I would ask for a little bit of leeway on the price. Mileage is not near as important as overall condition of the bike.

Thats' easy. I know of many Honda Valkyrie riders with well over 250K miles and some were approaching 350K miles without the engines ever needing more than regular maintenance. Valkyrie riders are well known for packing on the miles in a hurry cause the bike is such as sensational ride.

I also have a friend who put over 200K miles on her Yamaha 700cc Maxim, no major issues. She sold the bike and the second owner is still enjoying it. She already has many thousands on her new Kawaski meanstreak.

Gunslinger wrote:
I doubt that statement very much. Can anyone out there show me a bike from ANY manufacturer with the original engine with that kind of mileage on it? That may be Honda's ultimate goal but I don't think they are quite there yet.

I still ride a 1990 PC. I've put well over 200,000 miles on it since June 2005. Only engine parts replaced were spark plugs and filters. I weigh 240lbs and it gets me up to speed quite quickly. Faster than most cars but nowhere near as fast as my GL1200 or KZ-1100. Still on the original clutch and never had it slip even while racing and beating a friends Harley Road King. About 125mph top speed. Very cramped riding position and seat height is NOT for legs shorter than 32 inch inseam. Still a GREAT short trip/commuter bike. The trunk will hold most anything you would want to take to work and keep it dry.Will hold 6 bags of groceries with ease. Best $3000 I've ever spent on any vehicle. On vehicle price per mile it works out to about 1 penney a mile and getting cheaper every mile . I'm new to Wings and can only hope they are half as dependable and care free as the Pacific Coast has been.