Longest Lasting Bike Engines

I had a CB750 with 75k miles but it was getting a bit tired, burning quite a bit of oil.

Moto Guzzis can go 100-200k easily. Overbuilt, simple, and understressed.

rotard wrote: I'll go one further and say that Honda>ALL in terms of quality and reliability.

I would say BMW/Honda>All is a fairer statement. The new BMWs are just so rock solid.

Don't forget that bikes, like cars, get sad when they stand around. A lot of people use bikes strictly as toys, which makes a lot of bikes "high mileage" when they're doing 1500 miles/year. No engine likes it much when it's run for five miles before it's shut down again.

A lot of people who buy Goldwings, BMW tourers or the Harley letter salad tourers buy them because they ride a lot, and in order to ride a lot you know you have to look after the bike. So the choices are often between low mileage bikes that have been serviced every five years if they needed it or not, and bikes that have had a lot of maintenance because their owners rely on them as proper transport rather than toys. As a result, the proper transport ones seem to last quite long.

I've got 51,000 on my VFR800 and it still accelerates hard enough off of corners to catch 600 supersport bikes.

If I were to ride the same bike for 10 years (100,000 miles) I think any Honda CBR would make it. 600, 900, 1000. They're highly stressed but well-designed and built.

I won't get into agument over ignorant comments about "Harley letter salad tourers", but if they can only do 20k between rebuilds, my year-and-a-half old Road Glide will need it next Spring.

Paul, I think that "Letter Salad" is interchangeable with "Alphabet Soup"...and is simply a way of saying there are may models of H-D touring bikes (FLHTC, FLHTCU, FLRTX. FLTRU, FLHR, FLHRC etc). I did not take that comment as ignorant/insulting etc.

Thanks for setting me straight about Desmo valves, they are pretty cool and an interesting mechanical design. I guess the desmo design is like the alligator, a modern dinosaur which hasn't yet gone extinct.

ST_ZX2 wrote: Paul, I think that "Letter Salad" is interchangeable with "Alphabet Soup"...and is simply a way of saying there are may models of H-D touring bikes (FLHTC, FLHTCU, FLRTX. FLTRU, FLHR, FLHRC etc). I did not take that comment as ignorant/insulting etc.

Indeed, "alphabet soup" was the term I was looking for. You have to admit that most people need a secret decoder ring to figure out the Harley model designations.

BTW, I've owned Harleys in the past that had more than 20k on the clock and didn't need a rebuild .

First Character: F = big twin / Second character: L= fat front tire, X=skinny front tire / Third Letter: Chassis type; D=Dyna, S=Softail, H=Touring (Electra Glide/Road King), T=Touring with fixed Fairing (Road Glide) /

Remaining characters: Model designation.

Trans_Maro wrote: My CX500 has 68,000 on it and I keep hearing stories of them hitting 200K plus. I realise HD uses modern technology and all that but how long did it take them to adopt unit construction? Shawn

Unit construction (trans in engine cases) for HD started in 52 with the "model K" At that time it was harley 1st all new bike from gorund up design in 17 years so them being slow to adopt new tech is nothing new here.

benzbaronDaryn wrote: Thanks for setting me straight about Desmo valves, they are pretty cool and an interesting mechanical design. I guess the desmo design is like the alligator, a modern dinosaur which hasn't yet gone extinct.

It shall never go extinct! as long as a rider remains on this earth. Once you've worked on a desmo and come to understand it fully and oh yes ride one you'll understand. Yes like many brands / things in the bike world it it a life style.

BoxheadTim wrote:

ST_ZX2 wrote: Paul, I think that "Letter Salad" is interchangeable with "Alphabet Soup"...and is simply a way of saying there are may models of H-D touring bikes (FLHTC, FLHTCU, FLRTX. FLTRU, FLHR, FLHRC etc). I did not take that comment as ignorant/insulting etc.

Indeed, "alphabet soup" was the term I was looking for. You have to admit that most people need a secret decoder ring to figure out the Harley model designations.

As confused as some may be about H-D's Alphabet Soup, I see the same thing with other manufacturer's bikes - GL, SV, CB, SX, TL, etc.

I, too, think the Duc Desmo design is pretty freakin' cool.

BoxheadTim wrote: You have to admit that most people need a secret decoder ring to figure out the Harley model designations.

All you have to know is that X=Sportster and F=Big Twin, the rest can be modified from stock.

In reply to 44Dwarf:

Cool, I was always told that it was much later than that. Like Evo engine later.

Flight Service wrote:

rotard wrote: I'll go one further and say that Honda>ALL in terms of quality and reliability.

I would say BMW/Honda>All is a fairer statement. The new BMWs are just so rock solid.

not the super sports....I've had issues with my k1200s and so have a lot of other k1200/k1300 riders. Still love the bike, but a lot of BMW fans need to drop the rose colored glasses. I'm debating getting a new k1300s and I will for sure spring for the extended warranty if I do.

Also, the smugness of a lot of my fellow BMW owners is EXHAUSTING....seriously.

I've seen many high mileage Harley's...this board is pretty bad on Harley bashing and I'll bet the majority of it is completely unfounded..

I hope what you say about the Triumph's isn't true lol....I have 10k on my 09 Speed Triple, most of that in the last year, and don't really plan on slowing down soon. I will be PISSED if it needs a rebuild in another 30k.

I think the comments re the Triumph stuff is mostly for the late 90s/early 2000s Triumphs. I had a 2000-ish Sprint ST that I got cheaply from a friend - had about 28k miles on it and you couldn't go touring with it without carrying an oil bottle around. One 1L bottle got me down to the South of France (about 600 miles or so), after some corner carving down there I had to buy another bottle to get me home.

They're also notorious for their plastic fuel injection quick disconnects getting brittle due to exposure to petrol (err, what?). Mine had to go back to the dealer 3 times in the 6 months I owned it because of fuel leaks in areas that could easily start a fire.

The newest BMW I've owned was a 2004 or 2005 R1150GS Adventure that I bought when it was a year old and still had some balance left on the factory warranty. I got rid of it when the warranty ran out...

That said, I also owned a slightly earlier (2001-02) R1150RT that was pretty much problem free, but by then I had found a better BMW mechanic...

(sound of large can of gasoline being opened)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izzlN2zC8PU&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_988466&feature=iv&src_vid=izzlN2zC8PU&v=PHpa0kE86MA

WHOOMP!

In reply to Cotton: I haven't had the privelage to own a new super sport model and probablh never will. I like adventure tourers, cafe style, and sport tourers. I haven't dealt with the new "hyabusa slayer"

And you guys are right I did say 90s on the Triumph issues.

44Dwarf wrote: It shall never go extinct! as long as a rider remains on this earth. Once you've worked on a desmo and come to understand it fully and oh yes ride one you'll understand. Yes like many brands / things in the bike world it it a life style.

Didn't they say that about the Wankel engine in Mazda's?

Jack

Pre-'83 BMW boxers. They'll go literally longer than you're able, and are infinitely rebuildable. The whole bike lasts forever.

Modern? Honda VFRs and 'Wings, though the rest of the wing aside from the motor is complex.

Pretty much any Japanese motorcycle with regular service will go a long time - it's lack of use and maintenance that does them in.

I would say that the CX500 engine has the potential to run forever with little or no maintenance. But some older BMW boxers are already running 50 or 60 years after production, and the first Harley motors form 1919 are still running, so who knows.

I think a 5th-gen VFR800 would be very good in this department; seemingly well-sorted fuel injection, gear driven cams instead of the chain & hydraulic lash adjusters and VTEC of the 6th gen, in a chassis sold for something like 15 years in one form or another. I'm not a fan of the front-end styling and I like the undertail exhaust of my 6th-gen, but I think the 5th may actually be the better bike.

I have seen Kawasaki KL650 with 80-90K without a rebuild and Kawasaki Concours with over 100k

Joshua wrote: Who makes the longest lasting bike motors? It seems that Japanese bike motors are pretty tired after about 20k, but there are tons of BMW's with over 70k on a motor. Why is this?

Honda sport bikes typically have 16,000-mile maintenance intervals. Never took one to 20k miles but I did have 4 CBR 600 and 900 cc bikes I bought new and sold with between 14k and 16k and never had the valve covers off of them or had to do any other engine maintenance other than oil and filters except for a manual CCT on the F4i.

None felt tired in any way.