High mileage sports bike
Discussion
First post on this section of the forum, and risking a REPOST flaming.
What, these days, is considered a high mileage sports bike - thinking GSXR750 4-pot or SP1 Honda twin.
What parts are quickest to get tired and require replacing, and how long can a well maintained engine last before it turns into a smoking, rattling pile of poo.
Your answers are much appreciated.
What, these days, is considered a high mileage sports bike - thinking GSXR750 4-pot or SP1 Honda twin.
What parts are quickest to get tired and require replacing, and how long can a well maintained engine last before it turns into a smoking, rattling pile of poo.
Your answers are much appreciated.
I cant comment on either specifically but depending on model i would think, depending on how its been ridden, a GSXR750 may be a fairly good bet up to 50k ish.
The SP1 on the other hand i personally would be a little wary of. 2 Huge pistons and bags of instant torque put alot of strain on the bottom end etc and i'd be a bit concerned on anything over 35k ish.
Purely a personal view.
rgds,
Nick
The SP1 on the other hand i personally would be a little wary of. 2 Huge pistons and bags of instant torque put alot of strain on the bottom end etc and i'd be a bit concerned on anything over 35k ish.
Purely a personal view.
rgds,
Nick
The engines last for yonks, it’s the chassis that is more delicate and requires more frequent maintaince..Bearings, linkages, suspension all require an overhaul and that’s both expensive and time consuming.
My mates GSXR Thou had done 45K , he asked his local tuner to take it apart “because it must need a refresh”…they reluctantly put a set of rings in it…no measurable wear whatsoever…however, he was rebuilding the chassis for a much longer period of time and that is more fiddly
My mates GSXR Thou had done 45K , he asked his local tuner to take it apart “because it must need a refresh”…they reluctantly put a set of rings in it…no measurable wear whatsoever…however, he was rebuilding the chassis for a much longer period of time and that is more fiddly
mat205125 said:
As a rule of thumb then, will a similar capacity 4 last longer than a twin as the internal stresses are lower?
When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Too many variables, some owners will have the bodywork spotless but may have thrashed it from cold, missed services etc etc, while a bike with a few stone chips or scuffs could have been looked after very well.When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Ten Thousand miles on a modern Japanese superbike is no big shakes nowadays, I would not like to comment on anything with twin cylinders from outside Japan.
I took the head of my 2000 blade's engine last year with 28k on it and you could still see the honing marks on the cylinder bores. I only took it apart to get a spark plug thread redone when it spat the plug. The engine is a bit rattly but these engine are notorious for it according to the blade forum. Usual suspects are the htev valve in the exhaust rattling and the camchain tensioner can go a bit weak. None of these things are that important but the bike does gradually with miles go from a black box that can just be fed and run to something that may need to odd part. The chassis needs more attention. I'm now coming up to 30k miles (still, I haven't done many miles of late) and I've replaced the head race bearings, rear wheel bearings and have had the swing arm off while I took the engine out and greased up the link. The bike looks very cosmetically challenged but would probably clean up ok and could look quite nice apart from the off fastener succumbing to corrosion. However, a lot of this is down to the fact that I've used it over a couple of winters and rarely (i.e. annually) clean it. I do all my own servicing and maint work and have done since 8k miles.
Mark
Mark
Biker's Nemesis said:
mat205125 said:
As a rule of thumb then, will a similar capacity 4 last longer than a twin as the internal stresses are lower?
When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Too many variables, some owners will have the bodywork spotless but may have thrashed it from cold, missed services etc etc, while a bike with a few stone chips or scuffs could have been looked after very well.When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Ten Thousand miles on a modern Japanese superbike is no big shakes nowadays, I would not like to comment on anything with twin cylinders from outside Japan.
Biker's Nemesis said:
Ten Thousand miles on a modern Japanese superbike is no big shakes nowadays, I would not like to comment on anything with twin cylinders from outside Japan.
I would expect just about every two cylinder BMW from the last 35 years to do at least 5 times that before anything other than consumables needed doing engine wise. With the oil cooled engines of the last 17 years easily achieving over 100k miles before any real risk of something substantial needing doing.runnersp said:
Biker's Nemesis said:
mat205125 said:
As a rule of thumb then, will a similar capacity 4 last longer than a twin as the internal stresses are lower?
When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Too many variables, some owners will have the bodywork spotless but may have thrashed it from cold, missed services etc etc, while a bike with a few stone chips or scuffs could have been looked after very well.When checking out a 2nd hand 10k mile GSXR750, is the engine a pretty reliable item, and suspension and such more important / prone to wear?
Ten Thousand miles on a modern Japanese superbike is no big shakes nowadays, I would not like to comment on anything with twin cylinders from outside Japan.
podman said:
you have to admit italian bikes do have a reputation for unreliabilty with good reason.
That's all in the past imo, but like the saying go's "when you're good they never remember, when you're bad they never forget" and that's still a problem for Italian cars and bikes imo... Alfa are making fantastic cars now, that are equally as reliable as any other manufacture, but people still remember the bad days and no matter how good the product is now, it's hard to make them forget.All the Italian bikes I've had had been perfectly reliable. If they're treated right and serviced religiously I don't see why they shoudln't be. A work colleague has a 75000km Monster 750 and aside from usual consumables (including several cambelts) so far the speedo cable has broken and the wire to the rear left indicator broke a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to buy a new bike but has decided to see just how far the Monster will go...
JS99 said:
podman said:
you have to admit italian bikes do have a reputation for unreliabilty with good reason.
That's all in the past imo, but like the saying go's "when you're good they never remember, when you're bad they never forget" and that's still a problem for Italian cars and bikes imo... Alfa are making fantastic cars now, that are equally as reliable as any other manufacture, but people still remember the bad days and no matter how good the product is now, it's hard to make them forget.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff