How long will a S last ?

[scotty]

Think some of you might be interested in this.

A couple of weeks ago I was on the phone to a biking mate and he was telling me about an article that was in one of the Jan issues of MCN re ultra high mileage motorbikes and the riders who use them to do rallys such as the Iron Butt etc. In the issue it mentioned a retired couple who use a variety of BM's to do their trips. Anyhow I was interested in what servicing / spares they had used so e-mailed them to find out. The guy's wife had run a R1100RS for 178,000 miles and sold it. Prior to sale it needed an output shaft bearing and that's it.

That was a few years ago and she has since bought another R1100RS which now has 350,000miles up and to date has had very little work done. The bike still runs on the same crank, pistons and rings. The valves were replaced/refurbished at about 300,000miles but even that was not necessary. Riding in a heavy rain the engine ingested moisture through the air snorkel, and the moisture broke loose carbon (coke) buildup in the combustion chambers. when she stopped at lights it died due to carbon bits getting lodged under the exhaust valve seats so it lost commpression.

All their bikes have run mainly on Castrol brand automotive oil - 20w50 weight GTX. They never have used synthetic oil.

Well, since the RS is pretty similar to the S model.........it seems that at least 250,000 miles should be well on for an S.

Cheers

[Gromit]

Ask Jason in a couple of years' time

I know plenty of H0ndas with 250k+ on them. Was an article in MCN a couple of years ago about a guy who'd got nearly 300k on a Blackbird, and had put over 400k on a VFR750. His 'tricks' (or just good old common sense) and tips for making an engine last were very enlightening.

[winger]

I remember years back a courier comeing into work on a VT500 with 160,000 on the clock,have you had to do much to it i ask,yea he says change the oil.

[Cobbster]

Castrol GTX? the car stuff?. Might have to change my oil habbits. I do mine every 3K so it gets a bit expensive if I'm doing high miles, which I fully intend doing this year. I only clocked up 6K on the bike last year hoping to double it this season, work permitting

Thanks, Cobbster.

[oyster]

I remember an article about a couple that went round the world on a CX500. Although they fitted a new short engine, in the far east Ithink, the rest of the bike did stellar mileage.

[scotty]

One of the other things he said in his e-mail was that he used to have a BM 750 triple which was working perfectly until it was written off by a van. He was ok apart from a fractured rib and was saying that just before the accident he carried out a compression test and the reading was in the ok / excellent band. The bike had done over 370,000miles !

You would think the cam chain or something would be knacked but they never changed anything. It seems the only suspect area on the S would be the drive transmission after high mileage of near 200,000miles.

I've been running mine on oil thinner than the 20/50w but it sounds like the thicker oil is more suitable. Don't know if I can go back to a mineral oil though as I've been using semi-synthetic up to now.

[RoLoo]

...Dutch Sjaak Lucassen did 250.000 kilometers (156.250 miles) on his Yamaha R1...
...often under extreme conditions...

...and the bike...?
...still running...!











...took him 5 years and 5 months to travel around the world...



...and before the Yamaha ; he did 160.000 kilometers (100.000 miles) on a secondhand 900 Fireblade...

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

That riding position looks sooooo comfy.
Does the man have no nads?

I'm not surprised it took him 5 years you would have to get off and re-arrange tackle every 20 miles

[boxerpan]

Good grief - those rear shots are 'nearly' as wide as an S with panniers fitted

[oyster]

I think he has one of those trailer tents on the back. Clever fold away device with bed compartment; kitchenette; shower; bidet etc.

[RoLoo]

...Sjaak's new bike...
...he received the keys from Colin Edwards at the 2007 Dutch-TT...




...a 4 minute video...

[Jason M]

Ask Jason in a couple of years' time

I know plenty of H0ndas with 250k+ on them. Was an article in MCN a couple of years ago about a guy who'd got nearly 300k on a Blackbird, and had put over 400k on a VFR750. His 'tricks' (or just good old common sense) and tips for making an engine last were very enlightening.

My feckin S has been off the road all winter and during recent efforts to get it back on the road I've had to get a pillar drill to the rear piston to get the pad pin out, then went an flippin snapped off the bleed nipple too - bastard! She'll be back on the road next week - just picked up a near new BT020 for 40 quid this am. She's done nothing really for the last couple of years but should be over 150k in a couple of months now. Starting to feel her age though