Fifty

[bigiain]

Holy crap, I knew a few guys had gone over 100k, but 200k.....no way!

So what happened, and what is that big chunk of aluminum from?

That'd be a chunk of stainless steel exhaust valve (sitting on top of a chunk of aluminium that used to be a perfectly good piston).

Protip for others approaching 200k miles or 12 years. Your cam belt tensioner bearings probably need replacing...

big

[KnightofNi]

Yeah, that's pretty much the norm.  But it's really nice, for those of us that can do it, when you find the bike that fits you best and you just ride it.  I've ridden dozens of other bikes since I got my Monster, and have yet to ride anything that made me want to switch.  A few have come fairly close, but nothing yet that would be worth the expense to me to make the change.  If BMW takes that six from the K1600GT and builds a naked K1600R out of it, that might just do it.  Otherwise, odds are I'm spending the next 30 years on what I've got.

PhilB

i was the same way until i got the triumph. i loved riding the XR, but it wasn't the same. Even with the triumph I missed my monster and when I got back on it i rememberd why i loved it so much.

[PhilB]

So Phil, is that 199,000miles in your sig reasonably up-to-date?

I'm on 304,000km now, so I'm _still_ playing catchup :-)

Yep, that's current.  I should hit 200K by next weekend.  (I'll post a thread.)

PhilB

[Privateer]

I was a little afraid it would be taken that way, and I hope the OP did not.  No, I meant it.  How many bikes actually see 50K?  Probably well under 5%.  And how many of those see it pretty much under just one rider?  I think putting serious miles on one bike that you like is cool, and I'm glad when I see other people do it.

I know you guys were pretty much just kidding around, but I wanted to make sure I was clear.

PhilB

nope, didn't take it that way.  The comments about wanting a new one are pretty accurate. I've been wanting a new one since IMS; as I said elsewhere, something with less maintenance requirements.  But I'm a single income family with the wife not working and a new bike isn't in the cards for the extended future. 

So I'll just ride the hell out of the bike I have and like, do stupid mods to it that no one else would like, and let the fates decide when I get a new bike.

[BastrdHK]

Yowsers!....Piston wins, heh.....tensioner bearings noted 

[PhilB]

nope, didn't take it that way.  The comments about wanting a new one are pretty accurate. I've been wanting a new one since IMS; as I said elsewhere, something with less maintenance requirements.  But I'm a single income family with the wife not working and a new bike isn't in the cards for the extended future. 

So I'll just ride the hell out of the bike I have and like, do stupid mods to it that no one else would like, and let the fates decide when I get a new bike.

Your maintenance requirements should be going down about now anyway.  At 50K, your engine is finally fully settled in and shouldn't be changing much.  I cut my valve check frequency in half after about 40K, and it has been fine.

PhilB

[JohnEE]

Congrats! I think i could put that much on a bike if I didn't leave in New England.....

PhilB, That's insane. How long have you've been riding that one?

[PhilB]

Congrats! I think i could put that much on a bike if I didn't leave in New England.....

PhilB, That's insane. How long have you've been riding that one?

We'll see how that changes things, since I'm in the process right now of moving to New England (from San Diego).

I've been riding it as daily transportation since I brought it home brand new, on 25Sep, 1993.

PhilB

[Privateer]

Your maintenance requirements should be going down about now anyway.  At 50K, your engine is finally fully settled in and shouldn't be changing much.  I cut my valve check frequency in half after about 40K, and it has been fine.

PhilB

good to know.  I'll have to check and see what the next valve check looks like.

[koko64]

"I've been riding it as daily transportation since I brought it home brand new, on 25Sep, 1993."
PhilB

That is staunch, both you and the bike.  Congratulations Phil.

Since a new 1100 Evo is over 20 k on the road down here, I have made a long term committment to my '95 900, to rebuild/repaint and upgrade her closer to 60,000 miles.
She has 30,000 so far and has a ported, hi comp motor with FCRs and other intake and ignition mods, light clutch and flywheel, etc.  I recently upgraded her brakes and clutch m/cs, and fitted a Penske shock.
Next rebuild will be 944, paint, crank balance, more porting and 44mm inlet valves.
If I have spent an extra $5000 on her including the next rebuild I will be ahead $$$.

Is such a thing a viable option for you in the States?

[PhilB]

Yes, it is. 

But I have tended more to take the approach of "if'n it ain't broke, don't fix it", so my bike is as stock as possible.  Up to about 170K it was almost completely stock; since then I've made some upgrades as a few things wore out.  But, for example, when I needed to replace my carbs, I looked into the whole FCR thing, but I need tractability and good starting and cold weather capability more than I want extra performance, so I went with a set of the OEM Mikunis.

PhilB

[koko64]

That's fair enough. I may say I have future plans for my bike, but if nothing fails, I might just leave it as it is. I'm just so impressed with the strength of the old 900 design.
 Considering the reasonable prices for new bikes Stateside,  would you rebuild or buy new again in the future?

[PhilB]

Rationally, it would be smarter to get another bike.  Indeed, rationally it would have been smarter to get another bike about 30K ago; I've put about as much money into it in the last 3 years as the bike is worth.

But the fact is that I really like this bike, and am proud of where we've gotten, (and I like to brag about it), so my actual plan is to keep it, and just fix it as needed, for as long as it will go.  If it gets totaled, or throws a rod, or something like that where fixing it would mean replacing so much that it's not really the same bike anymore, then I'd get a new bike.

My shortlist for that is: (1) Ducati HyperMotard 1100 with CA Cycleworks tank, (2) Ducati StreetFighter 1098, if I could get a non-plastic tank for it, (3) MV Agusta Brutale 1090, (4) MotoGuzzi Griso 8V, (5) BMW K1300R if I could get one into the country.  If BMW was to build a K1600R, that would leap to the top of the list.  If EBR builds a new version of the Buell 1125CR, that would be a contender.  And I would absolutely have to get a testride on a Bimota Tesi 3D to see if it wins.

But my ideal scenario is to hit 500K on this bike, somewhere around the year 2040.  Unless it needs it before then, I plan to do an engine rebuild at about 250K, just as a precaution.  The bottom end cases and transmission haven't been opened since it left the factory in 1993.

PhilB

[koko64]

Thats awesome Phil, I understand where you're coming from.