GS average life expectancy

[frijoles-and-beans]

I have had two GS motorcycles, but never long enough to know how long they're good for? I have read things like 100,000+ miles on them. I've probably read a good bit of that on here. Is this accurate, given proper maintenance on these bikes or is this just an abberation? I have a low mileage GS, and I was just curious as to what I've read about them.

 

[hampshirehog]

Yep - do the maintenance and keep 'em clean and they'll last. I've had a couple of 8 valvers - 750 and a 550 - that were still going strong well in to 6 figures. In fact the 750 was quite abused and not well maintained but it still lasted and went well.

 

[Nessism]

Maintenance is the key I think. Based on the number of posts in the Tech forums where the owners have never performed a valve adjustment I seriously doubt the average GS makes it to 50k miles.

 

[DanTheMan]

Mine is currently pushing 93k miles. That's even with poor valve adjustments until recently. It burns some oil out of the valve guides, has a float sticking again in #2 carb ocassionally, otherwise it runs pretty well. I expect to have over 100k on it by the end of the season here.

 

[Krunk_Kracker]

Damn, so I'm sitting pretty with 28K on my '82 GS 650 haha

 

[7981GS]

73,000 showing on one of my '80 1000G's and it was in SAD shape when I got it.
Parts and cobwebs.
My Wife and I rode her another 25-30 miles last week.

Daniel

 

[GSexpress]

I put over 240K mi on a 78 1000E that I bought new and rode the **** out of. I also took very good care of it. It's my sig pic. That's how it looked last year when I sold it.

 

[Flyboy]

375K on my GS1000G, and was not to good with the valve adjustment thing, she also saw her fair share of abuse, when I was young and stupid.
But otherwise, she was pretty well looked after, she was my livelyhood after all.

 

[TheCafeKid]

I recently had a GS1100GK with well over 140K on it. Was running strong and had never had the head off it. Unfortunately I passed it on to someone else who dumped it pretty hard. motor still ran though!

 

[frijoles-and-beans]

I've got a little maintenance notebook that I keep in each vehicle. I even made one for my daughter's car. I use the little spiral notebooks, and just fill in a little information when I do something to the vehicle. I'm pretty meticulous about that sort of thing. I had to cut off the edge of one for it to fit in that tiny tool case under the seat on the GS, but it's there.

When I bought this bike, I was looking forward to that high mileage that I had read about. I am happy to see that it looks to be true. I want to be able to own this thing for a long time, and it seems I can.

 

[SVSooke]

There is a myth out there still believed by some that Japanese bikes are only good for 30,000 miles.Always was a load to.They where cheap in the day so most of them where bought as toys then thrown away at the first sign of maintenance.My 750 is edging up to 50,000km(approx30,000 miles).Lots of life left in it but it was in the process of being thrown away when I got it.

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

My 850 is approaching 50K with minimal maintance,

 

[Steve]

I've got a little maintenance notebook that I keep in each vehicle. ... I had to cut off the edge of one for it to fit in that tiny tool case under the seat on the GS, but it's there. ...

If you just want to keep service records, you can use the "Summary" page of the valve adjust spreadsheet I sent you two months ago today. :-\\\

However, if you also keep track of the gas that you put in the tank (like I do on my cages), you will need to keep the book in the bike.

By the way, life expectancy?

My wife's bike has over 64,000 miles.
My son's bike has about 47,000 miles.
My GS has about 16,000 miles.
My Wing, on the other hand, has over 175,000 miles.

.

 

[kdo58]

my 850 has 62,000 miles and I just rode it ca. from wa. state uses a little oil. My speedo calble broke north of portland, was my only issue.

 

[frijoles-and-beans]

If you just want to keep service records, you can use the "Summary" page of the valve adjust spreadsheet I sent you two months ago today. :-\\\

However, if you also keep track of the gas that you put in the tank (like I do on my cages), you will need to keep the book in the bike.

.

I like the hard-copy version. I saw that little summary spot, but if I couldn't recover it for some reason, I would flip. I keep up with all the fixes, tune-ups, repairs, routine maintenance and MPG's with that thing. It has all the dates and the mileage when I did the work. It has how much I paid for everything too.

I keep a separate gas notebook at home. I couldn't convince my daughter that the gas one was necessary, so she only has the maintenance one that she keeps in the glove compartment.

Now that I think about it, I should keep the gas one in the bike, and the maintenance one in the house. Knowing me, though, I would lose the maintenance one, and that would be that.

 

[Steve]

I know how you feel. My paper version gets entered into ... into ... a ... what's that thing called? Oh, yeah, a spreadsheet , so I have both, a paper version and one that excites a few electrons.

The electronic version makes it easier to get mpg averages and other "important" stuff.

.

 

[Billy Ricks]

I recently had a GS1100GK with well over 140K on it. Was running strong and had never had the head off it. Unfortunately I passed it on to someone else who dumped it pretty hard. motor still ran though!

Someone smashed up Nick's old bike?

 

[Billy Ricks]

I probably have somewhere around 70,000 miles on my 700. That's with a plain bearing crank. I'm not real sure about the mileage because I ran for a while with a shot speedo drive. I think I had about 45k on my original gauges and now close to 20k on the Gixxer gauges. Still runs strong after plenty of abuse.

 

[frijoles-and-beans]

You really want to talk meticulous? I have a four-color pen to color-code the process. I have repairs, replacements, and rebuilds in red, maintenance and tune-ups in blue. I have green as upgrades and customization. I've got plenty of blue, a little bit of red, and a little bit of green. I would really like to add more green, but in order to do that I need more green, so there's where I stand with that. It makes a good visual device when I'm looking the notebook over. I like to see a lot of blue so I won't have to see a lot of red. Does that make sense?

 

[frijoles-and-beans]

I know how you feel. My paper version gets entered into ... into ... a ... what's that thing called? Oh, yeah, a spreadsheet , so I have both, a paper version and one that excites a few electrons.

The electronic version makes it easier to get mpg averages and other "important" stuff.

.

I did use your spreadsheet, but I actually copied it down on a paper. I didn't print it; but you're right, it does make it easier.