GS average life expectancy

[frijoles-and-beans]

Plenty of the modern bikes are running flawlessly above 100k too. Not knocking the GS, as they are great bikes. Just pointing out that the new ones aren't as bad as people make them out to be.

I've heard this over and over; that the older (70's and 80's) bikes are great for longevity, but the new ones aren't. Not that I have enough to even buy one of the new ones, but it makes me wonder. Are they really that poorly made nowadays?

I refer to my old truck (1984) when I'm thinking about this subject. I keep hearing the GS's are bullet-proof; well, my truck is bullet-proof. Some of these newer vehicles seem so delicate these days. Is it just perception? I had a 1997 Plymouth Neon that had 123,000 miles when I sold it. It didn't give me many problems at all.

Oh, and 1997 apparently is considered new to me.

[DanTheMan]

I've heard this over and over; that the older (70's and 80's) bikes are great for longevity, but the new ones aren't. Not that I have enough to even buy one of the new ones, but it makes me wonder. Are they really that poorly made nowadays?

I refer to my old truck (1984) when I'm thinking about this subject. I keep hearing the GS's are bullet-proof; well, my truck is bullet-proof. Some of these newer vehicles seem so delicate these days. Is it just perception? I had a 1997 Plymouth Neon that had 123,000 miles when I sold it. It didn't give me many problems at all.

Oh, and 1997 apparently is considered new to me.

Newer than anything I have in my yard. My newest vehicle is the '95 Suburban diesel with 252k on it.

[sedelen]

I think alot of bikes just don't get the opportunity to see how many miles they can go. Allot are lost to accidents, parted out, neglected, and now we have ethanol gas to deal with, and maybe soon ethanol gas with increasing amounts of ethanol.
I have about 25K on my GS1000, I had 15K on the GS1100, but now it only has 6K because I just changed out the gauges!
And when I got rid of my Skunk I had over 24K.

If I kept a log book for everything I did and bought and had done to these bikes, it would be too heavy to carry. I do however keep my receipts for each bike in a yellow manilla envelope.

[frijoles-and-beans]

I think alot of bikes just don't get the opportunity to see how many miles they can go. Allot are lost to accidents, parted out, neglected, and now we have ethanol gas to deal with, and maybe soon ethanol gas with increasing amounts of ethanol.
I have about 25K on my GS1000, I had 15K on the GS1100, but now it only has 6K because I just changed out the gauges!
And when I got rid of my Skunk I had over 24K.

If I kept a log book for everything I did and bought and had done to these bikes, it would be too heavy to carry. I do however keep my receipts for each bike in a yellow manilla envelope.

If I had the cash I would buy one of the newer bikes. I'd buy one of those crotch-rockets and see how fast they really are. GSX probably, but that's just dreaming anyway.

My log-books stay a pretty reasonable size. I carry one in each vehicle. I've put a lot of miles on them, and I've logged a lot of entries. It still stays pretty manageable.

Edit: You know, I was just thinking about it, and motorcycles have busier maintenance cycles than other vehicles. You might be right about there not being enough room. I still have yet to put that many miles on my bike, but I already have a good start on the log-book so I suspect that it really will fill in a lot quicker than the other vehicles log-books.

[Jethro]

I've heard this over and over; that the older (70's and 80's) bikes are great for longevity, but the new ones aren't. Not that I have enough to even buy one of the new ones, but it makes me wonder. Are they really that poorly made nowadays?

I spend a fair amount of time on the FZ1 forum for obvious reasons and there is a guy with an '06 like mine that he just rolled 100k miles on. My buddy has a '99 (I believe) ZRX that has easily over 60k miles on. I think it all comes down to care and feeding. Treat 'em right and they will go the distance.

[fastpakr]

Exactly. I've seen similar numbers when skimming through the FZ6 forums. On the Vulcan 500 forums we have one owner with 128k on his '97 (which he just used for a SaddleSore 1000 a couple of days ago). When we're comparing 30 year old motorcycles to ones made in the past few years, there's an extra 25+ years in there for accumulated mileage. Obviously the average miles will make them look exponentially more reliable.

[Crazy_Russian]

i got my with 27k on it... and it sat outside for who knows how many years.... head to do a grate amount of work to it over the last 3 years, but now she purrs like a kitten

[1_v8_merc]

The only way to see if the bikes today are reliable...is to beat one up, drop it in a barn, and come back in 20 years.

[Crazy_Russian]

lol, i bet it would take allot more to get the new ones going then ours did... but who knows

[the_zander]

I dont necessarily agree with the "they dont make 'em like they used to" school of thought. Comparing plain-bearing motors from the 80s with current models there are numerous technological advancements that have greatly increased the expected longevity of modern motors. Electro-plated cylinder bores, alloy steel ring packs, better forging alloys and thats just acounting for the improvments in modern bottom ends. I do however believe, and i think this is a widely supported by empirical evidence, that in low to medium power output applications roller bearings outlast plain bearings hands down.

Back on topic my '78 GS750's odometer reads 90,000Kms, but it stopped functioning years ago so i would estimate 120-130,000KMs and she still purrs reliabily with 120psi compression and less than 5% leakdown.

-Zander