Joining The Ranks of The Few!
Miles, miles, and more miles!
Okay, here’s the plan. I have a 94 BMW R1100RS that I bought used in ’02. The bike had high mileage (82k) when I bought it, and an interesting history. Talking with the original owner, I found that this bike had been in the Iron Butt twice. (finished both times, but I don’t know what placing).
The former owner kept complete maintenance records and these made some very interesting reading. Let’s see; 12 thousand miles, 18 months, a set of tires / 12 thousand miles, 18 months, another set of tires / 12 thousand miles, SIX WEEKS, a set of tires. Wow! I’ve always dreamed of riding the Iron Butt, but I could never handle that kind of long days. I need my solid eight hours of sleep every day.
The bike even was even rigged up with a second fuel pump and lines for an auxiliary fuel tank on the rear rack. The stock bike has over 5 gallons in the fuel tank. At 50 miles per gallon (I have received from 44 to 60 mpg), times 5 gallons is 250 miles. Now I don’t know about you, but I need to pee more often than that, so I certainly don’t need extra gas for more range.
So, back to the plan. The bike now has 88 thousand miles on it, and this idea keeps nudging me. Since it will be 10 years old this summer, wouldn’t it be great to roll it to 100,000 miles! I thought that was a very appropriate number under the circumstances.
Now my buddy Ron Napier, usually averages 12k miles a year. He quite often gets several 3 or 4 day rides in during the summer. I usually average about 6 to 7k miles a summer. If I am able to get in one or two full weekends of riding, I am fortunate. So 12k is going to take more commitment to reach. I do have to say that I have done more. One summer I tallied up over 14 thousand miles. (Yes, I got wet, but it was an enjoyable summer.) The farthest away I was able to go was Windsor, and most of the miles accumulated were just daily commuting. I just used the bike for everything. Even put on 100 miles on Christmas day that year, and it was only 20 degrees! (burr!) So, if I can get the miles I want this summer, this bike will average out at 10,000 miles a year.
So what is considered average miles on a bike? Working at C&S, I see a lot of trade-in’s that are 4 or 5 years old with
about 12k miles on them. I also see some that are two years old with 25k, but most have less. I get many more of the former;
bikes that have only been ridden an average of 2500 miles a year. That figure may be misleading though, because the real
story is a little different. Many people buy a bike and put many miles on it the first year. The second year is usually about half
as many miles.
1994 BMW
So many roads - So little time!
Then they get a summer (as we all have), where they can ride very little. Family obligations, work, and
weather will occasionally all combine to produce a summer with little opportunity to ride. What next? Some people get right
back at it and ride as much as possible. But others may only ride 1500 miles the next summer or two. Those people need the
excitement of a new bike to get them fired up again. I recently read of Don Arthur, who rode 117,000 in 2002. He is retired
(obviously) and must have an incredibly long-suffering wife. (wonder if she has a sister?) Don said he usually rides “only” 10
to 15k per year and wanted to see what he could do. I think he did very well!
The other consideration of riding lots of miles is your bikes "resale" value. Unfortunately many used bike buyers are still
skeptical of a bike with over 30,000 on it. We all recognize that cars are expected to run dependably well past 100,000 miles.
Modern motorcycles will do the same but most of us have not adjusted to that mentally. So until the average bike buyer
becomes more aware of that, your mileage will affect your resale.
Got a high mileage story?
Send it to us!
A five year old bike with 12 or 16,000 is easy to sell. At 25 to 30,000 it is still fairly easy to sell, but the mileage will somewhat lower the price. At 40 to 50k price becomes the main issue as the buyer need some incentive to overcome his wariness about the miles. At that point, the buyer’s main concern is maintenance and condition. If the bike is well taken care of, he is much more comfortable with it. Those of us who keep a bike all go thru this process. At about 25 thousand, we wonder if we should sell it before it affects the value. At 50 thousand miles, we decide we may just as well ride it, as it will be harder to sell. And at 75 thousand, we become determined to see how many miles we can put on it. At 100,000 you have joined the few, the proud, the hard corps! Now you have serious bragging rights! So I am currently at the third level. My bike has bottomed out on resale due to mileage. Any additional miles I acquire will no longer affect the value as long a I maintain it well.
So now to the quest! How many miles can I put on it?!
Ride safe.
-LC