What would be considered high mileage?

[GregT]

Yeah, 80's era Hondas weren't good....but the modern stuff is very good indeed. Not just Hondas.
The problem is that if they're ridden right up to their performance limits they will still only have a shortish life.
Back off and ride sedately obeying limits and only rarely redlining and I would think life may equal or exceed the old GS.
The engineering has got better - as has quality control - but owners still regard a bike as a disposable toy so maintenance still gets neglected.

 

[Dogma]

I didn't see in all this talk any mention of the fact that, whether or not good maintenance was done, some parts of these bikes are just plain 30 years old. Expect degradation of rubber parts that haven't yet been replaced. Seals and intake parts, etc.

Mileage isn't an issue. At worst, you'll get the harmless but annoying cam end walk at low rpm.

 

[Graham]

The majority of the riders on this forum are "do-it-yourself" owners. Does that mean our bikes are destined for an early demise of less than 60,000 miles? I'm not about to take mine to a stealership to perform basic or advanced maintenance procedures, the hourly rate is too high for me to drop it off for a week or two, pick it up supposedly fixed, just so I can do the same work that should have been done properly over again.

There is an endless amount of motorcycles that come in my shop where the owner has cleaned the carb, repaired electrical or something else and just made things worse.
As for stealerships, a good shop is hard to find. We get an endless amount of redo work from other shops too.
As for hourly rate, it pays 80% or the overhead (insurance, bonding, advertising, supplies and utilities plus pay checks). I know I?m not getting rich and my shop rate is $65 hour.

 

[Steve]

I've heard the rule of 10, and the rule of 7 -- a bike with 5,000 miles is like a car with 35,000... or a bike with 16,000 miles is like a car with 160,000 miles

OK, time to break out the calculator.

My 11-year-old Gold Wing has over 175,000 miles.

.

 

[Graham]

OK, time to break out the calculator.

My 11-year-old Gold Wing has over 175,000 miles.

.

Hmm, 10*175,000miles hmm. Must be like driving a car to the moon.

 

[Steve]

Hmm, 10*175,000miles hmm. Must be like driving a car to the moon.

... and back, several times.

A quote from askville.amazon.com:

If you're measuring the center-to-center distance from the Earth to the Moon, the distance would be about 384,403 kilometers/238,857 miles.

1,750,000 (equivalent miles on the Wing) / 238,857 = 7.32 one-way trips, or three round trips, one more trip to the moon and a good start back.

But I'll tell ya, those gas stations are hard to find out there.

Oh, just a plug for the relliability/low-maintence on the Wing: I have changed the timing belts, spark plugs and the thermostat, all at 145,xxx. Was the first replacement for all of them.
Turns out the thermostat did not need to be changed, but I was in that deep anyway, so I thought I would just change it and be done with it.

.

 

[DanTheMan]

There is an endless amount of motorcycles that come in my shop where the owner has cleaned the carb, repaired electrical or something else and just made things worse.
As for stealerships, a good shop is hard to find. We get an endless amount of redo work from other shops too.
As for hourly rate, it pays 80% or the overhead (insurance, bonding, advertising, supplies and utilities plus pay checks). I know I?m not getting rich and my shop rate is $65 hour.

Around here, the shop rate is $85/hr, $75 per tire for a tire change whether you buy the store's Dunlops or provide your own tires, and that's the Suzuki dealership, the Honda, Victory, and HD shops charge more and will not install any parts not marketed and provided by OEM, period. If it's older than 10 years IF they will work on it, you might get the bike back inside of two months.
I do my own work on my bike, my truck, my wife's Suburban, my motorhome, my house most of the time..........

 

[Graham]

Around here, the shop rate is $85/hr, $75 per tire for a tire change whether you buy the store's Dunlops or provide your own tires, and that's the Suzuki dealership, the Honda, Victory, and HD shops charge more and will not install any parts not marketed and provided by OEM, period. If it's older than 10 years IF they will work on it, you might get the bike back inside of two months.
I do my own work on my bike, my truck, my wife's Suburban, my motorhome, my house most of the time..........

Sounds like someone could make a killing with a good repair shop. But then I?m not sure the Yankee (northern) repair shops work in the winter. Round here we do mostly hunting 4-wheelers in winter and bikes from spring to fall. Turn around depends on parts not age.

 

[Skunky]

Mileage??? It is not always relevant unless you know how far your going.
***If it starts it will get you there.
***If it doesn't start...It's probably not a GS

On a side note...Who say's the odometer is correct!