How many miles until your GS dies?

Hi everyone,
My 04 1150GSAdv has just reached its 36Kmiles and I'm wondering: how long (as in "how many miles") can I keep it? It's only my third bike (I've only been riding for 3.5 years and this was my first new bike) and thus have never kept a bike "until it dies". So, do I still have years of enjoyment ahead of me or should I try to sell it. Given how much I like the bike, I definitely wouldn't sell it because I'm looking for something else!
My first bike was a 1984 Honda CX 500 with 130Kmiles, and it ran like a charm!
Thanks for your input.

Every bike is different cxwing.The honda CX series bikes were about as bomb proof as it gets. Too bad Honda won't make them anymore. Your ADV could last 200,000 miles or more. It's a crap shoot between quality of manufacture and treatment of the machine by you. micapeak.com has some good data on our bikes. Click on registries and go from there. I have a 2005 ADV and hope it lasts a long time also. Ride it till it breaks then fix it. Peace.

Mine died after 62K kilometers, but it has a new lease on life - check:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111041

my 96 turned an easy 130,000
same clutch,drive,shock...

36K?
Your bike is on borrowed time.
Crate it up and send it to me.
I will pay shipping.

Really, as long as you keep up the maintenance on the bike, mileage shouldn't matter.

Ride Safe,
Vettster

Not an Oilhead but........
http://www.motolit.com/bwm600k.html

My last two oilheads went over 70K before I sold them. I would have ridden either of them anywhere when I sold them.

Jim

85k, running strong.

160,000 miles so far. Original engine although I did buy a spare one off eBay for when this one quits. Still has good compression and runs great. Transmission went out at 120,000. Replaced it with an RT transmission and final drive also purchased off eBay.

I think it will go another 100,000.

If I was going to do it again I would have changed the transmission and final drive fluid every other engine oil change. I think this would have made my trans last longer.

Other than that, ride it, fix it and ride it.

I had a CX500 a long time ago. Great bike. Water cooled and shaft drive. I had the complete Vetter setup on it and rode two up with luggage full. But that was back when the speed limit was 55.

Your bike is barely broken in. If your only reason for selling is excess mileage, then rest easy. If your reason is that you're gettin' the itch for a new machine... Well, then, that's different and understandable!

Great link!

Fred Tausch died about a year ago, and there was an article about his life and his 1970 R60/5 shortly thereafter in ON Magazine. In the mid-80s BMW ran a series of ads showing bikes that lasted a long time. They'd have pictures of several bikes and owners each of which had 250,000+ miles on their machines. Tausch and his bike was one of them and appeared in several ads. After 500,000 miles or so, BMW wanted Tausch's bike for publicity, ads, etc..., and offered him money and a new BMW of his choice in exchange. He declined and rode that R60/5 until his death. Good for him!

I had one 1981 Honda CX500, it is still running (sold to a friend of mine), those bike where built to last.

So in 2006 I posted this question, "how many miles 'till your GS dies?", I had just reached 36Kmiles on my first new bike, it was only my 3rd bike since I started riding in 2002. It was a lot for me at the time.
Fast forward to 2014, and this happened still running like a champ BUT I just got a 2015 GSA, so I doubt I'll be the one pushing my beloved 1150GSA to its next milestone.
(Too bad I missed the photo opportunity at "2014", it was too dangerous to stop before another tenth of a mile!)

Haha wow ,I was wondering where this old post was going.Congrats!

I guess now you are believer.Congrats!

Congrats!

I have an 05R12GS that is about to roll over 33K. I know... amazing isn't it. I've put about 10k miles on her in my first two years of ownership. I hope to see the 100k mark on mine someday. Guess I should get off this laptop and go ride!

I guess I'm more surprised that people are surprised about how long motorcycles can last. The days of contact points and winter overhauls are the bad old days. Fred with the 500,000+ mile R60/5 deserves to be famous because he was part of that generation of machines.

Now:
i've met Goldwing owners with over 500,000 miles and am sure there are similar K-bikes.
I've known owners of GS's and an FJR with 300,000+ on an original engine.
I park regularly next to a 250,000+ mile Kaw Connie.
A person near me has a barely 3 year old Super Tenere with 120,000+. (that was months ago)
Guys with the 1990s Triumph Trophys have their 100,000 mile group.
Of course there are plenty of Harley stories.

The only question these days is reliability and what broke or had to be replaced on the path to those high numbers?

And at that, does a bike with a replaced transmission count the same as one continuously needing cylinders? Or as one with an electric problem that keeps making the owner walk? Do we count the 1980s and older bikes that are just so inexpensive that they keep getting resurrected by a string of owners with younger and more hopeful dreams?

What is "dies."

Nice follow-up!

My 03 GSA ate the Cam Chain guide. Dead at 66k after it blocked a oil passage enough to kill it.
Got another engine in there and rode till 98,500 and sold it away to swap it to a 04 r1150 GSA with only 6,500. Now that bike has 15k and is the subject of a thread on here with lousy noises coming from the start up.

Every one of them is different. Stay on top of the maintenance and enjoy.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=889016&page=2