What do you people consider to be the threshold for calling a bike a high miler?
I have a tale to tell once I’ve got a few answers.
Your poll does not go high enough for us to register our answer;)
My '08 Fazer has 43K on it 
if [Miles / cylinders] > 40k then high mileage.
1988 FJ1200, 87K when sold on.
1990 VFR750 68K when trashed by red light jumper
2000 Sprint RS 65K when stolen.
2002 Sprint RS, 38K when sold on.
Bikes can easily do high miles if looked after. My CBF500 is over 30K now and barely run in. I’m sure it will crack over 100K with no major issues.
Ok, pretty much as I suspected.
I had a dealer describe my Striple as a ‘high miler’ today when I was negotiating a potential trade in.
It has 18k on it.
(I was just checking prices, will probably hold onto it, I just wanted to see what it was worth.)
that is a high miler, if you’re a dealer trying to sell it on.
my vfr clicked over to 40k this winter. valves are still bang on. I’ve half a mind to take it to 100k.
Got the Hornet at 28k, about 18 months ago, currently at 51k. I apply my old mechanics advice, maintain and run your daily car/bike until it dies.
Oh heck, you were talking about the mileage of a bike. I answered 30k, thinking that you were asking about annual mileage. Doh! :w00t:
Baby just had her 50k birthday 
you’re better off selling private.
Yes, but then I’m dealing with scammers and tyre kickers.
Anyway, I’m going to hang onto the Striple, I think.
We’re moving out of London this year so I’ll have a garage, just means I’ll cool my upgrade plans for a few months until that happens.
18k is barely run in! Those triples can take a lot of abuse. When I had the valves/shims done at 36K on my 955 they were all perfect. No changes needed.
There’s two different definitions of ‘high mileage’ really.
If you’re buying/selling then it’s basically down to the age and type of bike. Lots of bikes get ridden thirty feet each year and so if you’re buying/selling something like a street triple then anything over about 2K/year is ‘high mileage’ (and mileage is as much about the resale value when the new owner gets bored of it than it is anything else). For a touring bike it’s only above about 15K/year where the number of owners and a service history stops being more important than the absolute number of miles. And then there’s the pseudo-tourers (like adventure bikes and ‘sports tourers’) where nobody’s really sure because some get a billion miles on them and others only about nine. But that’s where mileage isn’t a mechanical concern, it’s a sales thing like a posh exhaust or BMW lights.
If you’re concerned about the state of the engine, then I’d be a bit annoyed if anything made this century was just plain not expected to reach 100K.
Surely age has to come into the equation :ermm:
Dealers annual mileage expectations are something in the region of less than 3,000 miles for a sports bike/weekend toys or less than 6,000 miles for a tourer/commuter.
Dealers want to stock machines showing low weekend toy mileage, tourers and commuters are all borderline.
If you happen to ride a two wheeled inter galactic cruise ship expect to be asked to park it around the back or down a side street :Whistling:
there s a bit of a psychological barrier on anything above 30K according to dealers, mine is on 45K and I got a shocking valuation from a dealer, so will be selling it privately instead. personally I have no issue with bikes that have been ridden, so long as they have been looked after.
I like Martins maths, I’m only half way there!!!
I got a valuation from one dealer of £2200 for my Yamaha XJ6 Diversion 2012 a few weeks back and it currently only has 7500 miles on it. I bought it in May for just under 5k needless to say i laughed and put the phone down.
Ive had a few bikes with high miles over the years and never had an issue, just keep them maintained, i did find like anything the more miles i put on it the more little things needed sorting, niggly bits but mechanically all good
It would seem 3-4k a year is considered average mileage. My 4 year old Striple had 23k on it, the insurance payout classed it as above average mileage. Bah. A friend of mine just chopped in a 09 Striple that had done 65k the engine was still sweet. But the mechanic said the dowels holding the cylinder head on were coming loose after being taken off to check the valves so many times!
My 955i speed used to chuck out a bit of black smoke if i hard accelerated her!
Either you misunderstood what he said or, if that’s what he said that’s good enough reason to invoke the 6" rule :Whistling: