How Many Miles on 1150RT

[JDog]

I don't recall seeing any data on how many miles one can expect from his/her bike, in the time that I've been on this forum. Not gas mileage, but actual miles on a bike before it is retired, so I'm throwing this out.

 

I did put about 110,000 miles on my '82 750 Seca up to the point where I sold it as my kids got in the way of riding. Other than some oil leakage, it still ran great. I put over 400,000 miles on my '89 Blazer till my son trashed it. So, I tend to run a vehicle a long ways.

 

When I got back to riding a few years ago, I had an '01 Concours, but that didn't survive a low speed fall. Now that I have my RT, I intend to keep it for many years. However, in the last two years, I've put over 56,000 miles on (it had 21,000 when I bought it), and at that rate, will have about 150,000 when it is paid off, at the current payment schedule (although my goal is to make it mine within a year).

 

My "survey" question is: assuming scheduled maintenance is kept up (i.e. oil changes, etc.) and the bike is well taken care of, how many miles can I look forward to before it is impractical to keep it going? And/or how many miles on your bike, either present or past?

[T__]

John, it’s not as easy as just stating miles.. It is the miles traveled,, time,, & hours ridden..

 

For instance-- I buy a new BMW & ride it home,, then start the engine & allow it to idle for 3 year straight.. It only shows 10 miles but can have close to 26,000 hours of running on it.. (well you get the idea)..

 

All high speed hi-way riding gets you lots of accumulated miles in a short time with fewer operational hours,, few trans shifts,, little clutch wear,, etc ..

On the other hand all city riding/short commuting gets you lots of hours of run time,, lots of shifting,, lots of clutch & brake usage,, lots of side/center stand use,, etc with fewer miles showing..

 

Twisty

 

[Polo]

John, it’s not as easy as just stating miles.. It is the miles traveled,, time,, & hours ridden..

 

Twisty

 

If he put 56,000 in two years, I think we can deduct that we are n ot talking about a city commuter.

 

John, Twisty is right up to a point, it is too close to divination to say how many miles you'll get, but I pressume you take long rides at moderate to spirited speeds, so as Twisty says you should expect good life from clutch, transmission and engine, which usually respon well to constant speeds and temperatures. You may also expect good wear from brake parts. I would be inclined to think that you neew to watch very carefully oils and fluids, and expect the suspension to require peridical maintenance and replacement of shocks, but also in good intervals.

 

I kept a Jetta for 167,000 miles w/o problems nor major repairs other than electronics, clutch and rear shocks. I kept a Ford truck for 159,000 but did require a water pump, radiator replacement and a valve job.

 

I would expect about 200,000 miles truble free from a BMW bike at the rate I ride, and at that time I would envision that it would require repairs due to aging and metal fatigue; something that at today's dollars would cost me about $2,000. I couldn't buy a bike I liked with $2,000, so I probably would repair it and keep it. But who knows, if I win the Lottery tonight, I may think different...

[Tank]

John, I have a 04' with 130,000 with a good motor I trust... but it not the same cycle i bought

at about 60 or 70k The cluch slave cyl. went out and toasted my cluch plates... ouch. i paid for that

80k mt driveshaft blew up and toasted my finaldrive ,my extended warrenttee paid for that... whooo hoo

Add constant maint. TB replacement , throttle cables , belts ect.

 

add it all up and its cheaper than what a shrink would charge me.

In todays market, I own a 1 to 3 thousand dollar motorcycle that I love... its not for sale, I'll fix it again.

I am in the market for another bike and just before the back surgery I almost bought a fjr, But the RT still has alot of miles left

[Unhofliche_Gesundheit]

re: how many miles can I look forward to before it is impractical to keep it going?

 

 

210527.6

 

 

[Polo]

re: how many miles can I look forward to before it is impractical to keep it going?

 

 

210527.6

 

 

 

I hate these vague answers...

[SageRider]

If he put 56,000 in two years, I think we can deduct that we are n ot talking about a city commuter.

Actually, it is quite easy to be a city commuter in that area (Redlands, CA) and put that sort of miles on a bike. A commute into Los Angeles would put 30K miles a year on a bike and is not uncommon.

For a number of years I was putting in about 25K a year just in commuting miles in Southern California. About 1/3 of that was stop and go / lane splitting....

[JDog]

My riding is for work, traveling around southern California, tho mostly in the Inland Empire, and go to L.A. once or twice a week, along with whatever rides I can get in. My scooter is 99% of my transport, and the miles do pile up.

 

My whole intent in this here was to get an idea of how many miles one can expect on a well-built and maintained machine.

 

 

Thanks for the answers thus far.

[NonComp]

To some extent, it also depends on your personality. If you are meticulous and like to ride a perfect bike, then you may find yourself spending a lot of time on maintenance fixing little and potential problems. For example, there is one poster on this forum who splits his bike in half every winter and greases his splines. That's part of his regular maintenance routine.

 

So if you are a DIY and have the time and inclination, then the bike can go a long way. If the dealer does all your work, then maybe it will stop being economical at some point to keep the bike.

 

P.S. 102k kms on my bike, but I didn't put most of those miles on it. And it has required a significant amount of work at this point in its life (new clutch, rebuilt gearbox, general upgrades.

[David R]

I just bought an R100Rt with 101,260 on it. It runs great. Its a 2000 and the guy didn't ride it last year. He put a lot of miles on in a short time. All he tells me it got was brakes, tires, A hall effect sensor and rear rotor.

 

So far I have burnt a tank of gas in it..... had it one day. Going riding tonight

 

My R75/6 has about 75k on it. No major problems yet.

 

David

[LDHack]

in the last two years, I've put over 56,000 miles on (it had 21,000 when I bought it), and at that rate,

Since you put big miles on, you surely do a lot of highway miles. I do the same, as does a buddy of mine on a RT. My buddy has replaced his final drive and a throttle body, but otherwise nothing else too major. We both have done transmission output shaft lube, mine around 100k. All is fine, including clutch. I have done oil analysis on my tranny and FD and I suspect my crown bearing shims are getting out of spec because I'm getting high aluminum in the analysis. Tranny has high iron, but not too bad. I'm planning to rebuild the FD this winter. Last year I had to replace my clutch master cylinder on the handlebar. I had a driveshaft ujoint go this summer, and replaced the driveshaft plus FD pivot bearings. My RT is at 125k and my friend's at 150k. Both of us, clutch is fine, as expected. Neither of us has replaced altenator or starter. Brake system is fine, other than pads. I have a leaky front fork seal, although my riding includes a good deal of gravel. Motor is fine, and uses one quart in 4k or so.

[duketr4]

My 04 RT was purchased new & currently has 140K Klm & going fine. Most of the riding is city commuting.

 

The oil & filter are changed every 5,000 K's at every 10,000 K's I do tranny oil, air filter, plugs in the service.

 

I've replaced 2 stick coils, brake servo unit (my fault for poor service), fuel pump, rear disc & from memory about 3 sets of brake pads, para lever bearings at 120K.

 

Not bad i suppose for the K's....but then again i ride the bike accordingly.

 

In my opinion an RT can easily do 250k without major work.

[otis]

Man - "400,000 miles on my '89 Blazer". That is unbelievable! I bet if you asked how long a 89 Blaser would last you would not see an answer with over 200K in it.

 

Anyway, These motors have a great reputation for longevity. So have other issues, so do not. You never know until it breaks or don't....I don't know the answer, nobody else does either. Keep riding and you'll find out.

 

Have fun getting to the answer....

 

Patrick

[spfksfdk]

I've put 45k (miles) on my R1150RT in two years, it's now at 98000. But riding all year round (in the UK) I find MANY things corrode, which is causing more problems than mechanical wear and tear.

 

[AndyS]

I don't recall seeing any data on how many miles one can expect from his/her bike, in the time that I've been on this forum. Not gas mileage, but actual miles on a bike before it is retired, so I'm throwing this out.

 

I'm very suprised I have not seen many high mileage responses from this forum.

I was expecting hords of responses of well over 200000, but it seems I am mistaken.

It would seem that we are not the high mileage users I thought we were. I have seen some pretty high mileages on honda's but surely we must have some real mileage addicts in the BMWST community?

Andy

[NonComp]

100K IS high mileage for an air cooled engine (irrespective of whether or not its a BMW). You could expect Goldwings and the like to go high mileages. Being watercooled, their tolerances are smaller because they operate within a narrower range of termperatures.

 

Comparing water-cooled and air-cooled engines is like comparing apples and oranges. I can't think of any other air-cooled engine that would last as long as a boxer.

[tobyzusa]

Somehow I don't think it's the boxer motor that would prevent 200k mileage. More likely drive train and expensive brake repairs that cause folks to move on before they hit big mileage numbers.

[DavidEBSmith]

I'm very suprised I have not seen many high mileage responses from this forum.

I was expecting hords of responses of well over 200000, but it seems I am mistaken.

It would seem that we are not the high mileage users I thought we were. I have seen some pretty high mileages on honda's but surely we must have some real mileage addicts in the BMWST community?

 

There's a lot of high mileage riders here, but most people seem to have multiple bikes and trade bikes frequently, not so much because of real issues with the old bike, but for variety and novelty. It's a stubborn, oddball few who stick with the same boring old bike for years and years to rack up a lot of single-bike miles.

 

I was surprised to win the highest odometer prize at the Branson Blitz this year with 160- or 170-something K on my RT. I know there were people in the room with lifetime 200K, 300K, more, a couple of mileage contest winners, but I guess they all wore out their old bikes and were starting on new ones.

 

Oh, my RT? 179,600+ as of yesterday. Broken u-joint took out the swingarm and the output shaft in the tranny, before that had a broken washer in the tranny that led to a rebuild, replaced the clutch when I had the tranny off, replaced the bearing in the final drive at 130K purely as a precaution. Hard line in the fuel distributor cracked, that was pure joy to replace. Replaced the starter, a couple of batteries. Broke a bunch of miscellaneous parts throwing it against gas pumps and the like. The right-side throttle body probably needs work or replacement. Takes a quart of oil every 2.5K or so, but I don't know if it's burning it or if it's the nagging little seepage around the oil filler that I've never been able to fix (and yes, I've replaced both o-rings, and the cap, and the insert, and tried an aftermarket one). Cosmetically, the bike is, um, challenged. But it keeps going.

[ianboydsnr]

100K IS high mileage for an air cooled engine (irrespective of whether or not its a BMW). You could expect Goldwings and the like to go high mileages. Being watercooled, their tolerances are smaller because they operate within a narrower range of termperatures.

 

Comparing water-cooled and air-cooled engines is like comparing apples and oranges. I can't think of any other air-cooled engine that would last as long as a boxer.

 

I once sold a bandit 1200 with 168,000miles

and know of a fj1200 with 240,000 miles

 

and several europe model yamaha diversion 900 with over 200,000 miles.

[AndyS]

...

I.... know of.... several europe model yamaha diversion 900 with over 200,000 miles.

 

Yep, they are incredibly under-rated work horses. I too know of a few of these bikes used as long distance courier bikes. They just seem to go on & on like the Duracell bunny (well, better than the Duracell bunny actually).

Andy