Very recently, I saw a Facebook post by RTW traveler Michnus Olivier that grabbed my attention. I’ve been thinking along these lines for years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else post anything like this about low-priced, high-quality motorcycles. I’m going to share it below, so you get his thoughts exactly as he put them.
Basically, he’s saying motorcyclists today don’t appreciate just how well-made their bikes are, even the budget-friendly models, and how long they can last with proper mechanical attention:
Roughly a week or so ago, I read on a Facebook group guys mentioning their belief that motorcycles are basically done and old when they reach 100 000km, they got to be scrapped.
A few months ago, while doing some maintenance on our DR650’s I had to replace the Warp9 clutch levers. The pivot pinholes had become severely damaged and were in danger of breaking. They were just over 100 000km old. The clutch cables and clutches were still in great shape.
I called and emailed Warp9 and they were shocked they lasted so long. The guy kept on telling me that they have no records of bikes lasting that long. I can’t really expect more. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the original levers anymore and just bought and replaced them with cheap Chinese ones.
I asked the question in a DR650 Facebook group, and the collective experts lost their collective minds and shit completely. Telling me I was expecting miracles, bikes never last that long; it is unrealistic, a joke. They actually got agitated about me even expecting that. And I can be happy I got that much out of the bikes and the levers.
Both times I mentioned, I was under the impression that this belief is old-school considering our modern machines. And by the way, clutch levers should last the life of a bike.
Our own 04 BMW 1200GS is at 160 000km with the same engine, clutch, and brake levers. Our friend Hank’s BMW1100GS is on 965,606km same engine and levers. Many of his customers BMWs sit on well over 200 000km same engines and levers. Our other friend Dan racks up over 120 000km on his BMW each year riding the USA corner to corner. And it is not unique to BMW. Except KTM’s😂
(I am just kidding)
However, today’s motorcycles are built with advanced materials, precision engineering, efficient lubrication systems, and better cooling technologies, making them far more reliable. Modern bikes also feature electronic fuel injection and sophisticated monitoring systems that optimise performance and longevity.
I honestly think with these advancements, motorcycles today can surpass 100,000 km with ease, provided they are well-maintained.
The air/oil-cooled DR650 is the modern bike that’s closest to the simplistic airheads of old, and it should be able to do the same kind of mileage those machines did, with proper care. Photo: ghiz/Shutterstock.com
If you look at the comments below Michnus’ post, you’ll see mention of other DR650s that have gone well over 100,000 kilometers, and other bikes that have gone much further. Grant Johnson (founder of HUBB) said:
A friends DR650 is over 140,000km and the motor has never been opened, almost everything is original, except for chain and sprockets of course. And most of that is fire roads. It runs perfectly. My R80G/S is north of 160,000 and the levers are like new!
MOST owners today have no concept of maintenance, like lubricating lever and cable pivots. Amazing how long they last with a little oil.
So, again: Are we under-appreciating our motorcycles, not realizing just how long they can last with proper care? I believe this is the case. Another veteran traveler, Mark Powell (whose excellent work appears in ADVrider’s printed journal, just like Michnus’ work) converted me to thinking about a motorcycle as a lifelong investment, not a buy-it-then-bin-it purchase.
Of all the motorcyclist communities around the world, the BMW fans were usually the keenest to view their bikes as life-long machines, that could see the odometer run well into six-figure territory, even if that meant a bit of money spent on wrenching. Photo: James Hime/Shutterstock.com
Powell has had a fleet of BMWs over the years, airheads and oilheads, with the odometers running well over 100,000 miles. His concept of bike ownership isn’t “throw the bike out when maintenance gets expensive.” Instead, he gets the machine fettled back to life when it’s possible. Sam Manicom and other members of the BMW RTW community follow the same idea. But why does this have to just be a BMW idea?
I don’t know of any other rider who has flogged their Suzuki DR650 as hard as Egle Gerulaityte, and Egle has a lot more than 100,000 kilometers on her machine. Yes, she’s had to fix some major problems, like a cracked frame—but those problems were fixed and she is still riding the bike.
The DR650 is a good bike, but it’s very inexpensive and nothing terribly special as far as a Japanese bike goes. I don’t see how a modern Honda 500 shouldn’t do big miles as well, or a Kawasaki KLR650, or a Yamaha MT-07, with proper maintenance. And even if the machine does break down, fix it.
My old Bandit 1200S has 50,000 miles on the odometer (well over 80,000 kilometers, actually) and appears to be ready for a lot more of the same. Photo: Zac Kurylyk
In my own fleet, I have a Suzuki Bandit 1200S with about 50,000 miles on the clocks. Barring a catastrophic engine failure I don’t see how the machine shouldn’t do double that, and if disaster should strike, I can always rebuild it and do another 100,000 miles. My Yamaha Super Tenere has more than twice that mileage, with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer. I had to rebuild the ABS unit this year, and the previous owner did a top end refresh a while back, but the bike runs very, very well. If I keep the oil changes up and don’t ride it into a tree, I think my S10 will last me the rest of my life.
My old Super Tenere appears ready to run for the rest of my life. The only iffy issue on modern bikes is a reliance on electro-components which may not be OEM-available forever. Photo: Sean Doucet
And then there’s my DR650, where this all started with Michnus’ original post. Sadly, I blew my own ’03 DR up; the top end self-destructed on a tour. I believe this was almost certainly my fault, from either botching some maintenance task, or messing around with a hot cam when I should have left the bike stock. Lesson learned! This winter, I have a replacement engine slotted to go into that DR. It’ll be a long project because the rest of the bike needs some deferred maintenance done, but when I finish, I hope to start racking up the miles again. I want to see that machine’s odometer clear the 100,000 mile mark someday too.
