I picked up my 1199s on Monday and managed the 600 mile service on Thursday before heading off to Europe and that was all work days haha. It's a lot of miles but you'll manage and enjoy it if you do need to do it.
I just noticed where you live. Early morning summer commuting along the north somerset coast once a week on a Desmo, then head across to the A40 towards London! Nice!
8000 miles would be what, three pair of tyres? Four maybe? £1200. Two chain and sprocket kits? £500 minimum? 8000 miles I'd guess would cost £1200 - £1600 at least in fuel (assuming a Desmo does no better than my 1198). 8000 miles of wear on forks, read shock.... 8000 miles, come rain or shine, wind or hail, into London? Assuming the decent(ish) weather to be 6 months when riding would be semi-realistic, you'd need to do about 1350 miles per month. Taunton to Lindon is 165 miles, obviously 330 return. You could do the commute on average once a week and be about right for 8000 in the 6 month spell. I'm sorry but I'd not fancy it. It would take the fun and pleasure out riding one of the worlds most desirable motorcycles and make it a huge chore that you didn't enjoy rather than the delight I suspect it is now, plus the aggro of constant cleaning, chain lubing, crying at the run down look of your bike. Fair play if you do it though, please let us know how it goes on! (I freely admit to rough guesses as to the prices of routine bits for a Desmo. It's not something I've needed to research unfortunately!!) Ps First Great Western don't mind if you enjoy a beer either on your return!
I'm bricking it now. Mine is 5 years old with 2,800 miles on it. That means in 21 years time I have a massive bill looming. I was planning on early retirement, not now :Jawdrop: Bollocks.
Based on that I'd get a hack, like say a Panigale R and run that instead and save the Dici for the odd blast.....:Shamefullyembarrased:
Not in the slightest, hence I said minimum! I'm ashamed to say my knowledge as to the consumables consumption of a Desmo is pure guess work. I'm a pauper with just a 1198... I'm not sure I'm even supposed to view threads on the Desmodecici to be honest. I know my place!
A decent electrical engineer could devise a device which injected the pulse into the speedo to advance the mileage from the comfort of your garage if you wished. I used one during my electrical training, so I'm sure it's possible - a frequency generator. Not sure I ever thought I'd hear of anybody wanting to 'click' a bike UP by 8000 miles though - least of all a D16. It's been an odd day in many ways...
Surely the value of the bike will be effected by more than the cost of the service? Or did I miss something?
A chain and sprockets ought to be lasting more than 8,000 miles, mind you I have not owned a Desmosedici
It's the a5 in Snowdonia, with the bike facing south/East. Does that help? I believe it's the Llyn Ogwen...
The cost of consumables isn't that big a factor ... Even if I don't 'go for it' and try to do 8,000 miles on the D16 I'll defo do 4,000 miles and spend money on consumables on one bike or another. The value of the bike is only relevant if you plan to sell it ... and even then it is money you aren't going to get rather than money you have to shell out.
I've just done some sums and looked at my calendar of big bike trips planned, weekends working, family holidays when I won't be able to ride etc. In a normal week when none of the above apply I'm going to have to do 300 miles per week over evenings and weekends between now and mid Oct to hit 8000 miles. I reckon I could plan on losing half of those to bad weather so realistically I don't think it is doable unless I change something significant. I'll see what an additional trip to the Ring in Germany would do to the figures. I might be able to do that in Sept.
Id steer clear of commuting on it if you can. From 1996 up until 2004 I used my bikes for my 90 mile a day commute. Every single day. Rain, snow, ice, sleet you name it. Some days id have to defrost the GF`s car in order to move it out the way and get my bike out of the garage. I was doing about 20k a year just commuting miles and getting through a new back tyre nearly every month. I ruined my ZX7R, all the road dirt/salt etc. The engine on that gave up at about 50k. At one point I was even using a brand spanking new 748S. That was fun to commute on as all the cars would hear you coming and move out of the way. Then I started using an R1.. Sure, not ideal commuting bikes, but I prefer riding them than tourers. In the end it just became a hassle and made me hate riding. The tyres would end up getting squared off - even if i took the bendy roads to work. I was filling up with petrol every single day. Getting to work unable to feel my fingers in winter. Having to get all your gear on/off. And watching your mint bike end up all filthy and being a nightmare to clean. When it came to weekends - having ridden all week I just didnt want to go out on the bike. Then I got a car and took a break from riding for a year or so. Now adays, biking is purely a weekend pleasure thing and I absolutely love going out on them. If I had to do 8k now I dont think id be able to purely due to lack of spare time. Im lucky if I get 1 hour a week free to myself these days due to family commitments. Then I have to factor in, is that 1 hour over a weekend? Is weather likely to be okay? Is there anything else I need to do in that 1 hour? i.e. clean the car, service the car, do some maintenance on the bike, maybe cut the lawns, any urgent DIY need doing? The chances of all stars aligning so I can get out on the bike is probably once or twice a month. I did 450 miles last year on my 996 and about 10 miles on my R1. I am hoping this year to aim to at least get through a set of tyres, so maybe 2k miles. My mate on the other hand is planning a tour of all 48 states in America this summer. Hes worked out its a 8200 miles road trip! So maybe he can borrow your bike!
I managed 350 miles around Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire this weekend. I'm working in Brizzle Tues and Wed so I'll use the bike for that which will be another 200 miles leaving me just 150 to do next weekend to stay on track. So far so good.
