Cheers didn't know what italian bikes were like with high mileage tbh the blade I just sold had 26k on it and was 20 years old the engine was sweet. owning an Italian car is a different mater my alfa is always broken in some way or another.
I'm always shocked to see guys scoff at bikes with over 15k miles... As though they're not fit to own. Are you basically saying that we've given manufacturers the okay to design sports bikes to only give us around 10-15k miles before becoming worthless. A V4S doing 12.5k miles before being sent to the scrap heap would have cost the owner about £2.00 a mile! If we accept major, no-serviceable engine failures at low mileage (I say less than 50k), the manufacturers will forget about making reliable sports bikes. Non-serviceable parts are the key point here! My 2013 1199s has got 12,800 on it... Full main dealer History inc Desmo, new oil & filter every 1,000 by me, coolant flushed & changed every 6 months. Battery, bodywork & tank kept in the house in winter, basically fettled relentlessly... Pulls like a train and never missed a beat. For example, If I had to choose between a bike with 2k miles at £15,000 or a well looked after 12k mile bike at £10,000. You can guess where my money goes.
I often wonder (as I do) how it works. The engineers design a Ducati engine to last 100,00 miles, say. And then Mr. Knucklehead Accountant says, "Nobody does more than 30k miles so design it to last 31k miles and then fall apart. nobody will notice."
Some parts will always be a trade off: weight vs longevity. IMHO a Ducati sportsbikes are always closer to race spec internally than most others. The higher the spec, the shorter the life.
My mates 996 is on around 45k, he has no intention of scrapping or for that matter selling it, ever. Still does an annual tour on it and does his own servicing apart from desmo services and belts IIRC.
Diddnt think anyone was scoffing 28k seems alot on a ducati, most bikes I see for sale have considerably less but it comes down to money doesn't it better bike with higher spec and mileage vrs lower spec bike with lower mileage We all have a buget to stick to . The vet sees to that!
Most things from boilers to cars aren't engineered to last as long as they were say 25 years ago. It doesn't make sense for accountants sign off over engineer products, and limit future sales these days. I'm not saying a 30k 1098 is a scrapper, but if it's been used enthusiastically, it's probably going to need work at some point. My S1000RR had lost a bit of pep at 11k, I noticed I had the throttle on the stop a few times, which wasn't something that had happened much before.
How much of ‘it’s lost something over time’ is the user getting used to the product and how much is a loss of power etc. My money would be on the first reason. Also, ime bikes ‘used properly’ last longer, make more power, are more reliable when we’ll maintained than those that sit in a garage warm for 50 weeks of the year.
What I do know is My K6 1000 started to need more clutch and throttle to stand up in 2nd gear from around 20k. And up to around 10k miles, the S1000RR was the first bike I've owned that I didn't think needed more power.
I had a k5, few mods, 170 rwhp. Scared me shitless to start with. After a few trackdays, I wanted more power. Sorry needed more power But like all engines they will lose power over time as things wear
Spot on its definitely that people get used to the power. Tbh I'm not bothered if it's 5bhp down on new I just don't want it to detonated.
Unlikely you'd notice losing 5 bhp from a 150 bhp engine. And if you think regularly using 190+ bhp on the road would get old, you're dreaming.
43146"]Unlikely you'd notice losing 5 bhp from a 150 bhp I don't think anyone said that 190+bhp would get old , I've read many comments on here about people fitting slip on cans and feeling the difference that's a 5-7 bhp increase I guess it comes down to how accurate someone's butt dyno is lol. For me it was the question if a 1098 has 30ish k miles is it going to be requiring loads of expensive maintenance or require engine rebuild etc.
You posted that 'people get used to the power'. Every time I pinned the throttle in 2nd gear and used the shift assist to go through the gearbox, without backing off the throttle, I was pretty impressed. It's a world away from a 20 year old Fireblade, I had one of those years ago, and IMO it was rubbish.
It's a good sign if it has made it to that mileage without major failure. Likely can expect a decent discount due to general concern over high mileage too. Mine is at 23k and still has plenty of power: you can't be on the throttle stop for more than a sec on any road I ride on. Acceleration is not as fierce as the new fireblade I rode at Donny of course, but I've not had it on track to compare properly either. I'll try to get it to Silverstone this year and then we'll see.
