How many miles?

I am wondering how many miles a well maintained and easily driven XJ engine can accumulate before needing an overhaul. I have a friend with a Goldwing with 170,000 miles and no issues other than regular maintenance. My Honda 750 Shadow has about 43,000 with only regular maintenance. I would think that if well maintained and properly driven a motorcycle engine should last as long as a car. Any thoughts?

 

The goldwing engine is built and designed like a civic engine 3-400000 miles is not uncommon for a wing motor. Most modern water cooled bike engines will do 100,000 before any rebuilding required. Unless you ride it like you stole it.
On the flip side we had a customer back in the day took a new 78 cb750f and never had it serviced or even an oil change and it still went 18,000 before it died. He cried Warranty and Honda shipped us a complete motor to do a replacement and told him next time no chance unless he had proof of maintenance by an authorized Honda dealer.

 

Had a 1991 MkII VW Golf GTI for 17 years. Over that time it covered 225,000 miles without requiring any internal engine work. The oil & filter was changed every 5,000 miles, twice as often as recommended by VW. After 140,000 miles, started to use and engine flush before draining the oil, was amazed at how much crap came out with the oil. After that, the oil definitely stayed cleaner for longer.

The XJ650 has done 52,000 miles without any engine work being required. It's had regular oil & filter changes, every 2,000 miles or less, depending on the period of time. Have also started to use an engine flush (clutch friendly) before draining the oil.

When visiting the Triumph factory in the UK, we were told that their engines are expected to last 100,000 miles without overhaul if maintained & serviced correctly.

 

I do appr. 7500-10000 km before oil/filterchange. Mostly long trips and the SecaRat has had 52000 km's with no or very little oilconsumprion (much less than 1 liter on 10k) with motul 5100.

 

As per the Owner's Manual, "To get maximum engine life, always warm-up the engine before starting off. Never accelerate hard with a cold engine!"

"To see whether or not the engine is warm, see if engine responds to throttle normally with the starter lever (CHOKE) turned off."

I do find this last quote to be true.

 

My Goldwing (1500 flat 6, watercooled) has just over 100k miles, never been overhauled and it's still running strong.

A buddy has a 1970's BMW R75 airhead with over 1 million miles...he has a nice little badge from BMW that he proudly displays on his wall. He has overhauled his engine several times...don't exactly remember the intervals. Another boxer engine.

I would think, a well looked after inline 4 airhead could last a long time, but overhaul intervals would be much shorter than the flat configurations.

 

A good hammer should last your lifetime as long as you replace the head and the handle now and again, LOL.

 

My speedo states 30,000 miles but it could be 130,000 didn't have a lot of information with the bike.

 

My 550 Seca has 79,000 kms (49,000 miles). I stopped touring on it in 2012 when I bought a FZ1. The Seca did not have the power it used to. My son has learned how to ride on it and just putts around town and the odd short trip with me.
Seca was torn down last summer and checked out. Cylinders were all still in spec so new standard size rings were bought. New valve guide seals, gaskets, o-rings etc honed the cylinders and put it all back together. Only got about 50 kms on it before the snow arrived. I did take it briefly up to about 7,500 rpm and the power feels like it is back.
I was a little surprised that the bike lost power (there was blow by evident on the pistons) as it has always been well maintained.
My FZ1 has 84,000 kms on it and it is just as strong and fast as the day I got it with 2,700 kms on it.

 

My old 81 seca 750 rolled over 100,000 mi before I sold it head gasket was a lil weepy but otherwise ran great my 82 maxim 750 now has 46,000 on it now...so they last well if taken care of.

 

Hmm, I thought this first requirement had been debunked years ago - certainly I belivebsitting at idle slowly letting the choke off is not a good thing. You ride away with as little excess fuel as the bike will take. Blipping the engine when cold is never a good idea, adding fuel to cold bore walls...