milage

[bluestoesonnose]

So you've got a Monster, you enjoy riding it but are you worried about putting too many miles on it?

Got a BMW owning mate (no really!) and they don't seem to hung up on how many miles a bike has covered. His a 1150GS is just under 70k is still going strong and would command a good price if he ever sold it as they're all between 40k and 50k.

So how many miles is too many, would you buy a Ducati with 20k or more on it?

[Dukedesmo]

my 916 has done 45k, I have 'refreshed' the top end due to having done some tuning etc. but the bottom end is still original and strong.

I totally rebuilt my Monster engine, again because of tuning, but whilst I replaced all the bearings etc. there really wasn't anything wrong with them. But I considered it false economy to refit 18yr old bearings & shells when removing/balancing the crank - even the oil gallery plug was intact, original mileage unknown however.

Mileage is not so much of a problem as whether it was maintained properly IMO.

[Mr Gazza]

With only one exception, I have always bought old second hand bikes.
How much has to be done to commission them for the road in the first place, depends more on the abuse they have recieved than the milage.

Keeping them going after that relies on good preventative maintanence and regular care.

You have to be prepared to take certain things on the chin. For instance I bought my Monster with 22K under it's wheels and I know I need to put a new clutch in her soon and possibly new primary gears too....Putting new bits on is an ongoing thing , you just take over where the last bloke left off.

As for my annual milage these days it looks like it will work out to about 2000...Not very much really, so I don't need to worry about things wearing out too much..

Back in the day I used to cover over 7000 a year on various old British irons and the maintenance was considerably higher than I would expect from a Ducati.

Typical jobs on an old twin would be;
Oil changes every 1000 miles.
Balance twin carbs every fortnight.
Clean and adjust chain every 1000 miles.
Replace stop/tail bulb every week..:chuckle:
Have a general inspection and fettle every time it's used and have a minor or major rebuild every Winter.
They say a Triumph twin engine will go for about 10,000 mile before major attention is required, and I found that to be my experience with most of the old parallel twins.

20K is nothing for a Ducati.... They are a joy compared to what I used to ride and available for about a quarter of the price too...:D

[AndyC_772]

So how many miles is too many, would you buy a Ducati with 20k or more on it?

I'm not sure I would, not because there's anything inherently 'wrong' with a higher mileage bike, just that with so many bikes out there being low mileage there's no reason to. If you're looking at older models then there may be no choice, but I'd much sooner buy a 10k bike over a 20k+ bike if there were one available.

More miles means more time spent outside in the rain to corrode things, more wear on suspension components, more heating and cooling cycles to make cracks propagate and so on. It's not enough for the engine itself to be good for many tens of thousands of miles if everything around it starts to wear out, break or become unreliable.

Owners looking to sell high mileage bikes do often seem a bit blinkered in this respect. They point out that the engine in their, say, 25k bike has plenty of life left in it, and that may well be true - but if there are three other similar bikes for sale which have 5k, 7.5k and 15k on them, their bike will never sell unless it's substantially cheaper.

[Flip]

The best Ducati's I know are the ones that have been serviced regularly with a load of miles on them....Ducati's do not like sitting around idle.

Although AndyC has a couple of valid points in that some other items may begin to show signs of age (which would be true on any bike as it gets older not just high mileage ones) it would be the bikes of a similar age with very low mileage that I would be wary of, as oil seals dry out and bearings only partly covered in oil will allow corrosion to begin along with all the other issues of stale fuel etc.

Add that to the fact that very dew people will get a bike serviced when it sits around most of it's life and you end up with what amounts to a low mileage but rather neglected motorcycle.

In the words of The Fast Show car salesman extraordinaire that is Swiss Tony......

A Ducati motorcycle is a lot like a beautiful woman.....she likes to be serviced regularly, doesn't like to be neglected for long and hates it if you miss her anniversaries.

Plus they're just too much fun not to ride the things!!!

[Funkatronic]

if it had a good service history from mechanics who know what they are doing then i would would buy a 20k miler in a heart beat.

depending on the model of course (i'd prob be wary of 916/748's as they have well documented flaking rocker issues seen a lot of low milage docs with all sort of issues)
but for me think anything built since 2005/06 (when germans took over quality control at ducati) is likely to be pretty good tbh assuming its been well maintained

as flip says they like to be ridden, i have seen some extremely mint , low milage ducatis that have lived ultra pampered lives (ie rarely ridden) that are a nightmare for their owners
because of this if im looking at 10+ year old bike with under 5000 miles on the clock i would be very very wary indeed

conversely i have seen 40k + daily runners that look like **** but are still going strong

saw a 55k mile 996 on track a few years ago that was bought new and ridden constantly in all weather with just standard engine servicing going great guns. so i think there is a lot to be said for good maintenance

[Mr Gazza]

Owners looking to sell high mileage bikes do often seem a bit blinkered in this respect. They point out that the engine in their, say, 25k bike has plenty of life left in it, and that may well be true - but if there are three other similar bikes for sale which have 5k, 7.5k and 15k on them, their bike will never sell unless it's substantially cheaper.

I would agree with that. The price should reflect the mileage.

However I don't think that 22k was a lot for my 14 year old bike. They were probably mostly dry miles and the condition seems to support that.

But 20k on a 3 or 4 year old bike means that it has almost certainly been used in all weathers and probably on salty roads too.
Chances are that it has been used for fairly long hauls...Whether or not that is a bad thing in itself, I don't know, but long hauls tend to be made fairly well loaded up.

Highish miles on an older bike means that it has been kept in working order and not stored away somewhere..Ultra low mileage early Monsters, for instance can sometimes start to show all kinds of problems unless they are thoroughly re-commisioned....Nearly as much work as doing up a slightly scruffy one in fact.

So I think the mileage should be considered against the age, condition and price of the bike as to what might be regarded as high. Rather than just picking a number like 20k which doesn't really mean anything on it's own.

Monster miles are all happy miles though arn't they??....:mand:

[Nickj]

2001 carbed 750 at 75000 miles in all weathers, and I mean all.

Runs a treat and my day gets to start with a rumble and smile, ends the same way too.. shame about the bit in the middle though.

I'd happily buy a high mile bike, depends what it is and how its been looked after. Tatty scrap no, loved and cared for tatty yes.

[Saint aka ML]

Do not care as I will put mileage of my own. However as a rule of thumb I will not even look at bike that has done less then 2k miles a year.

Only exception when I ask owner when was most mileage done if with him ok will look, if not next.

As said before they like to be used, corrosion on bearings, oil starvation and so on.
Not to mention I just do not get how such a great bike was not used unless something not right.

Currently my m620 bought with 17k on clocks (7k on 695 engine in it).
Now at 24k 10 months later. Not missed a beat. Looks tatty but that is because I use it all the time, I mean all the time. As long as it runs strong I do not care I bought it as daily hack.

[AndyC_772]

Ultra low mileage early Monsters, for instance can sometimes start to show all kinds of problems unless they are thoroughly re-commisioned....Nearly as much work as doing up a slightly scruffy one in fact.

That's not been my personal experience. My 695 did about 2000 miles from new, then sat in a garage for about 6 years before being sold. A belt service, new battery and some tyres was all it took to get it back on the road, and it's given me no trouble at all this year apart from a floppy mirror - total cost about £55.

I may just have been lucky, of course, but I suspect there's a degree of skew in how peoples' experiences with bikes get reported. Nobody starts a thread saying "today my bike rode faultlessly and didn't break down".

[hhmunro]

I am with AndyC, though I may have been lucky too, my '94 900 had 3500 0n the clock when I bought it in 2006, had been SORN for years, owner, who to be fair was not long in the leg, bought it, went to Portugal on holiday, dropped it turning it around, putting that familiar dent in the tank, got it home then never rode it again...

Belt and fluid change then never missed a beat...

But would also agree a ridden, well maintained bike should be a good bet...

[Saint aka ML]

Thing is low mileage ok but where/how it was stored probably has huge effect as well.

From my personal experience. I bought a unmodified 1993 m900 (frame number 500 :D). It had about 7k on the clock. Electrics and all were fine and bike in general clean but after about 3k miles main bearing went.

Bought a m750 before that from 2002, 12k on the clock but clean and tidy as hell. No issues at all.

Had a low mileage m600 in Poland (still do in pieces) it was a 1995, when bought 3k miles. Had service done (just like on m900). Rode it for 2k miles starter motor packed up, 3k later pickups, then rectifier, then igniters. never ending......

[Darren69]

I think a lot of it has to do with when the bike was made too, they didn't really have such good quality control in the 90's which may explain a lot of issues with early bikes, even low mileage you could get a good one or you could get a dog. I think things had got a lot better after 2001 when TPG took over especially with the electrics.

[jerry]

there is a guy in USA with only 210,000 miles on his 900 monny and the bottom end and gearbox have never been touched . twice refreshed top ends and new pistons once a few clutches and batteries etc etc he rides it all the time