Sorry to hear about your bad luck. My dealer told me that the life expectancy on an air cooled engine is about 75,000 miles. That why I have a venture for long trips and a roadie for short ones. Again I'm not rich, I sold my car to have two bikes.

I wonder what the expected life of a sport bike is? Those guys seem to have them revved to the max all the time.

Sorry to hear about all the trouble you've had. Maybe we should just figure on selling our bikes around 30,000 and getting a new one. I just want to ride. Not worry about the darn thing breaking down.

Would like to hear the story about the original owner though.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. I hope to get 100,000+. If I'm optimistic some one tell me! I have taken several long trips 1000 mi plus and have had no problems. I do my own maintenance and keep records. I have 39000 on my 2004 at the present and after rejetting the carb with the help from all on the clinic I'm getting the best gas mileage and runs better than new. Frequent oil changes are my main thing with adding MMO in every other tank of fuel.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Not sure if I would've bought the bike someone wrecked on. Was it salvaged? Bad omen.

I've got 39K on mine. Rides good. Only problem I had was the stator. Otherwise very dependable. I need to 20K service mine real soon.

Its not a speed demon, but its fast enough for me and I don't ride it like that. If I wanted speed, I would've gotten something else. My bike is used for commuting, puttin' around, and touring.

I got it because of its looks and I think it improves my looks

I hope my roadie lasts 300K miles as I've put a lot into ($$$) it in making it mine.

Good luck to you and hope it works out for you. You got a gold wing. I'm jealous. I've been wanting one of those for about 2 years now, but with a wife and 4 kids, its not in my future for a long time.

Its a shame that it failed, but I think Doc said it earlier when playing with the valve train parts have to go back where they came from, and be broke in properly.
I think that was what caused the problem, If you go into a motor sometimes new parts are better than old ones and if you mix them up they just don't fit into place the way the did for 42,000 miles.. If the oil filter did its job and the lower end is ok it just needs a good top end, maybe time for the performance work to happen since parts cost close to the same..
Good Luck

That's absolutly true, the cam and lifters have to marry properly or the motor is doomed, even tho they look exactly alike when you take them out,, they're not..each lifter has to go back into the same hole it came out of... with the same cam ..If you change either, then all should be changed ....

hi all i have just pulled my lifters out after the rear cylinder dieing thinking it was svs only to find out my exhaust lifter is worn through from what i can see it is quite common my bike has only around 15,000klms or 11,000mi on it but i have only done around 500mi on it the engine was running great then i heard the exhaust note change a bit, after another 10 miles the valve train got louder but i was another 20mi from home with no cell coverage i took it easy and kept going about 10m from home she let go but she got me home on 1 cylinder. i would like to know how common this problame is and if it should be another recall?

rdunbar123 wrote:
Sorry to hear about your bad luck. My dealer told me that the life expectancy on an air cooled engine is about 75,000 miles. That why I have a venture for long trips and a roadie for short ones. Again I'm not rich, I sold my car to have two bikes.

WHAT!!! 75k? What a load, I'm at 127k, 47k when tranny recall done, use automotive syn oil change 5, 6k, use a wally world oil filter, still stock belt, stock clutch. and I know of a number that are as high mileage as mine and a few well over the 200k with no major engine work. Last one was at 250k and his carb crapped out.

I had a 1982 Kawasaki Police 1000 that I ran up to 164000 when I sold it. Still ran great and didn't use much oil at all but wow did it look bad. The guy is still rigin it to work regularly 2 years later. Cam chain adjuster would get sticky but poking it with a screwdriver through the adjuster cap every few months loosened it up just fine. I still have an 86 KZP1000 with about 75K on it and it runs great, doesn't burn a drop of oil but the shifter bushing leaks a little. Both of those are ~90HP air cooled engines and they're known for lasting a very long time under some of the harshest riding conditions imaginable. The CHiPs beat the snot out of their rides.

The Yamaha dealership I work at (sales) has several customers with 100K range Stratoliners and Roadstars that we only see for oil changes, brakes & tires.

Maybe the person saying air cooled engines only go 75k was talking about Shovel-era or earlier Harleys. I'm not brand bashing, those engines just weren't known for going real high miles without regular rebuilds. I had a couple myself (a 57 Pan & a 66 Shov/Pan), real nice bikes but not what you'd call modern reliability.

BubbaKahuna wrote:
I had a 1982 Kawasaki Police 1000 that I ran up to 164000 when I sold it. Still ran great and didn't use much oil at all but wow did it look bad. The guy is still rigin it to work regularly 2 years later. Cam chain adjuster would get sticky but poking it with a screwdriver through the adjuster cap every few months loosened it up just fine. I still have an 86 KZP1000 with about 75K on it and it runs great, doesn't burn a drop of oil but the shifter bushing leaks a little. Both of those are ~90HP air cooled engines and they're known for lasting a very long time under some of the harshest riding conditions imaginable. The CHiPs beat the snot out of their rides.

The Yamaha dealership I work at (sales) has several customers with 100K range Stratoliners and Roadstars that we only see for oil changes, brakes & tires.

Maybe the person saying air cooled engines only go 75k was talking about Shovel-era or earlier Harleys. I'm not brand bashing, those engines just weren't known for going real high miles without regular rebuilds. I had a couple myself (a 57 Pan & a 66 Shov/Pan), real nice bikes but not what you'd call modern reliability.
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FYI,i have been riding all sorts of brand/mfg's bikes since 1966 where i started in trails and then started with rad bikes/riding in 1971 . I have always had 2-3 bikes on the road and riding them every season since i starter with raod bikes in 1971 .

I worked on many bikes inc kawi's (many FAST tripple 2 strokes and Faster big 4'r) for yrs too.

I still have the 77 kz1000 i bought new in 1977 which i still ride to this day and also have a 76 kz900 along with thre 06 r* silverado i picked up last yr.

But the kawi 1000 cop bike doesn't have ft cams so the zddp lvl of motor oil isnt as much of an issue for that bike/motor though zddp also helps protect against heat damage that the R* that runs plenty hot in summer can also benefit from too.

But the kawi 1000 you mentioned with high miles run's OH cams with shims between cams and valves for valve adj and have much lighter spring rates then ft cam'd motors do by design even though my kawikz 1000 can run to 10k rpm with 9k redline, but low zddp isnt an issue for the valvetrain of those motors like it is for the ft cam'd R* .

Scott