What's the most miles anyone here has gotten out of a 5th gen? I have a 2001 800FI CA. model. I'm at 75K and it's still running great. Of course I do all the recommended service. Change the oil & filter every 3-4K. I've changed all of the fluids twice, brake, clutch, coolant. Rebuilt the forks twice, 3 chains and 2 sets of sprockets. I've had the valves adjusted twice, well, checked twice. I've only needed one valve actually adjusted and that was at 68K. I just recently bought the 3rd battery. That's about it.
I have the usual basic mods, forks revalved, speedo healer, Power Commander, frame sliders, geared down a tad, LeoVince slip-on, EBC wave rotors, EBC GPFA pads, Zumo 550. I'm sure it's due for a rear shock so I'm debating a 929 setup from Jamie Daugherty in the next few weeks. I figure if I just keep looking after it, I should get another 70K. Think I'm dreamin?
It's been the most fun and reliable bike I have had or have known any friends to have either. I commute daily and most weekends try to get in a couple hundred miles of twistys. Some decent roads in No. Cal. What's the most miles anyone has heard or has accrued?
It seems there should already be some sorta thread like this already but I can't seem to find it. Maybe someone can point me toward it?
Y2K, with just over 52K on the clock, other then the usual, one valve check and adjust, two Battery replacements, two sets of chain, and one sprocket kit, that’s it.
I have an 2001 with 105,000 miles. I've put 101,000 of those on over the last six years. It has been "around the block" (crashed) many times. (The learning curve on this thing was brutal for me.) Now I've started over with another 2001. Got it in April with 18,000 miles from a cool dude in Ohio. It has got 10,000 more after SumSum2. The first one will be a winter rebuild project after T-Mac (blush). Mechanically, she is still like a fine watch. Love these machines!
My 98 model has 116k on her (111k of them mine) but I am aware of one held by Castrol UK to test lubricants that has over 500k on the clock. Ok, it's on a bench, but still........
There's supposedly a legendary bike courier in the UK who racked up 200K or 250K miles on a VFR, but don't know if that was a 5th gen or an earlier version. I know RIDE magazine bought a used 93 VFR with 88K miles on it just to tear the motor apart to see how things stood. No service history. They found clean oil, evidence of a replaced clutch, and very light wear on all, enough so that you could have reassembled it and had 99% of the motor and gear box pieces within spec. As it was apart, they freshened things up a bit, but said they really didn't need to. These bikes are well-built, and worth keeping up. Really, what could you replace it with without spending a fortune for features you don't need?
I wish I had more time to ride and much better roads. My 99 has 42k with typical maint: batteries, VFRness, R/R, and on my second chain. I plan on keeping mine until I can swing a Goldwing and eventually passing it down to my little ones.
There's supposedly a legendary bike courier in the UK who racked up 200K or 250K miles on a VFR, but don't know if that was a 5th gen or an earlier version.
He did about 850K miles on a '90, motor replaced once. I have the Bike Magazine article if I could find a place to post it...
There is a rider on this forum with over 220K on a 4th gen. I'm only at 44K. When I was looking I saw plenty for sale with 100K + for sale. It is why I bought one, people obviously ride them, and love them, and they last forever.
I have 119,500 miles on my 2001 VFR. I bought it new in May, 2001, and have used it primarily to ride to work 60 miles roundtrip each day here in Wisconsin. It has made that commute in temps from 102 degrees down to 2 degrees. (That morning was cold, but the bike ran perfectly. It sat outside in the parking lot all day and fired up that afternoon at 14 degrees and ran home just fine.) It has been reliable in every way except for replacing the pair valve at 61,000. It has all the original internal engine parts along with the original clutch, exhaust, seat and body panels. The VFR fit me on the first day and still does. I change the oil every 3000 miles, using Honda filters and Honda's conventional oil. The bike runs great and I have no indication that it is near the end. So I'll keep on riding it.
Today happens to be the 11th anniversary of buying my '99 (w/ 3K on it). Saw this on the way to work this morning, should be about 2.5 years to hit 100K.
Y2K with 77K. I got it used with 16K almost exactly 7 years ago today. I put 58K on in 3 years, then about 2k over the last 4 years as I got an FJR which has been my primary ride since then. I just got my VFR serviced today, and plan to keep it and see how far I can go.
Thanks for posting this thread, as I am interested in the responses, too.
My 2001 has just turned over 11,000 miles. Oops, thought this was the least amount of miles...J.K. I just picked it up last month...give me a couple of years.,....
There's supposedly a legendary bike courier in the UK who racked up 200K or 250K miles on a VFR, but don't know if that was a 5th gen or an earlier version. I know RIDE magazine bought a used 93 VFR with 88K miles on it just to tear the motor apart to see how things stood. No service history. They found clean oil, evidence of a replaced clutch, and very light wear on all, enough so that you could have reassembled it and had 99% of the motor and gear box pieces within spec. As it was apart, they freshened things up a bit, but said they really didn't need to. These bikes are well-built, and worth keeping up. Really, what could you replace it with without spending a fortune for features you don't need?
I'm almost positive that courier rode a 1990 (3rd-Gen). He put something like 200k on the bike, replaced the engine, rode it another 150-200k, and then got hit by a car, which destroyed the bike. Some people have the best jobs...
My '99 has ~108k on it, climbing fast. I bought it a few months back with ~98.5k on it.
Not quit sure how many months, I'd have to go see when it was I pulled a large stack of $20 bills out of several ATMs all around the city where I bought it. :laugh:
Or look in the envelop of gas receipts, looks like around the end of May. 2k miles a month? At ~30 miles per day to and from work, that only add ups to approx 600 miles a month. That means nearly 1.5k per month in general mucking around, a lot more than I would have though.
Based on all these posts, my 98 with 32K is a baby and has lots of life left. :tour:
Almost certainly. Though I have to say you missed out of an awesome part of buying a VFR with something in the neighborhood of 100k miles... that is the looks on people's faces when they find out you willingly shelled out money for a bike with that many miles! :laugh:
have 190,700km (118k+ miles) on mine now :tour: , not without its fair share of worn out components though!
I have 50K miles on the my 98. So far I have had to replace the regulator, steering head bearings, chain & sprockets 2x, brake pads 3x, tires, battery, air filters, various light bulbs, and regular oil changes. Nothing not called out in the maintenance schedule except the regulator.
From your experience, what other worn out components should I expect?
have 190,700km (118k+ miles) on mine now :tour: , not without its fair share of worn out components though!
I have 50K miles on the my 98. So far I have had to replace the regulator, steering head bearings, chain & sprockets 2x, brake pads 3x, tires, battery, air filters, various light bulbs, and regular oil changes. Nothing not called out in the maintenance schedule except the regulator.
From your experience, what other worn out components should I expect?
Thanks
When I took ownership of mine it already had more than 100,000km on it. within a week the oem rectifier fried itself. when i checked, the stator coil was practically burnt black as well, so i had both replaced.
-Check the rear sprocket for rotational play. if there is it means your cush damper rubbers in the rear hub need replacement.
-The brake lines under the front cowl tend to chafe and wear i think due to vibration and normal steering movement; mine were chafed down to the fabric so i had them replaced with steel lines as a precaution.
-The front brake master cylinder piston developed a leak and was replaced. the rubber seals were worn horizontal.
Currently my bike is getting poorer than average fuel mileage (about 32mpg) and there is a smell of fresh fuel vapour from the right side of the bike, the cause of that is still being investigated.
Wow! I don't think I've even heard of cars with that much milage. I wonder if he would have done all those miles on one engine if it wasn't for the head gasket?
Stan probably would not have hit the 800,000 mile mark on the same engine. Wear on the main bearings and piston rings probably would have resulted in low oil pressure and high oil consumption. Jeez, he was doing an oil change every week! One thing sure, the type of riding he was doing, long haul every day, was perfect for making his engine last a long time...fewer heat cycles, fewer cold starts, lots of long distance riding with everything at operating temperature. I just turned 100,000 miles on my Honda Pacific Coast after 6 years, 10 months. Stan would have hit that mark in a year. Good story.,
My 99 just hit 132,048 today but I noticed a problem that is going to prevent further miles until I fix it. Going to post for some help after I do a search.
I have a Y2K with 86K on it currently. I use it for my daily rider to and from work. I expect to see it cross the 100K threshold some time in 2013. So long as you change the oil regularly and do the routine maintenance I cannot see why you wouldn't get at least a couple 100K on it. It's a solid bike!
So far the only major things I've replaced on it were the stator, rectifier and clutch plates (clutch was normal maint). I need to replace some of the backlights in the instrument panel and seems the air temp sensor is starting to go but the engine and clutch is solid! BTW, other than my headlamps, the turn and break lights are original, haven't even burned out. Oh, and at 75K, the valves are still within spec! Amazing!
you guys are lucky you got gear driven cams. i just replaced the cam chain tensioners on my 07 at 36000 miles. along with my stator and rr for the second time.
Well, my dash dims very slightly when I brake, or the turn signals flick on, so either I've got a corroded ground somewhere, or my R/R is on it's way out. I think the PO replaced the R/R twice... Should probably try to get in touch with him to see if he still has a copy of the maintenance records I forgot to pick up when I picked up the bike.
Guy I used to meet at Bear Mountain had a CBR1000 with 154,000 miles on it. He'd done the stator and a couple of other routine things, but it was one of the main reasons I bought my VFR - durability.
Mine does the same thing, and has for years. I wouldn't worry about it much if you only notice it at idle.
I'll have to check next time I'm out on the road, but I don't recall it happening when above idle. Everything get a bit brighter the second I crack the throttle, and once I'm in San Antonio traffic, I'm less concerned with my dash than making sure I make it through the ever-changing obstacle course alive than doing anything other than quick glances at the dash to make sure no indicators are out of place. :tour: (My ST3 does the same thing, which is why I didn't get too concerned when I noticed it)
I have a buddy that has a 99 VFR with 176,000 miles on it. Runs like a champ too. So much so that I had no problems buying my Y2K VFR with 50K on it. And honestly I can't tell a difference in power or anything between the 2. Almost got me wondering if it has ever been rebuilt, but no clues point to that though.
116,000kms and one of the guys in my local riding group actually announced my bike to a friend of his I hadn't met before, when I arrived for a ride, saying, "that bike has over 100,000 klicks on it!" He wasn't making fun, he was more commenting on the condition.
I just had a chuckle inside knowing that it's a low miler compared to many.
Put 58,000 miles on my '98 in 4 years, 10 months. Sold it to a friend on May 16 with 115,927 miles on the odometer. He took it out for a test ride before we made the deal, as he pulled into the driveway he said, "I like it better than my 7th gen." "why?" He said, "It's about 100 lbs. lighter."
It was a great bike, and I hope I won't regret letting it go. 50 mpg and a 250+ mile range when I could keep the speed to around 70 mph. Barely burned a drop of oil. I found a yellow 2000 VFR with under 25,000 miles on it, and got it for $2,400. I have put 2,500 miles on that one already. Time will tell if I made the right choice.
have 190,700km (118k+ miles) on mine now http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/tour.gif , not without its fair share of worn out components though!
That's why they are called consumables! Though I work with a guy who has been through 3 bikes and never had one long enough to replace a tires...
Y2K with 77K. I got it used with 16K almost exactly 7 years ago today. I put 58K on in 3 years, then about 2k over the last 4 years as I got an FJR which has been my primary ride since then. I just got my VFR serviced today, and plan to keep it and see how far I can go.
Thanks for posting this thread, as I am interested in the responses, too.
Just turned over 89k miles. Still love my 2000. I'm now riding it two up. Would have more miles but I have a FJR and a Hayabusa.
Sorry for late reply on this one..been off the site for a bit (riding LOL)...I passed 140K kms (~88K miles) on my Y2K. Still running strong. Regular mechanical bits and 2 RRs.
I picked up AB's old 'bike May last year, and it now has ~136,000kms (85000 miles) on it...
Granted, it still runs well, and looks the business (mostly because it's been garaged for probably it's entire life when not ridden). Still scrubs up pretty well, for its age and kms..which got me thinking.
I had a conversation with a local motorcycle garage not long after I acquired the bike, to see what it might cost to have compression and leak-down tests done, just to see how good things are mechanically. Anyway, aside from the bloke trying to convince me to bin the PC2 it came with (and of course buy a PC3 from him), he also said that "motorcycle engines are only designed and engineered to last 100,000kms at most. Your's is probably way down on compression and will likely need a rebuild, or you'll need to look at sourcing a low-km 2nd hand one..." I mentioned the amounts of kms/miles people people have gotten out of these bikes, and he said "don't believe everything you read on the Internet..." (Needless to say that call didn't end well, and I've elected not to use his services).
So, quick question: Has anyone with a high-mileage 5th-gen had compression and or leak-down tests done on their bike? If so, how did it go? (i.e. how close to "spec" was it?)
It'd be interesting to see some compression and leakdown numbers on higher km VFR engines, however if performance, mpg and emissions are OK I'd see no reason to replace the engine.
I believe one thing I usually see in engines with some blowby is that new oil turns dark quite quickly.
I have compression and leakdown gear but no adapter for a VFR spark plug. No idea what that'd cost.
EX-XX I had a conversation with a local motorcycle garage not long after I acquired the bike, to see what it might cost to have compression and leak-down tests done, just to see how good things are mechanically. Anyway, aside from the bloke trying to convince me to bin the PC2 it came with (and of course buy a PC3 from him), he also said that "motorcycle engines are only designed and engineered to last 100,000kms at most. Your's is probably way down on compression and will likely need a rebuild, or you'll need to look at sourcing a low-km 2nd hand one..." I mentioned the amounts of kms/miles people people have gotten out of these bikes, and he said "don't believe everything you read on the Internet..." (Needless to say that call didn't end well, and I've elected not to use his services) .
91,xxx miles on my '98. Oil seal on the water pump shaft started weeping right before the insurance expired last fall. First non-electrical issue I've had since I bought it new. I'm going to keep it at least until I can get Collector's Plates in 2023 if Gaia's willin' and the creek don't rise.
130,000 miles on the old girl. Then some guy in a van hit me head on in Centerville Tennessee. I would have ridden that bike till the wheels fell off. Well I guess they I infact did lol. Worst part is I just repainted it myself, and Powder coated the whole entire drive train, two weeks later on a trip to go to the Tmac vfrd rally my bike was sitting in BaileyRocks garage all bashed up.
Most 5th gen riders have right foot and ankle at medium rare.
LOL, not me.
I couldn't help myself and covered the exhaust heat shield in a carbon fiber-looking stick on film. To stop it melting, I then bought stick-on foil like heat shielding, and installed a couple of layers on the inside of the shield. The film still looks good (no melting), and as a bonus, there's less heat coming through the shield.
Even without the film on there, I'd still install some heat shielding on the inside to cut down heat transfer...
I did that on the 98,the 01 I seemed to have gotten used to it after all these miles.Used exh.wrap and a shelled foil insulation on back side of panel.l guess it worked somewhat.
replaced the r/r so far and check valves occasionally (always measure within range). that's been it. clutch travel is getting a little short so i guess eventually something has to wear.
About to turn 100k on mine and the radiator fan just stopped working -- 1st issue so far since I bough it in 2012 w 24k. It even ran on the original plugs until this winter!
Tried to diagnose the radiator fan issue -- replaced blown fuse, burped system, spin the blades, then replaced the radiator thermoswitch for the fan -- still not working. Ughh Been great otherwise...
With regular maintenance, I'll bet you can get it to 200k with ease.
Thanks cogswheel, I am anal about things. But time would tell about 200k.
Currently I am after folks who have never touched their valves on 5th Gen to see if I can have some data points with high probability to ease my mind and I won't touch them until winter.
Thanks cogswheel, I am anal about things. But time would tell about 200k.
Currently I am after folks who have never touched their valves on 5th Gen to see if I can have some data points with high probability to ease my mind and I won't touch them until winter.
Just did the valves on my new Y2K only 38000km on it (just off the teat). All 4 inlet valves on the rear cylinders were just a little tight and I decreased the shims by 0.05mm probably could have left them alone. The other 12 valves in the motor were fine.
The PARE valves on the other hand were choked up with black crud and took a bit of cleaning to make nice.
Just went over 90K miles on my great yellow 2000 VFR. Had a wonderful 200 mile ride to Newcombs Ranch and Wrightwood in SoCal. Perfect weather, beautiful Fall colors and many twisties! Love this bike and can't wait for more miles to come.
End of thread · 78 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 23 Jul 2019
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