I've been riding a Yamaha Vino 125 scooter for over a year now but want to "upgrade" to perhaps a new Triumph. How many miles can I expect a new Bonneville or perhaps, Scrambler, to last? I always perform maintenance on schedule. Will these bikes last 200,000 miles? Less? More?
Out of interest, on average how long do you think it takes Forchetto based on your observations? I do not have those gauages so I just give my bike several minutes (about 5 roughly) to gently warm up and get ready (during which time I arse around with helmet, jacket gloves etc).
I don't think it's necessary to wait for the engine to fully warm up before setting off. I've often seen advice that states you should drive off shortly after starting the motor rather than leave it idling on the choke for several minutes. Something like Forchetto's 15 to 20 seconds or slightly more would do. You just need to warm the motor thoroughly whilst riding before giving it some stick. I.e. don't wheelspin out of your drive on a cold engine, give it a few miles before pulling wheelies!
Yes it is certainly not a good idea to let the motor sit idling for too long. 5 minutes tops first thing in the morning. It may not even be that long, I haven't timed it. Basically long enough to get the bike out, and finish putting on jacket gloves and lid. Then I have a gentle ride for a few hundred yards up the gravel road before taking off, so a quite reasonable warm up I reckon. Still interested in Forchettos observations on time press ure and temperature - I get curious that way sometimes.
I can only give you an answer based on low ambient temperatures, like 15-18ºC that we had here lately. The oil pressure starts up very high, about 80psi on a cold start, even at a fast idle, showing that the oil is thick and is having to be pushed a lot by the pump. Within 5 minutes or so it comes down to 65-70 psi and another 5-10 minutes for the temperature to reach over 60ºC and the pressure down to normal cruising level of 55-60 psi. I suppose this means the oil is thoroughly warmed up and circulating freely. It takes something like 15 km in the sort of weather we've been having.
I recall reading that extended idling after start-up did cause excessive cam/valvetrain wear on certain 80's bikes , like the Honda VF500/750/1000, and the Kawa ZX10 , because at low rpms, there was insufficient lubrication to the valvetrain.
Honda definitely had some issues along those lines. The FT500 had awful lubrication for instance.
I think it is generally a good idea not to idle too long - you don't want to overheat for instance, and after all the motor is just turning over doing nothing useful at that point.
Forchettos info is good though, and I think I shall allow myself to be reassured by it, and continue to do my little warm up / gloves / jacket/ lid sequence the way I am doing it. I usually go easy the first few miles too. I like to think of it as mechanical sympathy.......once it's warmed up though I know that the motor is well capable of high revs and running all day long, and it does it very well indeed!
I'm going to use the recommended 6,000 mile oil and filter change interval, and will use full synthetic oils to change.
I'm hoping for long engine life that way. The bike (2008) Scrambler is completely stock except for AI removal.
I've got 2 bikes so I'm only putting 6 - 7,000 miles per year on the Scrambler.
I expect the bike to be fine for years to come. If engine problems occur due to lubrication problems (unlikely I think) there is always the big bore modification.
Quite a few years ago, possibly 15, I recall seeing in print that BMW said that a typical bike is traded at 17,000 miles from new. That may be more now but the point is that you may tire of your present bike and want a different one. I have found that two bikes are good. Tire of one and so ride the other and then go back. That way you don't need to trade as often to take advantage of present-day motorcycle longevity.
Most bikes built now can go out to really high miles even with little maintenance. Lot of this probably because of the machine equipment being more exacting, better oils, those coatings they are using on the cylinders and rings. It all helps. I don't know if water cooled actually have that much advantage anymore over the air cooled motors. I think the technologies almost make it a wash.
Buy two bikes with different strong points.
Ride each one half as much.
Keep them until elderly.
Die.
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