The Quest for a Low-Maintenance Motorcycle ... ????

 I spoke to the maintenance manager at my local dealership.

I indicated that I was kind of tired of lubing chains, running the
bike in for valve adjustments, etc.

I asked if there were any motorcycles that had no chain and no valve
adjustments.  It ends up that even the Gold Wing has valve adjustments
(but at 36,000 miles rather than 12,000).

Any ideas for my next motorcycle that is as low-maintenance as
possible?

I just want it to be like a car.  Gas'n'go and no other frequent
hassles.

DFC

   On 8/10/2011 1:15 PM, Datesfat Chicks wrote:

You know of a car that doesn't require anything more than the occasional
fill-up for better than 36K miles?

The Gold Wing or some other luxury shaftie is likely going to be your
best bet, but geeze - do you really thing the maintenance requirements
of a typical motorcycle are all that tough to handle?

Bob M.

 On Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:03:57 -0600, Bob Myers


It isn't about tough.  It is about annoying.

Here is the nonsense I put up with:

a)Gas every 100 miles or so.

b)Oil every 3K - 4K miles.

c)Chain lube every 500 miles.

d)Chain inspection (for possible slack adjustment) every few thousand
miles.

e)New tires every 10K or less.

f)Valve adjustments every 16K.

I'd very much like to get rid of (c), (d), and (f).

Every one of those elements except (b) is more demanding than a car.

And, worse yet, I tend to take good care of the bike because a
mechanical issue is more likely to result in injury.  I replace my
tires before I really need to.  My car tires, on the other hand --
there was one time I didn't replace my tires until I cut myself on the
steel braid -- that's when I looked at them and noted "Hey, there
isn't supposed to be steel showing".  I don't do that with the
motorcycle.

Crap, if I'm going to do the same amount of maintenance, I might as
well just get a B-King and routinely flee the police.  At least then I
get some excitement for all the hassle.

DFC

 

Buy a bike with a bigger tank


Buy a bike with longer oil change intervals.


Buy a shaftie


Buy a shaftie


Not much you can do about this.


That's not too bad.

Well done, you've bought a BMW.

--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Kawasaki GPz750  Honda CB400F  
Triumph Street Triple  Suzuki Freewind, TS250ERx2, GN250.
So many bikes, so little garage space....
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com

   On 8/10/2011 3:30 PM, Datesfat Chicks wrote:

Sure.  It's the price of enjoying these wonderful toys we call
"motorcycles."

But c'mon - with a bike, unless you've got one of the
totally-wrapped-in-plastic sort, everything is right out there hanging
in the breeze, and most of the tasks you mentioned above are trivially
easy compared to the equivalent on a car.

You wanna get rid of "c", "d," and "f," huh?

C - chain lube - if it's that big a hassle to you, get an oiler.

D - chain inspection - oh, come on, this is a matter of WAY under a
minute to check.

F - valve adjustments - every 16k miles?  How many months is 16k miles
for you, and what does it take to do a valve check on your bike?

You can fix a good deal of the others, too.  Gas every 100 miles or so?  
Get a bike with a less thirsty engine and/or a bigger tank.  I generally
go 150 miles before I need to fill, which seems to line up just fine
with my bladder capacity and my posterior's desire to get off the seat
for a bit.  Quite a few bikes can stretch to 200 miles or more between
stops.

Oil every 3K.  C'mon, the drain and the filter are right there - it's
not like you have to climb in under the hood or reach up through all the
chassis bits as on a car.  You should be able to pull an oil change on
your bike in, what, maybe 5 minutes?  Real hassle.

New tires every 10K miles.  News flash: it's not a car, and the tires
aren't doing the same sort of job.  But if you want a much longer-laster
tire, they're out there.  But you might not like the tradeoff...

Bob M.