Life expectancy

[MC900]

How many miles should we expect a well maintained 125 like a ybr last for? Is it right to expect one to reach at least 60k without any major problems?
Apart from things like tyres and brake pads etc what things usually go wrong with bikes when their time is up? Cheers.
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Current Ride: Fazer 600 (02) & YBR125 (07)

[pepperami]

If you maintain it well and treat/ride it well with all the lube and all consumables done at the right time, I reckon 60K should be easily achievable.

It`s abuse and lack of maintenance that kills bikes.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Rogerborg]

Sable put 42,000 miles on his Chinese Sinnis Trackstar before the engine cracked, the oil escaped and it seized, I believe after being dropped.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Modern oils means plenty of cars reach 100k miles plus, better odds if the oil is changed regularly. Cam belts snapping or timing chain skipping usually finishes them off.

It's a typical bell curve gamble as to how long each engine will last, and the deciding factor on the funeral date for it is purely economics.

Allegedly a CBR600F4 clocked 200K miles on same engine.

[Guest]

[Dave70]

My R125, which I believe (could be wrong though) has the same engine as the YBR, only got to 30,000 miles before somehow (unbeknown to me) losing its oil in less than 300 miles one day. This lead to a very unhappy engine that didn't want to work anymore and tried to take me out in the process.

That bike had been very well looked after. It had a few more services than recommended and regular oil changes, more often than not, before the recommended 1,800 miles too.

However, there's a lot to be said for checking you oil level before every ride. as I'd have noticed there was an issue before it was too late. Instead I got complacent in knowing it would only need a small top up between 800-1000 miles.

I should probably add that it had been ridden pretty hard too over most of those miles.

Not sure if any of that helps actually, as I seem to have gone off on a bit of a ramble there.


is Tefs disease contagious?
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There ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk.

2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[Guest]

[temeluchus]

I passed my test on a cg125 with 87k on the clocks. Original everything barring service items according to the riding school.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[mentalboy]

[Dave70]

I'll get me coat.
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There ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk.

2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[Sable]

[Rogerborg]

[B5234FT]

It depends what you mean by 'dead'.

Sure it may need a new set of rings, or some bearings, but provided these are replaced before bits appear through the crankcase, I see no reason why it shouldnt run almost indefinitely tbh.

Likewise the rest of the bike, it might be economically 'dead' when the swing arm bearings, head bearings and all the cables are failing, but they can all be replaced. Barring a bant or rusted frame.

I bought my current car when it was 'dead' at 110k miles. It's done 190 now, but then I've replaced things like wheel bearings, dampers and bushes, which most nimbys regard as lifetime components.

[mentalboy]

[woo]

its not expensive to have a single clinder 4 stroke 125 engine taken apart and parts repaired or replaced but a 4 clinder 4 stroke engine is another kettle of fish and can be costly if taken to shop.

i keep hearing rumors that the R125 engine is not a great engine interms of longivity but again these are rumors which i have seen no facts of.

my msx 125 is a walk in the park to repair and does not cost anywhere near as much as others (so long as i stay away from main dealers) if i ever have engine trouble

I hope i have this bike forever, cos if Ed March can do 700miles on a honda c90 with no oil then theres hope for us all
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[B5234FT]

[spottedtango]

No ones considering design differences of the engines.

A 125cc air cooled 4 stroke can't be compared to a large liquid cooled 4 stroke car engine or even a larger liquid cooled 4 stroke bike engine for that matter.

Problem #1 Air cooled bikes can't effectively regulate running engine temperature as liquid cooled engines can. Liquid cooled engines have thermostats,fans and more effective cooling system than air cooled engines due to waters better thermal conductivity.

Problem #2 A 125cc 4 stroke will see full load more often than a larger car or motorcycle engine. This on top of the ineffective cooling will wear the engine faster.

Problem #3 Oil changes must become a religion for an air cooled motor to reach higher mileages due to air cooled engines being harder on their oil due again to problem number 1 as the engines may see much higher temperatures and the fact air cooled engines rely on the oil to cool the engine.

Problem #4 Air cooled engines are machined with larger tolerances due to the range of temperatures the engine will encounter due . This means a less efficient engine and in turn less bhp per cc. The larger tolerances are to account for the metal expansion due to the increased range of temperatures the engine will see.

The comment about 2 strokes is far to generalised. Two strokes have less moving parts yes BUT they don't have a good lubrication system.
Two stroke bearings see much less oil than their 4 stroke counter parts. Petrol is also a solvent and it isn't particularly a great thing to have bearings exposed to.

There's also no need to rebuild just buy a new engine, usually works out cheaper.

60k is a big ask for that type of engine. Id say it would probably start burning quite a bit of oil before then.

[B5234FT]

[Teflon-Mike]

[gbrand42]

Whatever happened to Paddy's old mega-mileage Varadero? Does it still live?
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Yamaha RD50M, Honda C90, Yamaha RS100, Yamaha RD125LC, Honda XL125 V9 Varadero, Honda NT700VA, Honda VFR800X, Honda CRF1000L, Honda ST1300 Pan European

[M.C]

Wouldn't be that concerned with the engine (properly serviced) lasting to 60k, its all the other bits.

Just a general impression, but I see 30k for a bike as equivalent to 100k for a car, the sort of mileage where (depending on the model) you're somewhat going beyond what was expected for the bike.

Yes a CBR600F might get to 200k, but most bikes won't. I don't recall seeing 60, 100, 200k service intervals

[Dave70]

[Robby]

Mileage doesn't kill bikes, inactivity does.

So a new YBR, ridden regularly and serviced by the schedule will keep going. 60k should be easily achievable.

However, if that bike spends a couple of years sat in the shed doing nothing, expensive failures become likely. Rubber bits dry out and crack, metal bits rust, electrics corrode. This leads to a series of expensive failures that cost a fair bit to fix.

Also consider fitting a drain valve for easy oil changes without having to touch the sump plug. If you're changing the oil every 2k miles you're likely to end up stripping the sump plug at some point.

[M.C]

[-Matt-]