Why so many low mileage V-maxes?

[KJShover]

Up here the abreviated riding seasons shows.

A small number of bikes will be ridden, generally the touring bikes and some cruisers will see an abundance of miles.

Others like the cruisers and enduros are just used for point A-B transportation but only on a nice day.

Then there is the sportbikes.
Basically all this crowd does is rip though the middle of town, then on the expressway in one big circle. You can see them riding in packs, doing stoppies at the lights and skiing behind thier bikes.

You can quite often find older 2000's sportbikes with under 10k on the clock. for a pretty good price. Cruisers about the same, give or take 1k.

me I've always used my bike to transportation and recreation. I ride as soon as they sweep up the gravel from the winter til the snow starts to stick to the road.

There are some good finds up here. My old goldwing, when I bought it, it had only 6k on the clock. I flipped it for a $2500 profit at the end of the summer. A guy was glad to pay me $4500 for it with it's low milage.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

I put about 20-25k km/ year on my Max. Going from my house on Lake Huron to Ottawa is ~800km, give or take, each way and I will do a back and forth in 2 days with riding in between while there no problem. All those Km's and I still use the stock seat.... though my arse kills me the first couple of times I do this.... the nerves eventually give up LOL. My Max is my primary transportation daily to work and all weekend depending upon weather. Helps that I live in the country with nice roads to tear up a short distance away. May have to go for the Iron Butt myself this summer as I am planning a trip from here to W. Virginia, tour there, and then on home over a 3 day weekend.

Cheers,
Jim Rodgers
VMOA# 4046
Western Ontario Chapter Leader:rocket bike:

PS: My 97 had 13k Km (~7500 miles) when I bought it in 2005, now it has 75k km and more to come.

 

[d03max]

i got my 03 2yrs ago with 1500miles. the dealer said the 1st guy said the bike was to much for him. the bike is a beast and you half to ride using your brain, many poeple do not have it. fight with max long enuf she'll win.:thumbs up:

 

[Tom_Owens]

You want to talk about too much bike?

A buddy of mine bought a new Kawa ZX14. He let me take it for a spin.

I'm here to tell you all, that bike is just SICK! It makes my Max feel like it's moving in slow motion. TONS of power. It even makes another buddy of mines Busa look a bit gimpy.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Chief Gunner]

I bought mine used, it had 4K on the odo. 3 yrs later I'm at 27K and she runs great. I smoked 2 sets of Dunlop 525's on the rear and got tired of buying tires so I switched over to metzler ME880's. I only get 8- 9k on the rear ones and just replaced both (after 2 out back).

I saw some good relpies here. My cut is this; I grew up riding (off and on) on some insane 2 strokes. I am a CR500R dirtbike rider at heart (had 3 and miss having one right now). It seems like poweful bikes are victims; allot of people that buy them and do not have the balls or skill to manage them or ride them like they were meant to be ridden, I think the VMax is similar.

I love my VMax the most when she is tuned right and when that V boost hits, it's the closest thing to being "On the pipe and in the poweband" on a nasty five hundy!

If you look around you will also see allot of "Busa's" with low milage for sale....they got their reasons for selling but for the most part I give them a little credit for knowing they got in over their heads :biglaugh:

 

[dmioton]

Glad you asked that, I've been wondering the same thing. I purchased my 1988 last summer with just over 7k on it. I'm over 11k already.

I don't know what the deal with the previous owner was, but only snow keeps me from riding it. I can't imagine having a max and just letting it sit.

 

[Woody]

my 85 has 23,000

 

[Mad-Max89]

I bought my 89 Max in 2009 it had around 14,500 miles on it. This bike is ment had only 2 owners in the past. Last guy had it only put around 5000 miles on it then ended up getting a Harley so he never road Max anymore. What a shame it's a Harley Killer...LOL. But alot of Vmax's may have lower miles on them due to where people live. I live in Buffalo New York so it's only nice around here for about 5 good riding months. I have only had a couple small isssues with bike but on avarage working a fulltime job. I put around 2000 to 3000 miles a year on max....Too me that's not to bad for Western New York...Ha...Be safe ride hard...Gotta love the Vmax

 

[j2dawson]

I just bought my '93 Vmax with 20,000 miles on it. I will probably put 3000-4000 miles per year on it but I put 10,000-12,000 per year on my Harley Ultra. I easily do 500 mile days on it. I don't think it would be as easy on the Max. One bike for fun and one bike for comfort.

 

[mattness]

owned my max for 1 year, put 9,xxx on it. year before that i but 12k on a 98 magna. i just bought a vstrom a few weeks ago and ive already put 2k on it. ive got 1k on my gen 2 max so far this year too.

 

[jester 42]

Bought my 05 from a guy who hurt his back on the job; riding it caused him too much pain & he turned it loose. Got it in 2009 with about 3,700 miles on it. He bought it new.

Bought my 07 from a guy who was selling off his toys to buy land & build a new house for his expanding family. Got it in 2010 with about 4,000 miles on it. He bought it new.

Basically the same story on my 05 Suzuki Katana. Guy was selling it to turn basement into bedrooms for growing family. Got it in 2009 with about 4,500 miles on it. He bought it new.

All of them admitted that they "rarely" rode them.

I ride all 3 of them on a rotation basis, but mileage doesn't pile up too quickly on any one bike when you're doing that.


Jester 42

 

[Redbone]

I bought my '92 with 4300 miles on it, I think the previous owner may have went down on but has never admitted it. It was in OK shape as he left it outside (uncovered it seems) during the summer and cold stored it since he bought it new in '93. He was very adamant of keeping it completely factory stock so I had a blank canvas to work with. I stopped by his house last year and he was astounded as to the changes I had made. (probably secretly disappointed given that it was no longer stock) I have over 23,000 on it now.

 

[alorio1]

Bought mine new in 85, she has 21K on her now. I guess my reason for low miles is because I only had two weekends off per month when I was working. Seems like half of those weekends either it was raining or too cold to ride. But I don't regret ever buying her, she is there and usually ready to roll when I want to. $4900 bucks new in 85, not bad for boys with Extreme Toys.............

 

[Maxine]

Bought mine new in 1999, and it currently has about 9300 miles on it. Ive always had 4-8 bikes I ride in the garage at any time though. I broke it down on a HD forum a few months ago...

Road Glide 5-6K per year.
Wide Glide 2.5K per year
ZX11 Ninja 2.5K per year
Vmax 1K per year
KLX250S 1K per year
Zuma .5K per year

Mines not for sale, but if it ever was it would be a lower milage bike. Its primarily my hooligan bike, but she see's a couple of 200 mile rides a year too.
My first one I bought new in 1995. Put 4 back tires on it, and had 8K miles before my friend totaled it the first season. I only had a couple of other bikes at the time though...XR650L and a ZX9R

 

[eggohead]

Some Max's are low, some are high. I bought my 90 in 2007 with 43k on it.. I put over 5k in the 1st 6 months. Road about 5k the second year. Moved to Texas, road it maybe 500 miles in 2 months. Deployed last week I put the 2/10ths of a mile on it for the 1st time in 2 years. But my lack of putting miles on it lately was due to me not storing it correctly. Now I just worry about waking my neighbors at 3:30 when I have to leave to head into work.... but long rides on the MAX will make you very sore. and it still gets better MPG than my truck.

 

[CaptainKyle]

I have an 85 here with 16,000 on it & an 89 with 19,000. The 85 dont look like it ever spent a night out doors. When I bought my 99 it 6,000 on it when I sold it it had 98,000 on it & was still running strong.

 

[Chief Gunner]

You guy's all have pretty damn valid points; I grew up in Maine so I understand the location and seasonal challenges that allow decent riding. ...20+ years out here in SOCAL has spoiled the hell out of me I'm 6'2" and I get those painful cramps in my legs on anything over 200 mile rides on my '06. It's not so bad in the twisties when I can attack and be active & move around. Crouching down, shitfting and throwing a knee out in the twisties is a blast ..but those long endless straights are a killer for any Vmax rider 6 ft or over.

I only average 85-90 miles per tank (2 fill ups per week). My '06 is my daily commuter (17 miles each way). It's a hell of allot better on gas than driving my 5.9L 4x4 Ram though.


When I got the wife with me on it (she's a petite little Filipina) I behave myself and get amazed that I can get 130+ miles to a tank....maybe I just need to stay out of the boost zone and try to save some $.....NOT!

 

[WOLFIE]

I just bought a 2005 aniv. 1242# for $5000:clapping: it has 2405 miles on it when bought. now has 2511...... just rainiing to hard in OHIO weathers to snap soon. oooo a man og 64 owned it . was scared he said because of speed but his wife thought looked nice

sarge

 

[douknowd22630]

Mine has just over 50,000 on it and runs like new, never been rebuilt, and I have a friend that also has one with over 100,000 on it. Its still on the orginal motor

 

[88vmx12]

my 88' only had 23k on it

Gannon