I was on a ferry this week on my way to Sweden. When I parked my TT on the cardeck I saw a very good looking BMW R1100RT next to my car. Upon arrival to port next morning I went to my car and this grey haired guy was preparing his BMW for the road.
I said hello and told that his BMW looked very good and that I used to have one exactly like it some 15 years ago in the same light blue color. Checked the plate and said that this is not the same. He said with a grin that it couldn't as he had bought it new.
We continued to chat and he said he was on his way to Hamburg, Germany and then back home to Finland through Baltic countries. I was standing on the right side of his bike and looked at the odometer and said that at 45600 kilometers his BMW is barely broken in. He told me to take another look. As I was on the right side I had missed the last digit - that BMW had 456000 kilometers (= appr. 283k miles) on the clock. And it looked more or less like new.
I asked at which point he had to do the engine. He said never. I asked at which point he had to do the gearbox. He said never. He said though that he had to change final drive bearings at some point but other than that it had been working very well.
Naturally I had to ask and he said Valvoline fully synthetic 20W50 and appr. 5000...6000 km OCIs with very little need to add oil in between changes.
456000 kilometers...and while looking for one for myself I have been dismissing many with just 75000 kilometers on the clock. I feel rather stupid now.
I said hello and told that his BMW looked very good and that I used to have one exactly like it some 15 years ago in the same light blue color. Checked the plate and said that this is not the same. He said with a grin that it couldn't as he had bought it new.
We continued to chat and he said he was on his way to Hamburg, Germany and then back home to Finland through Baltic countries. I was standing on the right side of his bike and looked at the odometer and said that at 45600 kilometers his BMW is barely broken in. He told me to take another look. As I was on the right side I had missed the last digit - that BMW had 456000 kilometers (= appr. 283k miles) on the clock. And it looked more or less like new.
I asked at which point he had to do the engine. He said never. I asked at which point he had to do the gearbox. He said never. He said though that he had to change final drive bearings at some point but other than that it had been working very well.
Naturally I had to ask and he said Valvoline fully synthetic 20W50 and appr. 5000...6000 km OCIs with very little need to add oil in between changes.
456000 kilometers...and while looking for one for myself I have been dismissing many with just 75000 kilometers on the clock. I feel rather stupid now.