Posted by Bruce Clarke on August 27, 1999 at 21:51:54:
In Reply to: Re: Possible problem with my Savage? posted by hogryder on August 27, 1999 at 20:54:45:
>That's not so many miles, even for a Savage. I
>had 30,000 on my '87 Savage when I traded it
>off, I have 40,000+ on my HD now, and I know a
>guy in Georgia that has over 80,000 on an '87
>Sportster 883.
Maybe instead I should have said that it is _unusual_ mileage. Yes, there are some bikes out there with many, many miles; I've seen a handful of Goldwings, BMWs, and Harleys with a quarter million miles on them, but the average American motorcyclist only rides about 2600 miles per year (according to a stat I saw in Cycle World a few years back). For every motorcycle on the road that has 37,000 miles on it, there will be literally dozens of identical model bikes that only have a few thousand.
What I found more interesting was the fact that he rides 125 miles every day. I think this is extremely unusual. Most motorcycles that do have high mileage are big touring rigs: the owner doesn't ride them every day, but rather takes them out on holidays and rides them a few thousand miles over a week or two, puts the bike back in the garage and takes it out again the next month or two.