Average number years you own a bike

[pdedse]

Sitting hear trying to take my mind off the Corona virus thing--my wife just returned from Costa Rica, has sore throat, chills, slight fever; online doc says no need to test...yet.
:huh:

I was looking at some 3-4 year old threads and saw lots of usernames that I don't see any more. I wonder if they've moved on from the CB1100. Which made me wonder how long riders own their motorcylces in general.

Question: What's the average number of years you have owned your motorcycles? If you have owned too many to recall, maybe just report on the last 5-7 bikes you've owned. Maybe discard bikes that you bought and then sold immediately after for whatever reason. Indicate bike and whether bought used or new.

My example:
2004 HD Sportster 1200 (new): 8 years
2007 Kawa KLR650 (used): 12 years and counting
2013 Honda CGL125 (new): 4 years
2014 Honda CB1100 (new): 2 years
2017 Honda CB1100 (new): 2 years and counting

Average # of years I own a bike so far: 28 years / 5 bikes = 5.6 years

Outliers: I owned a couple of Yamaha XS650s, but only for a few months, and I owned a Triumph Street Twin for a whole month. Not including these.

 

[Gone in 60]

Not as exotic but just got back from working two weeks in Tampa. Got some kind of bug on the flight home and now my wife and coworkers are keeping their distance.

The amount of time I keep a machine depends on how long I can employ it before it starts to annoy me. Either because it has aged to the point that parts availability becomes an issue or repairs start to increase to the point that eclipses enjoyment and practicality.

In terms of motorcycles my average is about eight years.

 

[Wisedrum]

Have no fixed plan for how long I will keep a motorbike. Things develope. My motorbike history looks like this from the point, I picked up motorbike riding again over 20 years ago:

Kawasaki 750 LTD Twin,10 years
Kawasaki W650, 4 years
Moto Guzzi California, 0,5 years
Honda VT1100 Shadow, 3 years

The ones that are keepers til now and for an unlimited future are:

Kawasaki W800, 9 years
Honda CB1100, 6 years
RE Bullet, 2,5 years

Don't want to change or sell one of the bikes as long as they run fine and don't develope into money graves.

Wisedrum

 

[zirconxi_imp]

Most of my bike I intent to keep for a long time.
My 1st bike, or some don't consider her a bike but a moped, Honda C100, I kept her for 20 years, runs about 230k km. Sold (still running as I sold her to my co-worker).
Kawasaki Ninja 650. 7 Years. clocked 120k km, Still riding around, no intention to let go yet.
Honda CB1100, 3 Years. 35k km, Still riding around, no intention to let go yet.
Plan to get another single cylinder scooter, a triple pots Triumph Tiger to my collection to complete my 1,2,3,4 cylinders collection, if only financially permit....

 

[jimgl3_imp]

sold my track bike and my adventure bike after 7 and 5 respectfully. will keep the CB and my Harley forever I expect

 

[teamvisegrip_imp]

I love the thought of this poll as I was in the process of writing another article for the VJMC Magazine that is an off shoot of this Poll.

But first I will stay on point here. I tend to Buy-and-Sell a lot of bikes looking for "Keeper Bikes" for my collection. I love the variety of riding so many different bikes in my life time. Some I will never sell, some I have regretted selling and others are on the chopping block you could say. For this Poll I will need to think for a bit before I answer with owning over 40 some bikes. LOL!

Now on to the other Poll or competition... who here has owned a bike for the longest time bought from the dealer new? I think this would be interesting. We can also add bought used and owned the longest too if you like.

In my article I have owned my 1986 Honda VFR 750 since new so that is 34 years. Owning a bike since new and having it become a vintage bike. Sometimes it even becomes a Classic desirable bike. I am hoping my VFR fits into this category. Its value has been on the rise.

My Brother-in-law has owned his 1972 Kawasaki S2 350 since new so that is 48 years. He has me beat hands down. His has become a true classic! LOL!

 

[Jfro5687_imp]

Trouble is I get so tempted by everything else out there (when it comes to m/cycles) and have very little self restraint. Luckily my wife is very understanding and doesn't even take any interest any more when something different arrives on the drive. Only here once though aren't we.......

 

[the Ferret]

Sitting hear trying to take my mind off the Corona virus thing--my wife just returned from Costa Rica, has sore throat, chills, slight fever; online doc says no need to test...yet.
:huh:

I was looking at some 3-4 year old threads and saw lots of usernames that I don't see any more. I wonder if they've moved on from the CB1100. Which made me wonder how long riders own their motorcylces in general.

Question: What's the average number of years you have owned your motorcycles? If you have owned too many to recall, maybe just report on the last 5-7 bikes you've owned. Maybe discard bikes that you bought and then sold immediately after for whatever reason. Indicate bike and whether bought used or new.

My example:
2004 HD Sportster 1200 (new): 8 years
2007 Kawa KLR650 (used): 12 years and counting
2013 Honda CGL125 (new): 4 years
2014 Honda CB1100 (new): 2 years
2017 Honda CB1100 (new): 2 years and counting

Average # of years I own a bike so far: 28 years / 5 bikes = 5.6 years

Outliers: I owned a couple of Yamaha XS650s, but only for a few months, and I owned a Triumph Street Twin for a whole month. Not including these.

your Dr is an idiot IMO...out of country travel and all the symptoms.. get her tested! I hope she self quarantines.

I have been keeping motorcycles longer lately as I have found out what I really like. The CB has been with me since 2014. So 6 years. The FJR only 2, but it replaced the ST 1300 which I had since 2008.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Interesting poll.

Shortest: 6 months.
Longest: 8 years.

= = =

"Self Quarrantine" are the words of the season. Please be self-aware.

 

[Guth_imp]

Small sample size for me, lol.

1988 Honda Hawk GT (used): 11 years
2013 Honda CB1100 (new): 7 years (rounding up as I only have about 3 weeks to go)

Current average is 9 years. I highly doubt that I'll buy another motorcycle and I have no plans of selling the CB. So with a bit of good luck I expect to move into the More Than 10 Years category in a couple more years. :biker:
By the way pdedse, good distraction. I completely forgot to wish your wife a quick return to good health. As the ferret suggests, probably a good idea to test sooner rather than later. But do remember that this is the time of year that such symptoms are not completely out of the ordinary. Hang in there, the both of you

 

[the Ferret]

yea, without the mention of the out of country travel I wouldnt be nearly as concerned. I assumed she flew so she was in a germ incubating tube with a bunch of other travelers from who knows where. certainly hope it's nothing but the common flu. with those symptoms I would still be at my local Drs office getting anti biotics.

 

[peterbaron]

Did not have many bikes in my life. Average held is about 4 years.
No plans on selling present CB at all.
After recent purchase of a 2019 new/used car and age, very unlikely to buy another motorcycle, however a perfect GL1000 is possible......
:biker:

 

[LongRanger_imp]

It varies wildly with me, but generally 10+ years if I like the bike.

Longest: 1998 BMW K1200RS (22 years, 134,000 miles)
Shortest: 2008 BMW R1200RT (3 weeks, <1,000 miles)

 

[Ben70_imp]

Montgomery Ward Riverside (Benelli) 250 single, new 1969, 4 months, crashed. I was young then, and immortal. That's why they taught 17 year olds to fly P-51's.
Yamaha SR500 new 1979. 4 years. Put it in the class of 3 or 4 cars I have owned, wish I still had it.
Yamaha XS1100 1981, bought lightly used in '91. Sold when our son came along, 3 years.
Honda CB1100 2013, 3.5 years and counting.
So an average of just under four years, but the current bike will continue to drag that average up for the foreseeable future.
pdedse, why the short tenure for the SR 650's, and why two? Inquiring minds want to know...
And best of luck with the illness, whatever it is.

Ben

 

[cooldrum_imp]

Pdedse, I hope your wife feels better. Maybe just take her in to be tested to make sure.
Most of my bikes I keep from the 8-10 year mark. I ride a '74 CB750 and have owned it for 10 yrs. The 2013 CB I've had for 4 yrs. And the '67 305 Scrambler.... I've had since that year. Now you know how long I've been riding . Still fun every time I swing a leg over the saddle. Amen!

 

[Rocky_imp]

I tend to keep bikes a long time.
I've had my two vintage bikes for over 20 years and all the modern bikes since new.

 

[pdedse]

Thanks folks for the well wishes for my wife...and sorry, perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned her being sick here, but I was a bit frustrated last night. I'll just say this about the testing: I think Portland area medical offices may be flooded with test requests and so Kaiser (our insurance co.) has developed an on-line testing procedure to deal with possible cases. They ask all the symptoms questions, but apparently hers didn't tick off enough boxes (?), and so they say stay at home, call back if it worsens at all. For the moment she says it's like any other cold/flu she's ever had.

Montgomery Ward Riverside (Benelli) 250 single, new 1969, 4 months, crashed. I was young then, and immortal. That's why they taught 17 year olds to fly P-51's.
Yamaha SR500 new 1979. 4 years. Put it in the class of 3 or 4 cars I have owned, wish I still had it.
Yamaha XS1100 1981, bought lightly used in '91. Sold when our son came along, 3 years.
Honda CB1100 2013, 3.5 years and counting.
So an average of just under four years, but the current bike will continue to drag that average up for the foreseeable future.
pdedse, why the short tenure for the SR 650's, and why two? Inquiring minds want to know...
And best of luck with the illness, whatever it is.

Ben

Haha...it would be interesting to start a thread "bikes we've owned for less than 3 months" or something like that, explain the reasons why. It might help people think about future purchases.

I had the Honda CGL125 in Costa Rica as a commuter bike--it was kick-start. I loved that. So easy to kick start you could probably do it with your hand. I don't know, got back to the USA and wanted a kick-start bike--looked at the Yamaha sr400 that was just coming out at the time, but they wanted $5500-6, for them. Too pricey for that bike I thought.

Nearly bought a Kawasaki W650--two times they sold before I could go see them. Thought I'd try my hand at a humble restoration of a '77 xs650. Realized it was a bit far gone for my mc repair / restore skill set (not very high), sold it after 2 months.

Then I found another xs650, '83 I believe. It was actually in really nice condition with only about 6k miles and I put about 1500 miles on it over a few months, very fun. Got my kick-start thrills for awhile.

But...that would be about when the CB1100 '14 Standards were piling up at the dealerships and not selling. So I thought why dump more and more money into a 30 year old bike when I could get a new bike and be free of mechancial issues. Suddenly the kick-start feature wasn't enough to stay with the xs650 and I moved on. Sold both of those 650s for just a bit less than I bought them for, learned lots working on them, and they satisfied a curiosity I had about them so I don't regret time with them at all.

I think what I learned is that, while I love working on motorcycles when I can actually do the work, I really enjoy riding them much more (duh, for many of you).
:biker::biker::biker:

 

[the Ferret]

I had 3 of the 650 Yamaha Twins. I liked them a lot. An 73 TX 650 I bought new. Rode3 years and bought a KZ1000 Kaw. years later I picked up a 79 XS 650 with intentions my son would like it. He was 12 at the time. When he turned 16 he decided to like girls and cars better so I sold it. Then bought myself another 81 XS 650 Special and put superbike bars on it. They are fun bikes, kinda vibratey but lots of torque.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Never owned one, however, I used to drool over the '80s Yamaha XS650 Heritage Special. I still have the original brochure. At the time, I thought it was a cool lookin' ride.

 

[tinboatcapt_imp]

I keep bikes as long as they still bring me enjoyment. The average comes out to 8 years, but three bikes are still counting so that average will increase pretty rapidly.

66 Suzuki X5 200 6 years Stolen and wrecked
72 Suzuki GT 750 12 Years
74 XL350 8 Years Pit Bike
86 BMW K100RT 7 Years
80 BMW K100LT 5 years Bought as a parts bike, but repaired, rode 30K miles and sold
86 GL1200 Sidecar 3 Years The Wing was a maintenance pig.
81 CB650 custom 6 Years and counting
00 ST1100 12 years and counting And now is a sidecar rig
14 CB1100 3 Years and counting
Jim