Collecting an old bike now

I recently had an epiphany. My first sport bike was a 1999 R6. I figured I can still get me one in fairly decent condition, and 20 or 30 years from now when I am old fart like you guys, it will be my "old bike".

So basically, I am collecting for the future. I wonder if I will still have the old Maxim running when the R6 is truly considered old?

 

Careful with that "Old Fart" language greenhorn. We have more than one way of producing gas!

 

I plan on having my maxim until i am to old to ride. Then its either going to family, or a museum. Or i could put a Mr. Fusion on it. hahahaha

 

The better question is, will your R6 still be running at that point?

 

It may not still be running but it will probably. Have turne more revs. A frend of mine has an '08 and claims it doesn't even start to perform unti I'll it reaches10,000 rm and it is better at 12K!

 

More revs= Faster wear.

More complexity= Bigger $ to maintain.

I can only imagine what it will be like getting parts for today's bikes will be like 20 years from now.

 

The OEMs only have to supply parts for 7 years.

 

I bet the guys in the '80s were thinking the same thing about their bikes back then.

 

But look at our bikes. They are close to 30 years old and parts are just now beginning to drop off-line for them. I think demand, more than written requirements is what drives the OEMs to continue making parts. You know they are going to squeeze every buck out of every part they can for as long as they can.

 

I just test rode an 08 R6 this past weekend, and I was totally surprised at the lack of low end the thing had. Especially since it is fuel injected. Honestly, I think the guy has the computer set incorrectly, because it completely felt like a carbureted bike that was bogging down until it hit about 7K starting from a complete stop. I was literally pinning the throttle to the stop and it was just chugging along until it picked up some, then it would take off like a bat out of hell.

 

Yup, and our bikes aren't nearly as easy to fix, nor are they as reliable at 20+ years old as the bikes from the 60s were.

Those older bikes are still around and kicking. Ours are dying off at an alarming rate. It's just like automobiles- the planned obsolescence is engineered into complexity, and the expense, rarity and non interchangibility of certain parts and subassemblies will make today's bikes much harder to keep alive when they are 20 years old. Think our carbs are tough to rebuild and tune? Try rebuilding a TPS, or a printed, potted circuit board. Try making plastics and composite headlights from scratch, because there is no standardization, nor is there any interchangiblity between models, let alone makes. Every bike will be worse than restoring a Seca 900 now.

 

I gotta disagree with this one.

Except for the valve adjustment, my 550 Secas are a DARN SIGHT easier to work on than the old British bikes; you would not believe, for instance, the degree of teardown necessary to change the front drive sprocket on my Commando. On the 550, I pull one cover and uncrew the bolts from the retainer. Ditto camchain adjustment, the Norton requires actual surgery compared to the simplicity of the XJ. My Norton also has a dual-points ignition with a mechanical advance unit.

On the second part of that statement: a properly gone-through XJ is nearly as reliable as when it was new; the more stuff you had to replace the closer to "new" it is. My Seca 550s are much more "turnkey reliable" than my Norton ever was or is to this day.

The key is "properly gone through." Some things need to be replaced pre-failure to achieve said reliability.

 

if you want to keep it that long maybe you better store up some gasoline to run it on