real mileage

[csj]

Last year, a fella asked me about my odometer reading.

He remarked; hey, only 31000 kms, that's quite low!

I answered; well sir, it's really 131000 kms.
Like most people, he thought that it was much younger.
Even when the bike's filthy, people think it's like new.
Amazing my dirty tourer gets such compliments.

So question is, when you see advertised 16000 mi. on a
10 - 12 yr old valk for sale, how do you know it's not
116000 mi.?
Do US bikes have the extra digit?

If yours do not have the extra digit, how do you know
you're not being scammed by the seemingly
low odometer reading?

[sugerbear]

my I/S has the extra digit.

don't know about the standard or tourer.

[R J]

Std and Tourer do not have the 1xx,xxx digit.    When we run up 99,999 it rolls over to zero and we got a new bike again.   

[Valker]

You can look at other areas of wear. Footpegs are not necessarily a good indicator as mine are not worn or cracked at all at 125,000 miles, but my handgrips show a lot of wear. Other than that, mine still is hard to tell from new except for the dirt/filth/bugs/virtual panorama of American scenery that is my paint job.

[Trynt]

Look closely at the front timing belt cover.  A bike with 116k will be pitted with tiny stone chips in the chrome.  On one with only 16k will be much smoother.

[Kaiser]

Fortunately with these bikes, it really doesn't matter if it has "rolled" or not from a longetivity standpoint.  Unless, of course, you are buying RJ's or DDT's bikes - which have "rolled" multiple times. 

Of course, it matters if you are the one buying a bike as the price would be dramatically reduced if you could prove the odometer has been "rolled".

Another item to check would be the wheels.  They frequently get overlooked when the bike is being prepped for sale.  If the wheels have signs of wear, chances are it's got 100K more miles than indicated.

[Big IV]

I'm reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which was originally published in 1975. It is funny to read about 30,000 mile bikes being high mileage cycles. Things have changed.