A Question of Reliability

[Neil955i]

Seeing a recent post from RandyO about the inaccessible location of fuses on his new AK550 got me to thinking about the reliability of modern scooters / motorcycles.  You'll see from the details of my back catalogue (below) that I've owned and ridden a variety of machines in the last 40-odd years and am now racking (wracking?) my brains trying to think of a machine failure - other than running out of fuel (x2) a puncture (x10+) or a crash (x2) which has left me stranded at the side of the road.

In all those years, I can think of only two occasions, one was outside work where a Kawa GPz 750 refused to start under 6" on snow as the wet HT leads were arc'ing to earth and the other was 20 years ago where a catastrophic ECU failure on a 10-month old Triumph Daytona 955i stranded me on the side of an Autostrada in northern Italy.  As an aside, Numero Tre in Genoa sorted me out in a few days and were absolute gems.  Also, icing on the cake, Triumph UK picked up the tab for the whole debacle so well done to them too.  (I actually kept that bike for 20 years  in daily use for much of it and it never again misbehaved!)

My point in all this is that for modern well-maintained scooters and motorcycles I think the fear of breakdown is far more prevalent than the reality of it occurring!  That's been my experience anyway, how about you? 

[rjs987]

Ditto that experience. Not so many bikes in my history but really only one failure that left me stranded but still in town. My Gold Wing electrical, or part of it that related to the starter system but not engine running system, and some dash lights and trailer lights failed the first time I connected a trailer to pull to an event. That turned out to be due to a really bad electrical install done by the previous owner and nothing to do with the Gold Wing itself. Oh, and one other fail with which I was still able to limp home on. My first Burgman 650 had the front wheel bearings fail 5 miles from home. Otherwise no issues. I do only sometimes wonder how to manage should something happen on the road when traveling but not very often. And never related to what bike I am riding since that just doesn't seem to matter very much. As you said... with the current stock of well maintained bikes a breakdown really is something a lot more worried about than happens.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Good topic!
Agree 👍
These things are more reliable than we give them credit for.
However....since there is one part, more than any other, which will have you pushing your scooter home.....I consider it to be downright silly to ignore the factory schedule for belt changes.

So, (don't you hate when people start speaking..with that word!?)...,how about starting another thread with, "my two crashes"?

Stig

[Iahawk]

I think all vehicles are incredibly reliable these days...scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks. I'm younger than many here, at 56, cough, cough, but I remember a lot more cars by the side of the road when I was a kid. Flat tire was a big one..but also remember many cars with hood up. I can't say never...but rarely do I see a car or bike on the side of the road.

[Neil955i]

So, (don't you hate when people start speaking..with that word!?)...,how about starting another thread with, "my two crashes"?

Stig

Yes, I do!  Usually by the third sentence starting "So" in the same paragraph, I'm screaming at the Radio/TV!  I do that a lot these days.

As for my two offs, both I'd like to think wouldn't happen now with the knowledge accrued the hard way in the decades since!  Both of them were high speed, at 50-ish first time and 60+ second and thanks to good kit (#ATGATT) I got up and walked away with bruising only.  #1 I was sideswiped by a Beemer 7 series on a multi-lane road (Aston Expressway) coming out of Birmingham  where I failed to spot him merging from a slip road (on ramp) and slipping into my bit of road thinking it was a gap!  Damn near totalled my FJ1200, but his insurance paid everything sweet as a nut.

The second still rankles as it did write off my beloved ZX-7R (Green & Purple) race replica.  Fast bend at night just after a junction which I later discovered often had lorries from a unit just down the junction road dumping diesel on the road after over filling their tanks.  I must have touched a patch whilst leant over and then it's sky ground sky ground repeating.  That was the only fault claim I have ever made against my insurance in 50+ years of motorcycling.  Embarrassing as I was an Advanced Riding Trainer at the time!

[Ex-KLR]

I've been lucky, or God has been merciful (probably the latter).
In my 65 years of riding, I have never been stranded due to a fault of my motorcycle/scooter.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Yes, I do!  Usually by the third sentence starting "So" in the same paragraph, I'm screaming at the Radio/TV!  I do that a lot these days.

As for my two offs, both I'd like to think wouldn't happen now with the knowledge accrued the hard way in the decades since!  Both of them were high speed, at 50-ish first time and 60+ second and thanks to good kit (#ATGATT) I got up and walked away with bruising only.  #1 I was sideswiped by a Beemer 7 series on a multi-lane road (Aston Expressway) coming out of Birmingham  where I failed to spot him merging from a slip road (on ramp) and slipping into my bit of road thinking it was a gap!  Damn near totalled my FJ1200, but his insurance paid everything sweet as a nut.

The second still rankles as it did write off my beloved ZX-7R (Green & Purple) race replica.  Fast bend at night just after a junction which I later discovered often had lorries from a unit just down the junction road dumping diesel on the road after over filling their tanks.  I must have touched a patch whilst leant over and then it's sky ground sky ground repeating.  That was the only fault claim I have ever made against my insurance in 50+ years of motorcycling.  Embarrassing as I was an Advanced Riding Trainer at the time!

Ouch!
Elderly check-out lady at local grocers (where, after 30 yrs I get "Welcome Dear Premium Platinum Member!" from the machine's voice when I run my shopper's card!!) knows I ride a scooter. She shared, "Husband rode motorcycles until he hit some diesel in a corner, now he walks with a cane."

Yeah, thanks for that...careful with my eggs. (innuendo intended)

Umm, youse guys ride X199CR's, BGf955's, CRG804's, and the oft' lamented oil burning NXX144Cristo's.
But - are they manufactured by anyone I would recognize: Yamahammer, Hondosahn, Suzikie, Kowardsak'em, ??
Maybe some of us are not familiar with all that military jargon.

Stig
Seriously - maybe you cold copy and paste your 2 crashes and start a new topic: "My Crashes on 2 wheels"
It would be interesting reading - and maybe educational. What do you think?

[CROSSBOLT]

Oh, Neil! Tsk, tsk! The old "spilt diesel in the apex" event, aye! Like disppearing undercarriage: Them who have and Them who will forget the sequence of extending and retracting!

The only two-wheel device I loved to hate was the well made (better than Honda at the time) Yamaha YM-1 305 cc two-stroke twin. 5-speed gears, fine finish, mufflers that were not made in halves (like Honda), well made engine but with THE MOST MISERABLE IGNITION SYSTEM KNOWN TO MAN!! Fouled plugs, glazed plugs, too cold plugs and too hot plugs all added to missfires and stoppages. 1966 was a bit before CDI systems which solved all that but no retrofits at the time. I even suffered an event of uncontrolled wide open running! The heads or the plugs developed a hot spot and it would not shut off! Had to stop it by holding BRAKES and easing in the clutch! What a mess. Middle of the night, heading back to the shipyard, I-5 in Washington state, side of freeway....got it stopped. Found two decent plugs in my "spares" and on the way...

[randyo]

Spilt diesel,  I know where it is,   Route 201, Jackman, ME, nice sweeping curves, a dream for a high speed ride, if it weren't for Canadian truckers overfilling their tacks with cheap American fuel before they head back home, so much of it there, you can see it

[Neil955i]

Ouch!

Stig
Seriously - maybe you cold copy and paste your 2 crashes and start a new topic: "My Crashes on 2 wheels"
It would be interesting reading - and maybe educational. What do you think?

OK Stig, your wish is my command!

[Stig / Major Tom]

OK Stig, your wish is my command!

Thanks Neil...should be very educational......plus gives many of us a chance to practice writing dramatic fiction!
Stig

[Neil955i]

Thanks Neil...should be very educational......plus gives many of us a chance to practice writing dramatic fiction!
Stig

If only mine were a figment of a fevered mind!…

[Mancashire]

I have found no reliability problems with any scooter I’ve owned. A far bigger problem has been with the lack of expertise of some dealer mechanics who work on them.

[klaviator]

My kymco Like 150i has left me stranded more times than I remember.  Luckily I was never more than about 5 miles from home and I have a truck.  The majority of the times it was electrical issues.  I've also have the belt brake twice, both times well under the recommended replacement interval.

I have had other bikes leave me stranded.  Most were electrical issues such as a bad battery.  I once had a flat due to a punctured sidewall that couldn't be plugged. 

Of my five current bikes only the Kymco has ever left me stranded. 

I have had cars leave me stranded or fail to start at home.  It was always a bad battery.  These days batteries don't slowly go bad.  They often fail suddenly.  When that happens the car or bike won't run even if you jump it. 

[Neil955i]

Klav you’ve just reminded me, my Kymco did once strand me a mile from my house!  Only about 500 miles on the scooter and the CVT let go owing to the variator nut not being tightened properly at the factory!  As I reported on here at the time, all covered under warranty by Kymco UK.