[McRider]

I bought my 06 in January of 06. It has been completly reliable with no problems (other than installation of the factory buzz kit). Over the miles I have replaced:

seven rear tires
five front tires
spark plugs once
chain and sprockets once
brake fluid twice
front brake pads
oil change and filter every 5,000 miles
air filter once (cleaned every 10,000 miles)
several valve shims (checked every 15K at first, now 20K)

I have upgraded the suspension with Race Tech Gold Valves and springs to suit my weight, new fork oil, and Penske rear shock.

I have replaced the steering head bearings with tapered roller type to increase life span, and have added fender extender and rear "hugger" to keep water and grundge off engine, radiator, and exhaust parts.

For comfort I have replaced the stock bars with Bikemaster Superbike bars, the windscreen with a Zero Gravity Sport Touring screen, and the seat with a custom seat with bigger passenger portion for my wife and gel pads in both sections. I also installed a Vista Cruise throttle lock.

For touring I have installed Givi V35 hard bags.

Looks like I'm keeping this one for over 100,000 miles.

 

[Turismon]

Very nice, hard to find bikes with a good number of miles on the bike. I plan on keeping my bike for a long time comming myself. I love this 650R, it does it all and although I would love a GSXR 750 or something to go super fast once on, I would never really buy one when I think about it. I did tons of research and had a got set on this bike some point down the line and glad I picked it.

Good job on all the miles and keeping the bike alive! I hope I can experience the same!

 

[twowheeladdict]

It is good to know that these engines can handle the long haul. I was going to sell mine, but after I discovered that it isn't worth much I decided to keep it and ride it. I just stopped riding with the guys who were tugging on me to go faster than common sense allows.

 

[Young at Heart]

For Now!

My 07 getting ready to roll to 51,000, new end of May 2007.

I'm in New Mexico right now on vacation with my wife: away from my records and the bike. I'm having riding withdrawals!!!

I've definitely changed my tires, cleaned air filter, changed oil, and spark plugs more. Only problem I've had with mine is having to replace the alternator stator at 39,000 miles. No valve adjustments needed yet on mine.

Keep up your riding McRider or I'm going to catch you on the miles!!

 

[steveinsandiego]

mc, looks like you average 13K/yr. YaH, you're up there with +16K/yr

i'm around 12.5K/yr across my nearly 13-year riding stint. LOL.

question on the valves: one reason i bought the 650 was the long valve-check interval at 26K miles. should i check before that, or...?

my 800 intruder did not have hydraulic valves, but they never needed adjusting in 38K miles. the 1500 and 1600 had hydraulic valves = no adjustments.

what's a symptom to look/hear for if the 650 needs work?? i dunno, honestly.

my daughter's ninja 250 goes "ticka-ticka-ticka-tika-ticka" in rapid succession while idling in neutral -valves? supposedly they were adjusted at 5,500 miles just before she bought it; it's up to 8K now.

 

[jasonmsred]

I bought my bike with 0 miles memorial day 08 today I paseed 30,000 miles so I'm trending your way

 

[Quentin]

good job, glad to see a high mileage 650'

 

[apmonr01]

my daughter's ninja 250 goes "ticka-ticka-ticka-tika-ticka" in rapid succession while idling in neutral -valves? supposedly they were adjusted at 5,500 miles just before she bought it; it's up to 8K now.

The 250 is known for having a lot of valve noise, or at least the older generation bikes are (pre-08). You get more valve noise on those bikes when the valves are adjusted to the "loose" end of the spec. The valve clearance will get "tighter" as you put more miles on it and the ticking sound will go away.

 

[WipperSnapper]

Can we see a pic of the whole bike? Sounds like the sport-touring plan I have.

 

[sourdough]

I want to see your bike also! I am interested in your handlebars. Post a picture (or more) that show what they look like, please.

 

[sourdough]

Me again. What rear tires have you used and what sort of mileage have you got from them.
I just got back from a 5144.1 mile trip to visit a friend in Yakima. Maybe passed you on the road?

 

[McRider]

question on the valves: one reason i bought the 650 was the long valve-check interval at 26K miles. should i check before that, or...?

There is a conflict between the owner's manual and the service manual regarding valve check intervals. One says 26K miles and the other says 15K miles. I did the first two checks at 15K miles intervals and then changed to 20K after getting a feeling for how the tolerances changed over miles.

If you are asking about the symptoms for needing a valve adjustment, it depends on if the valves are too tight or too loose. Too loose means more noise, but is not as bad as too tight. If valve clearance is too tight, the valves will eventually not close all the way and you will lose compression and eventually burn a valve. The symptoms of low compression is rough idle and "fluffy" sounding exhaust. It's best to check the clearances periodically and not wait for symptoms to show up.

 

[McRider]

Can we see a pic of the whole bike? Sounds like the sport-touring plan I have.

Here are a couple of pics. The one of the right side of the bike shows the stock shock that I have since replaced with the Penske. Oh, it also has the stock seat. The pic with me on the bike is recent, but you can's see those mods very well.

 

[McRider]

I want to see your bike also! I am interested in your handlebars. Post a picture (or more) that show what they look like, please.

Here are a couple of older pics of the bars that I found:

 

[McRider]

Me again. What rear tires have you used and what sort of mileage have you got from them.
I just got back from a 5144.1 mile trip to visit a friend in Yakima. Maybe passed you on the road?

I used two of the stock Bridgestone BT020s, then I went through a set of Michelin Pilot Roads, and since then I have been using Shinko Raven 009s. Regardless of brand, I get seven to nine thousand out of the rears and 12 or so thou out of the fronts.

I haven't seen another Ninja 650 on the road for a long time.

 

[McRider]

While I was looking for pics in my files I came on these I took when I was installing the Race Tech Gold valves and springs and the tapered roller steering bearings. This was at the 50,000 mile mark and I did a bunch of other stuff like valve check, oil and filter change, air filter cleaning, and shortly after that I put on a new chain and sprockets.

 

[rider650r]

Nice garage!

 

[Texas Ninja]

Tire Milage

I have 15,500 miles on my '08 650R. I tried a set of Brigdgestone BT-016s, both were replaced early because, with the sun in my eyes, I didn't see the pothole and bent both rims. The impact was so hard I initially thought both tires had blown out. The BT-016s were at 4,000 mile and wouldn't have made it past 6,000. I replaced them with Bridgestone BT-021s. The BT-021s are at 4,000 and still have about half of their life left. The few twisties in my area don't tax the BT-021s (ie. the BT-021s have plenty of grip for the lean angles I use so the BT-016s were overkill. Bridgestone is replacing the BT-021s with BT-023s that are supposed to have better grip on wet streets and last even longer than the BT-021s. http://www.riderforums.com/images/smilies/2cents.gif

 

[hvyjnkr]

Hell, with those kinda miles that makes me feel like a rookie. I have 11k+ miles and I have only had the bike for a little over 2 years. BTW, I also drive a cager on a regular basis. My hat is off to you..

I love my little 650R. Ride on

:alcy:hvyjnkr:alcy:

 

[Seb656]

I have just about 32k on my bike and plan to keep it till it explodes. Granted I work from home, live in the city, and am about 3 miles from school. I plan on putting some major miles on my bike when my personal situation allows. My buddy and I plan on taking a trip from Houston to Washington State one of these days.

I just got done adding a bypass oil filter to the bike in the hopes of increasing its longevity. I fully expect to get at least 200k out of this bike.