One banger question - 70.000 km/s and in good shape?
 

I'm looking into buying a 1996 honda dominator which has gone 70.000 kms. Is this far for a one banger?

Someone tolød me that one bangers of this type average 100k... is that true?

The bike I will eventually buy is to be used on a trans africa trip.

Please give me some advice on this...

Wow, 70000 km/s! At first I though this question was about space travel!

That's quite a high mileage for such an engine. I would take a good look at cam shaft, piston and gear box. In other words, strip the eingine down completely. It's not that hard to do.

BTW: One banger! I like it! But it's not an English expression I have heard of. Usually, we call them big single or thumper. They tend to last less long than a twin or a four.

I understood "banger" relates to the question, not to the bike.
Am I right?

Banger as in reffering to the bike only having one cylinder... one-banger. A twin would be a two-banger, and so on.

I decided not to buy the bike. Talked to a mechanic who told me that the engine would by factory suggestions need a bunch of new parts at 100k. He further told me that these large one cylindered bikes were very suceptible to heat, the kind that arises from riding the bike offroad. He told me that if the bike had been used for a lot od offroading that the engine could soon be done for, but on the other hand, if the engine had been treated very nicely, could do 200k kms.

The engine did not have its original gaskets, meaning that the engine had been opened. This could indicate that for instance the clutch or gears needed to be changed prematurely from heavy abuse. The owner of the bike had no previous history of the bike other than that the owner before him was some crooked dude. He had only had the bike for two years himself and only riden it for a few k. Although he had never had any problems with it, he knew little about its previous history. A checked with the shop where the original owner had purchased it, but there was no service record the last few years (which could mean anything or nothing at all).

In the end I decided not to buy it unless I get it extremely cheap.

70,000km is a lot for a big single. Although overall revs are low, the piston speed is actually quite high to the longer strokes used.

I took a DR600 to just over 63,000 miles (105,000km) but not without a fair amount of spannering. Check the splines on the gearbox output shaft that carries the front sprocket. They have a hard life, mine wore two shafts out. Replacement requires complete engine strip from top to bottom. Avoid if there's significant wear on the splines driving face.

Say, {m curious. Whats a new motor worth? Maybe you can replace the motor, part out the old one and sell it for parts to recoup some of the cost and have the reasurance of a fresh motor.

You can't buy new bike engines, except perhaps from BMW. The cost would be prohibitive.

If you are not sufficiently mechanically minded find a friend who is and rebuild the engine. It will be as good as a new one.

How much would a rebuild cost in parts (we don't have the same insane taxes on spares, only a VAT of 25%)

How long is a piece of string? It depends which parts need replacing. A gasket kit is 50 - 80 €. After that, who knows.

I just did a 650L (same motor) that had cam issues (I'd look under the valve cover for sure)at 40,000 km. I did rings, cam chain and slipper,new cam and rockers, valve job and gaskets was over $1000 before labour. Honda doesn't sell short block engines.

[This message has been edited by scooter1100 (edited 20 January 2006).]

fyi a gasket A (topend) is 139$ canuck bucks for comparison purposes