Harley riders don't ride much.

A rider named Chris Hopper is doing 100,000 miles in 100 days on a brand new RoadGlide. He just finished up with a bit over 101,000 miles in 100 days.
Pretty crazy, can you imagine looking at a 6 month old Harley for sale with 101,000 miles and 1-1/2 year of the warranty left?

Kinda sorta busts the stereotype about washing & waxing your HD just to trailer it to Daytona Beach.

Might one say, He's the exception to the rule? Ya just can't judge a book by its cover!

If'n that's what floats your boat, then good for him! Live to Ride - Ride to Live y'all.

We all get to make our own decisions - I ride BMWs; he's on a now very well-used Harley...

We enjoyed our casual CoddiWomple around the USA this summer on BMWs. He rode his fargin arse off...

Back to U Chet.

Happy Trails - Ciao!
HSV-Karen & HSV-Phil
'09 650GS-twin — '14 K-GT
'82 R100CS ——— '75 R90S
'16 R1200RS —-— ’05 Vespa 200L

More power to Chris. But I could not afford to do that trip. Fuel, Food, Lodging,/camping, bike maintenance, tires, etc. At least $10 to $12k in a 100 days

grabcon said:

More power to Chris. But I could not afford to do that trip. Fuel, Food, Lodging,/camping, bike maintenance, tires, etc. At least $10 to $12k in a 100 days

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I'd guess $75 a day in fuel alone.

PoorUB said:

Pretty crazy, can you imagine looking at a 6 month old Harley for sale with 101,000 miles and 1-1/2 year of the warranty left?

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Better than a 6 year old bike with 10,000 miles!



Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk

I dunno, i was looking at an ad for a 1999 RT 1100
with 6,000 miles. WTF? That ain't hardly broke in yet and it's 22 years old. I would have bought it for $1800 but i already have more bikes than i have room for. It even had the topbox on it. I'd like to hear the story on where it's been for 22 years and if that mileage is actually correct.

I saw that ad was gone from facebook marketplace this morning.

It's not fair to just say Harley Riders don't ride much. LEt's use real data - https://www.bts.gov/content/us-vehicle-miles

Here are total motorcycle miles in USA (in millions):


This blog sort of broke down the data based on how many motorcycles are registered: https://powersportsguide.com/average-motorcycle-mileage-per-year/

Looks like the average is 3,000 miles a year and 5-8K for touring motorcycles (for which some HDs do fall into)

So if any rider, Harley or not is doing more than 3K a year, they're "above average" if a BMW touring rider is doing over 8,000 they're also above average for their segment.

Also we can't just pick on HD...I come across a lot of low mileage Boxer-GS motorcycles for sale all of the time. Our community is guilty of garage queens as well.

My title was meant as irony.

I know plenty of Harley riders that ride more than the top end of BMW riders.

We had a met arranged about 700 miles away. One Harley rider pulled in right before the festivities started. I was giving him some crap about being late knowing the type of riding he does. He had left a few days earlier than the rest and He jokingly said he hit a construction detour and had put on over 6,000 miles in seven days. This rider has averaged over 35,000 miles a year for probably 20 years, living in North Dakota.

Another HD rider I used to know but have lost contact would work a crap load of hours for weeks, or months, then he would get laid off for anywhere from a week to a few months depending on where the work schedule fell. He never really told me what he did, not sure if he could. All I know is he had some government job. He would ask his boss roughly when he needed to be back and tell them to give him a few days notice. He would load up and go. I now on one of his three month leaves he put on just under 50,000 miles in 90 days. He would hop on and just ride. Sad thing that was his only time to ride, The motorcycle sat for the rest of the time other than a quick run here and there if he happened to be home for a day or two, which was rare.

I realize the average BMW rides more miles than the average HD rider, but I wonder if there is not just as many or more HD riders that pound some real miles. The average gets dragged down a lot as the average motorcycle rider rides roughly 3,000 a year and there a ton of HD riders that meet that description. Also the shear number of HD riders over whelms the number of BMWs out there. BMW riders seem to be a bit more dedicated to miles where the average HD rider is more committed to having a polished up motorcycle parked outside the local bar.

And let's not forget those of use with multiple bikes (mistresses, actually) who have to spread the mileage "love."

Most long-distance folks are on Harleys

I rode from Portland, OR to Tampa and back this summer on my R1200GS and it seemed that about 90% of the long-distance riders were on Harleys. Must be a reason. That big seat?? (joke)

Harley riders don't ride much

I call bogus. I am an older long distance tourer. Nobody...Nobody can ride 1,000 miles per day for 100 consecutive days.Just say you like Harleys and leave it at that.

bikebombs said:

I call bogus.

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Kind of a big claim bikebombs (unless less it was in jest and it went over my head?)



"The total miles on his new scoot was 101,372. of that 908 were outside of the gas receipts required for the strict guidelines of the Iron Butt Association. Leaving him with 100,464 certified Miles. Attached to Hopper's bike was also 2 tracking devices which collected all data. One provided by US Fleet tracker and another from Spotwalla.
All service was documented by Republic Harley in TX. Tires and service done there except the tires that collected nails along the way. His Ride Was equipped with an auxiliary tank which held 5 gallons bringing the total to 11 gallons as allowed by the IBA. The suspension was provided by Smarty Suspensions in TX which equipped him with Ohlins and did any maintenance needed. lastly his butt was protected by Wild-Ass's Smart Classic topper. Chris Hopper not only rode 100,000 miles in 100 days. He rode to raise both money and awareness to fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. To date his ride has raised nearly $85,000. Hoppers goal is $100,000! There will be many who will not believe such a ride could be possible..."

drneo66 said:

Kind of a big claim (unless less it was in jest and it went over my head?)



"The total miles on his new scoot was 101,372. of that 908 were outside of the gas receipts required for the strict guidelines of the Iron Butt Association. Leaving him with 100,464 certified Miles. Attached to Hopper's bike was also 2 tracking devices which collected all data. One provided by US Fleet tracker and another from Spotwalla.
All service was documented by Republic Harley in TX. Tires and service done there except the tires that collected nails along the way. His Ride Was equipped with an auxiliary tank which held 5 gallons bringing the total to 11 gallons as allowed by the IBA. The suspension was provided by Smarty Suspensions in TX which equipped him with Ohlins and did any maintenance needed. lastly his butt was protected by Wild-Ass's Smart Classic topper. Chris Hopper not only rode 100,000 miles in 100 days. He rode to raise both money and awareness to fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. To date his ride has raised nearly $85,000. Hoppers goal is $100,000! There will be many who will not believe such a ride could be possible..."

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If the ride was certified /recognized by the Iron Butt Association then indeed it happened as claimed. The IBA documentation including a log, corresponding fuel receipts, GPS tracking, and other documents makes it virtually certain to have been legitimate.

PGlaves said:

If the ride was certified /recognized by the Iron Butt Association then indeed it happened as claimed. The IBA documentation including a log, corresponding fuel receipts, GPS tracking, and other documents makes it virtually certain to have been legitimate.

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Plus, let's not forget that Chris is both an Iron Butt Rally veteran and a Hoka Hey finisher...

He had to have had a support team or two to pick up food, arrange for motels, and do the required maintenance on his off time with some communication with him while he was riding. All he would have time to do is eat, sleep, and ride. I could see how you could do it with support teams. Not hard to do 1,000 miles per day on a major interstate at 75 MPH. It also depends where his riding was done. If it was back and forth across Texas, that's relatively easy.

truckerdave said:

Not hard to do 1,000 miles per day on a major interstate at 75 MPH. It also depends where his riding was done. If it was back and forth across Texas, that's relatively easy.

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Not hard to do one, OK. Two gets harder. Forty-five, a previous record certainly wasn't likely to be easy. One hundred starts to look hard to me. But the rider is an experienced long-distance rider who has completed both the Hoka Hey and the 11-day Iron Butt Rally. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the Long Distance Riders List and there doesn't seem to be any doubt he did it.

I'm betting the guy was in excellent physical shape too.

truckerdave said:

I'm betting the guy was in excellent physical shape too.

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If not when he started, he would be by the time he finished. Thousand mile days are grueling.

That is quite a feat and I congratulate him on it.

Quite a few years ago when I was 65 yo , I rode 1100 miles in one day just to see if I could do it. One day was pretty easy, but the next day I didn't want to get out of bed or couldn't.