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Date Posted: Mon September 02, 2013 11:34:20PM
Author: Eric T
Subject: Re: Voyager 12 life expectancy?
In reply to: Don 's message, "Voyager 12 life expectancy?" on Sun September 01, 2013 8:17:59AM

I've had three: 88, 90, and now a 92. (Also had a an 84 6 cylinder for a while). I'm not your typical Voyager owner; I use it for daily driving. Been riding almost 40 years. I use a bike pretty hard. (I've ground the main stand lever almost in half cornering on two of mine). Most of my life was in the greater Los Angeles area, so lots of freeway, surface street, stop and go, splitting lanes - and it gets pretty hot. I'm told I ride like a cop. I keep on top of the maintenance, but I by no means baby the bikes.
Issues:
- All the 1200 engines have a weakness: The chain from the alternator/starter gear to the crankshaft. It's right in the center of the crenk, behind the alternator. By ~60k miles, the chain is stretched and/or the tensioner isn't doing its job, and the chain can pop off the big gear. When that happens, the fix is 1) remove engine, 2) tear down engine, 3) replace chain and tensioner. If it happens when the motor is running, it would be a Bad Thing, but I've never heard of that happening. It seems to happen either when you turn the motor off, or while trying to start it (like the timing chain on an old American V8). One time you push the starter and crank, crank, crank; next time the starter just spins freely. Once that happens, you're screwed. I've had that happen to me on my 90. The rest of the bike was good, so I took a gamble and had my mechanic install a "low mileage" junkyard engine. That motor worked for about 3 years, then the same thing happened.
(I do ~15k miles a year, I think). Sold it to one of the guys in the American Voyager Association (in Nevada, I think) for a parts/restoration bike as it was in decent shape otherwise.
As I've said I use a bike pretty hard (kind of like Highway Patrol). I've never heard of a "cruiser" type rider who had this happen, but I did talk to a Kaw mechanic who had seen it a couple of times.
- The clutches are a little weak. By about 40K, I notice that on full out acceleration the clutch will start to slip some on the 1-2 shift, and a bit on the 2-3 shift. All three of mine did that. On the oldest one, the slipping got gradually worse, until it wouldn't stop slipping from the (hard) 1-2 shift until I backed off the throttle a bit. I eventually had to replace that clutch. But the others held up okay. Just don't abuse them too much. (If you're over 25, you probably aren't).
- The 'low fuel' light will eventually stop working. It's the sensor, and it's not worth fixing.
- Coolant leaks may develop on the front side of the engine as some of the O-rings age. Not a big deal to fix.
- If the bike you get has sat for a long while, or was poorly maintained, check the rear caliper piston. If the fluid gets contaminated you can get rust around the piston. If that happens your rear brake can stick on -- and you might not even know it. I didn't; the bike just didn't seem to be running right. I stopped and saw the rear brake smoking and the disc *glowing* - in daylight! I had someone else tell me his also did that, and he didn't know it until he got home. His got so hot it fused the piston into the caliper.

Otherwise they're pretty solid. I don't remember exact milages, but I usually get a used one cheap with ~33K on it,
and ride it till it dies (or I have to move out of state).
I'd guess the most I had on one was ~88K (when the starter chain popped off). Otherwise that motor was still going strong. Minor oil leakage from the shift shaft seal, but that's all. No apparent smoke. A little oil usage, but that could just be from the leak.

I can believe a "cruiser" type rider could run one for 200K. 300K I'd have to see with my own eyes. :-) But I too have heard the rumor they can go that long.

Good Luck - Eric

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