I had a 3 1/2 for 18 years. Put 187,000 miles on it for the cost of front exhaust valve guide and a gearbox bearing. Otherwise just consumables. It still resides in the MRC (Morini Riders Club), it was bright yellow throughout, frame, tank, side panels and wheels then polished cases. I believe my Valentini F3 prototype is still doing the rounds of the MRC too - that graced the front of Mick Walkers book on Morini and somewhere I have a picture of me holding it, literally I could pick it up.
I went from Morini to BMW, although I had a Darmah SS (one of only 310 built) at the same time. Wish I had kept it, but you know how it is - it became the deposit for our house. I got an R100RS and put 334,000 miles on it without a hiccup, it was still on the original discs and clutch when I sold it and nothing mechanical went wrong at all. I had an R100CS which was ex Leicestershire Police, special branch bike, the panniers were fitted with surveillance kit, so had holes in when I got it. Mick Barr had serviced it for the entire time the Police had it, but because it spent most of its life sat somewhere on lookout duty, it had few miles on it. It was a much nicer bike to ride than the RS, softer suspension and more steering angle, so easier to live with in a confined yard where we lived. They gave way to an 1150 Adventure, just a month shy of 3 years old with only 11,000 miles on it. I sold it just 2 years ago with 125,000 miles on it because another, exactly the same, 1 owner from new with only 26,000 miles on it came available it only cost me £500 to change - so £500 for 100,000 miles was a no brainer to me! I got taken out on the M40 in 2017 on her - just finished putting her back together, now MOTd, taxed and insured again, but after using a lightweight 650 single for 18 months, it was a shock to the system to heave that great lump about and it was quite daunting the first few times I rode her again. Possibly phased a bit by the crash, I wasn't sure if I would regain the strength to be able to get her on/off the stand but I am working on it.
I use the bike to ferry my kit about for work. I started out on Superbike when John Cutts was editor and Grant Leonard was Dep Ed. then got the job as chief photographer at BSH in 1986, I had to work on the other MMP titles as they came along including Streetfighters from day 1 to when it closed 2 years ago. That was the best fun job I have ever had - being a hooligan and getting paid for it.
In the early days the Police were often called and were great, we would rope them in for the shoot. I remember getting one traffic car team to bend the owner over the bonnet of their squad car and pretend to thrash him with a branch I pulled out of the hedge - much to the dismay of the dopey old goat that called the Police. We used that shot across a DPS and sent a copy to their cop shop. They framed the centre spread and put it in the locker room! We had a good working relationship with the Police in most parts of the country.