Firstly I wouldn't think of mileage on bikes as the same as cars. You can practically replace an entire bike around a frame or engine.
To put it in to context try this: I had a '97 Suzuki Bandit 1200. Paid £1700 for, put about 4k miles on it and sold it with - wait for it - 29k miles on it and got £1500 for it.
Suzuki engines are, IMO, one of the best built engines out of them all. As long as they have been regularly maintained and looked after, the worn bits replaced and it has been ridden, a bike engine will go and go and go....
I would argue it may also depend on:
1. How it has been ridden (track days, arse kicked out of it etc.
2. Regularly maintained (dealer servicing doesn't mean jack if you know how to service it yourself.
3. The price.
My current bike is a '56 plate GSXR 600 K6. I paid £4k with only 3750 miles on it. I haven't been able to find a bike that age with so few miles on.
It all depends on what you wanna spend versus what else is out there, that age with how ever many miles on. Have a look on ebay/bike traders etc. The older a bike, the higher the mileage is more likely to be. Older bikes with hardly any miles on (a bit like mine), you have to ask WHY they have so few miles on them. Maybe, like mine, they are dry weather, weekend toys that have to fit in with work/family/weather balances. However, low mileage bikes that have just been stood can fall subject to seizure of mechanical parts and especially if they have been stored incorrectly and had the old/fuel drained from them, may have some corrosion.
A K4 is somewhere around 2002-2003, so 10 years old. Divide this by 22(k miles) and you can equate that to roughly 2,100 miles a year. That would suggest to me that if this was an average yearly milesage, it has been ridden like mine. Infrequently. If the condition reflects those miles, ie. good, clean, minimal corrosion, you can bet that it has been looked after and would be worth the money.
Then again, it may have been stodd for some of those years and done very little (how many owners has it had?), and then someone may have hammered the mileage on some years and used it as a commuter bike. Again, look for signs of corrosion to parts that would fall foul to all weather riding. Where would the water, rain etc penetrate the bike from the front?
Try get as much history as you can on the bike. Previous owners and their riding etc. Sometimes this isn't always possible.
All in all though, you can replace just about every part on the bike and you will always own a Gixxer, so in short, you can't lose.
Hope this helps.
