How often do you change your oil???

I was just wondering how often you change your oil on your bike? Cuz I know that no one goes by the book...

Every day, I dont want it to get stale.









I use Amsoil synthetic and change my oil between 8-10k = mostly highway driving, with some city/twisties in-between. When using DINO oils, I changed it around 4-5k max. Use a quality filter/oil and your bike will thank you for many years.

P.S. All oils are not created equal

I change oil and filter every 3000 miles -- maybe overkill but I've got way over 100,000 miles on bikes with no engine malfunctions. I know of several people who follow the book and also have no problems but they don't ride as much as I do. My bike is my daily driver with the Jeep used for snow days or when I feel icky. It's gotta be reliable so I change the oil often.

Baldman's correct -- all oils are not created equal. I use Mobil1 -- Amsoil is also good. I found a chart on another site that rated oils -- I'll post it here if I can find it again.

well i just did my 600-mile service about a month ago, so i can't speak much on when to change oil. but like Baldman said, synthetics are the way to go, especially with our bike being able to rev so high.

NOTE: DO NOT convert to synthetics until you have AT LEAST 4k miles on the engine. You can listen to this word of advice or choose to take the risk of your rings not seating properly. I am not all-knowing, or omnipotent, but this is a word of caution I have learned to heed over the many articles/tests I have read. You can always research for yourself and make your own decision, as this is Bush's world.

MAKE SURE YOU USE A 'MOTORCYCLE SPECIFIC" OIL !!!
The motorcycle oils are formulated to handle the unique loads since the motorcycle uses the oil for the pistons, clutch, and transmission..If you use a car oil it may not be able to handle the sheering effects from the clutch and the transmission, causing premature breakdown of the oil and less protection. Motorcycle oils do usually cost more for this reason than car oils.
I have used all sorts of brands and I dont have a preference from one to the other..but if you use a synthetic you can go alittle longer between oil changes since it lasts a little longer and the transmission might shift just a touch smoother. The downside to synthetics is if you have a clutch that is slipping, it might be exaggerated by a synthetic oil and this type of oil can "sweat" past seals a little easier in some cases..it is rare but I have seen it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Baldman
NOTE: DO NOT convert to synthetics until you have AT LEAST 4k miles on the engine. You can listen to this word of advice or choose to take the risk of your rings not seating properly. I am not all-knowing, or omnipotent, but this is a word of caution I have learned to heed over the many articles/tests I have read. You can always research for yourself and make your own decision, as this is Bush's world.

He is entirely correct. In most vehicles you have to have around 1000 or more miles before the manafacture reccomends switching to synthetic. That lets the rings seat and everything get broken in properly.

I change mine around every 5000 miles or so. If i'm riding hard and alot, I might do it at 3000. Otherwise i'll let it go till around 5000. With synthetic oil it's not as necessary to do it as often as most manafactures reccomend.

Well there is a lot of info here....I like to find something I like, then stick with it...So i am looking for a good oil....I just hit my 2000 mark.....

If anyone cares to read it, here is the technical/testing info on Amsoil Moto-specific, synthetic. There is even a testing comparison to Mobil-1: HERE

Here is a good link I borrowed from sportbikes.ws that tells you anything and everything you wanted to know about oil, but were afraid to ask. http://www.micapeak.com/bike/ST1300/Oils1.html

Bad link, but I will fix it for you.

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html AND

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Consumables.html#Oil

And for oil filters - http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Filters.html#OilFilters AND

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Consumables.html#OilFilters

Thank you kindly

s**t!! i was never aware of synthetics not being good on low mileage bikes. i bought my bike used from a dealer and i told them to do the service before i receive the bike. they asked me if i wanted dino oil or synthetic, and i promptly said synthetic because i thought it's better. but they did NOT enlighten me about it being a bad idea and it kind of pisses me off now. i thought after the breakin period(600 miles on my bike), it would be ok to run synthetic. oh well, can't turn back time and make it different. i guess i'll have to live with it, but thanks for the tip man!

I think you'll be alright -- synthetic oil basically just means that you have virtually no "wierd chains" in the oil. Dino oil graded as 30wt has carbon chains of a particular type that make it flow like it's supposed to. But it also has the odd chain or two that are not correct. These odd chains get burned up or mashed in the tranny. The burned up ones cause some sort of acid to build up that is a bad thing. Synthetics are basically just oil with no odd chains floating around. This means no burning crap, less acid stuff and longer life.

If my explanation seems over simplified, it is. That's because I'm a bear of little brain and that's how the dude explained it to me. And it made sense. So if it is not correct, then I'll ride in ignorant bliss. My last motor never saw dino oil after it left the dealer. 30K miles later (with turbo for 20K) and valves and rings perfect. Inside of the motor actually looked like the pics in the manual -- ya know, the ones that show a "clean" engine.

i try to change mine every 4500 miles. i use MOTUL but just about any motorcycle specific oil will do fine.

ok cool, thanks a lot man. i've just always been a firm believer in synthetics, so i'm gonna stick with it. but what you said did make sense, so thank you. what bike did you have a turbo on? busa?

Ya, turbo was on '01 Busa. A real beasty. Only time the power was really usable was in 5th or 6th. Everywhere else you had to be careful.

phew, a turbo busa, damn! i can only imagine that kind of power, must have been incredible. sorry to hassle you, but do you have any pics of it?

GPS (yellow thing) electronic boost and fuel pressure gauge on reservoirs



Dump Pipe

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers on the bike did you do all the work?


Nipz~

Got any pic of the turbo and the body work off?


Nipz~

Yes -- all work performed by me. Dump pipe was the biggest beeeyatch to make. Luckily I work for a company with nice shop facilities

I got other pics of the turbo around here somewhere - I'll post 'em if I can find 'em. That bike now resides with a dude in North Carolina -- sold it and bought the CBR1000RR. 20K miles of 300hp banging you will make you appreciate the civility of Honda

how much you sell that for?


Nipz~

I rode the dog-piss outta mine for 33K miles and sold it for enough to pay for my new ride. Not too shabby. I'll make ya one for around $17 if ya want.

Na i have only been riding for 4 month so this is my starter bike. When i want to go boost I will probly take it up as a project and do it my self with some kind of turbo kit. thanx for the offer. did you by you turbo as a kit or did ou just make you own?


Nipz~