Originally Posted By: Cujet
I always recommend seemingly frequent oil changes. For all the reasons listed above. In addition, micro-particulates are exceptionally hard on chains, such as cam and balancer chains. The reason is that the chains are highly loaded with very small bearing surface area. The only viable way to ensure cam chain life is to change the oil regularly with the appropriate (not too thin) viscosity.
Ever wonder why so many bikes wear out cam chains? Now you know. Or maybe you did not know that a worn cam chain changes cam timing to a retarded position. And that the worn cam chain may not be self-evident to owners, until they are worn beyond limits and rattle. Owners simply accept the loss of performance and smoothness. Suzuki DRZ-400's wear cam chains out rapidly. Even the mighty KLR650 is prone to cam chain and balancer chain wear. In fact, it's the subject of aftermarket "tweaks" on the KLR. It's not uncommon for DRZ owners to go through 3 cam chains through the bike's life.
I'm not so worried about the years, if it's a robust synthetic oil. I'm concerned about miles and wear particulates.
I will never understand the logic behind saving $20 and risking $4000.
This may well be true, but I'm not clear that it's directly relevant to the topic at hand. This is about low mileage and (therefore) possible time expiry of oil. To simplify a bit, time expiry of oil will be about slow oxidative changes. Particulates are mostly generated by wear, so they wont accumulate much, if at all, when the oil is just sitting.
I always recommend seemingly frequent oil changes. For all the reasons listed above. In addition, micro-particulates are exceptionally hard on chains, such as cam and balancer chains. The reason is that the chains are highly loaded with very small bearing surface area. The only viable way to ensure cam chain life is to change the oil regularly with the appropriate (not too thin) viscosity.
Ever wonder why so many bikes wear out cam chains? Now you know. Or maybe you did not know that a worn cam chain changes cam timing to a retarded position. And that the worn cam chain may not be self-evident to owners, until they are worn beyond limits and rattle. Owners simply accept the loss of performance and smoothness. Suzuki DRZ-400's wear cam chains out rapidly. Even the mighty KLR650 is prone to cam chain and balancer chain wear. In fact, it's the subject of aftermarket "tweaks" on the KLR. It's not uncommon for DRZ owners to go through 3 cam chains through the bike's life.
I'm not so worried about the years, if it's a robust synthetic oil. I'm concerned about miles and wear particulates.
I will never understand the logic behind saving $20 and risking $4000.
This may well be true, but I'm not clear that it's directly relevant to the topic at hand. This is about low mileage and (therefore) possible time expiry of oil. To simplify a bit, time expiry of oil will be about slow oxidative changes. Particulates are mostly generated by wear, so they wont accumulate much, if at all, when the oil is just sitting.
