Motorcycle oil change interval.....

[DaveInIreland]

I have a shed of older bikes, two of which (Suzuki GS850s) have been mine for nearly 30 years, and during the early years of ownership they were working hard. I routinely changed out the oil at 2K miles with whatever was available at the right price, avoiding the cheap cheap stuff. There is nearly always a bargain of decent make oil on clearance somewhere, so I'd just keep my eyes open for that and stockpile it when I found it. Mostly car oils, but occasionally bike specific oil if it was at the right price.
Anyway, one of those two has done nearly 150K and the other is knocking on for 300K. When I've had any of the engines apart to fix the inevitable leaks, the internal wear has been negligible.
The 300K one has just had new rings, pistons and bores were absolutely fine for another couple of decades at least.
Like others have mentioned, the 2K interval is just about right - if I can feel the gearchange getting notchy the rest of the internals are also at risk, so it's cheaper to change the oil and reset the clock.

 

[joe02151]

2017 yamaha r1 every 2000 miles with redline or maxima
2006 yamaha r1 every 2000 miles with amsoil, bike made it to 89k miles before I sold it.

 

[wagsrk08]

2016 Harley Davidson Ultra Limited.

I change engine oil every 4,000-5,000 mile. Prefer Spectro Heavy Golden Duty 20W-50 semi-synthetic blend.

Primary is changed either @ 5,000 mile change or seasonally if it's less than 10,000. Use Spectro Heavy Duty Primary Chaincase Oil.

Transmission is changed seasonally or no more than 10,000 mile. Use Spectro Heavy Duty 6-Speed Platinum full synthetic transmission fluid.

 

[Bonz]

M1 10w40 4T went almost 5000 miles in my shared sump ZRX1200. Shifting stayed good, wear numbers and TBN excellent as well. Shift quality gives me the tell-tale sign to think about an oil change with most oils, but would run this one longer next time. Running 20w50 M1 VTwin now, just past 2000 miles and everything is going well.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted by DaveInIreland
I have a shed of older bikes, two of which (Suzuki GS850s) have been mine for nearly 30 years, and during the early years of ownership they were working hard.
Anyway, one of those two has done nearly 150K and the other is knocking on for 300K. When I've had any of the engines apart to fix the inevitable leaks, the internal wear has been negligible.


I cannot imagine owning the same bikes so long and racking up so many miles.... Wow!

 

[donnyj08]

2-3k miles here. When I rode across the country and back on my XSR900 (Cincinnati to Vegas) that interval was ~4,600mi on Shell advanced 4T.

I run a variety of 15w40 and 10w40.

 

[dgunay]

3000 miles or 1 year OCI here for the 2018 Kawasaki Z650. Recommended OCI is 12.000 km (7500 miles) or 1 year.

I have put about 4000 kms (2500 miles) so far. First oil and filter changed at 500 miles, second oil and filter at 1500 miles, next one is going to be at 3000 and will keep changing at every 3000 miles. Currently running on Motul 4t 10w40, but I will switch to Rotella T4 and T6 soon.

Yeah I change it too early, but I like to keep it fresh, as it lubricates both engine and transmission.

 

[Bonz]

Originally Posted by dgunay
3000 miles or 1 year OCI here for the 2018 Kawasaki Z650. Recommended OCI is 12.000 km (7500 miles) or 1 year.

I have put about 4000 kms (2500 miles) so far. First oil and filter changed at 500 miles, second oil and filter at 1500 miles, next one is going to be at 3000 and will keep changing at every 3000 miles. Currently running on Motul 4t 10w40, but I will switch to Rotella T4 and T6 soon.

Yeah I change it too early, but I like to keep it fresh, as it lubricates both engine and transmission.


You are disposing of a great oil in the M1 10w40 4T way too soon in that 650 with OCI you are saying you will follow. Close to 5000 miles in my ZRX1200 showed it was still doing what it should and could have gone longer. My engine recommends a 5000 mile OCI, so I changed it. May go longer next time because the numbers don't lie.

The main reason I have changed oil earlier than 5000 miles for most of my OCI's is shift quality fell off with the dino oils or I did engine work such as pistons (twice, once to install ZZR pistons to bump compression up a bit and a second time going all the way to JE 12..5:1 pistons) and when installing ZZR1200 cams.

3000 miles with T4 (15w40 I assume) would seem logical with a dino oil for shift quality purposes. Not sure based on my experience I would go with T6 in the 5w40, it has been shown to shear down pretty quickly. However if you have the new T6 15w40 available, would be a great choice IMO, just stretch that OCI out a bit to 4000 miles and check it with analysis. I gather you will do an analysis, correct? That will tell you if it's just a feel good move to change it 3000 miles or whether the bike actually could benefit from it. Go from there in terms of lengthening the OCI out toward what Kawasaki recommends.