How Often do you change your oil...?

[simmons1]

That kid used to say, "Maintenance? Man, I just ride it, and park it!"

Dallara


~

And how often did his bike break?

 

[snakebitten]

I'm gonna confess that I'm one of those guys that can claim:

Been riding for 45 years
Had a million bikes
Never let anybody else touch my bikes

Blah blah blah

But here is the rest of the story.........


Other than 1 KTM, they have ALL been Japanese bikes.
When younger, I doubt I had any organizational skills for maintenance intervals
I was NOT ocd
I am and always was comfortable with mechanical tasks. (Thanks grandpa)

Having said that, I have never experienced a single catastrophic failure. (Except on 2-stroke motocross bike. Completely expected in the 70's)

My point is that I am convinced that just good common sense will be ample for keeping a modern Japanese bike rolling. And when the bike in question is one like the Super Tenere, you are talking about what appears to be one of the BEST of the Japanese all time!

Oh, and one more thing, that 1 KTM? I love it. It's a crazy bike to ride. But it's clearly not built to Japanese standards. It's not brittle or anything like that. But just go visit any of the LC8 forums. You have to PAY ATTENTION to them. If you do, they are fine. If you don't, you will NOT get away with it.

I'm convinced this XT1200Z is the best engineered, most robust, worry free piece of machinery I have ever owned. (Not counting a couple of diesel tractors)

 

[Dallara]

And how often did his bike break?

Never... My buddy did his maintenance for him. I guess he figured that's what big brothers were for!

That said, the little "ride it, and park it" brother did finally end up with a CBR600R, and biffed it badly - very badly - and broke his leg up so bad he's never gotten another bike or ridden ever again.

Dallara



~

 

[LubeSuppliers.com]

Things move on oil has improved and Yamaha engines are designed with a service interval so why is still deamed necessary to service a 2010> bike the same as a 1970 one. The book says semi synthetic oil every 10000kms so thats good enough for me

I agree completely with you Roge - it doesn't surprise anybody now that their cars last easily 200,000 + miles. In the 60's and 70's getting 100,000 miles from a car was an accomplishment. Oil and filter technology has evolved and performs better and lasts longer than ever before.

I will make a quick comment on the semi-synthetics. I believe it was Mobile that filed a lawsuit some years back trying to get the courts to require a set amount of synthetic in a synthetic blend or semi-synthetic oil. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and today we often see synthetic blends or semi-synthetic oils in the 8%-12% synthetic range vs the 50% that is typically assumed by the consumer who purchases it.

I would recommend that people let price help influence your purchase - typically, you do get what you pay for - and for the few extra dollars a full synthetic will give the best performance without a doubt.

Just my opinion...

 

[LubeSuppliers.com]

Since we are being obsessive compulsive on this subject, another point to ponder is that oil change and valve adjustment intervals can only be arbitrary at best. One persons 4000 miles on their odometer vs another persons 4000 mi can be vastly different in the amount of revolutions the engine has spun to get there, which would be the most important criteria for maintenance intervals, but not recordable.

Yes, that seems like such an obvious option (to have the computer keep track of the engines total lifetime revolutions like we would miles or hours...) - but I've never seen that on any machine.

My new truck actually shows hours on the display screen if you scroll through, and that is the 1st I've seen that option for an on-road vehicle, so maybe the lifetime revolutions counter will be coming down the pike...

 

[LubeSuppliers.com]

If anybody is really interested in finding out the condition of their oil, you can send a sample in for testing. A sampling kit is about $20 and that includes having the test results emailed to you.

You can read more about a test kit here:

http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-product/other-products/oil-analysis-services/oil-analyzers-test-kit-non-postage-paid/?code=KIT06-EA&zo=5143680

If you want to try one out let me know and I can probably get the shipping fee waived for you.

 

[avc8130]

Buddy of mine had a little brother who had an interesting philosophy about Jap bike maintenance. That kid used to say, "Maintenance? Man, I just ride it, and park it!"

Dallara



~

I did that with a Yamaha Warrior ATV for 4 straight years when I was a teenager. It was my main form of transportation and I didn't know any better. Guess what? Never broke.

Now, that was $1500 and the Tenere was $15k. I think I'll change the oil on this one...every now and then.

ac

 

[mbabc]

Every 3/4 k. Rotella T 15w-40, mobile1 m1-108 filter, original washers.

 

[Bappo]

Was using Rotella but switched to Honda blend for now to try to get rid of the annoying cam chain tensioner noise. Seems to work better which sucks cuz I like and have used Rotella for many miles and bikes.

Between every 4 and 6k miles although I changed the oil when I got back from the Big Sky Rally after running a bunch of hard miles. I think I have 3700 miles on trip B at the time.