I’ve got this old hack which I use only occasionaly at the moment - the oil has been in there for about 14 months and the bike has done well under the 4000 miles recommended for an oil change - the oil in it is good quality castrol superbike stuff - when I pull out the dip stick it’s still a nice ruby red colour - like it was when it was new.I only use the bike for sedate journeys down to the shops and the odd motorway trip with pretty modest revs and no hard accceleration or anything - I leave the ragging to my Kawasaki which gets the full on schedule maintenance treatment.
The Haynes and oil companies say change it every six months because of potential condensation but seeing as the bike hardly does any serious work and sits in a dry lock up the oil should be ok for another few months no?
I’m just saying that I don’t reckon you have to treat the six month thing as a hard and fast rule - if the bike is only getting light use (bimbling about, low revs etc) then I can’t believe that the oil has degraded that much as to necessitate a change.
On the other hand - if the engine is regulalry spending a lot of time in the upper rev range etc then yes - change the oil every 6 months/4 thousand miles - whatever comes sooner - but as I say - this bike gets such light use that I can’t believe the oil has suffered enough to require a change.
Basically I just don’t want to spend thirty quid on an oil change unless it is strictly necessary - I just can’t believe that the oil has deteriorated that much just because it’s been in the sump for an extra 6 months.
If someone can put me right then fine - in the meantime I’m just going on intuition rather than slavishly sticking to the ‘rules’ (which coincidentally mean that castrol make twice as much money out of me!) :hehe:
Sounds like you’re more at risk from condensation with that sort of usage.
When used everyday, for commuter for example, the engine will be getting hot enough to get rid of any potential water in the oil. Its the infrequent slow journeys that don’t allow the water to escape, so i’d go for a change now too.
I think the 6 months is excessive though, unless you have a high revving sports bike that gets hammered on a regular basis.
I change my oil every summer which is probably about right for my annual mileage.
Also no need to go for super expensive oils. Something like Halfords motorcycle oil is a decent oil with all the relevant additives etc.
