Oil change after riding hard?

[UnklFungus]

Since this applies to my RS as well as my VFR, I'll ask here.

Since I like to occasionally ride my bike hard (cough) and occasionally hit the rev limiter (cough) And, I have spent entire days on canyon roads in the upper rpm range, I ask this question, as blatantly obvious as the answer may or may not be.

After spending a number of hours in the high rpm range, is it prudent to change the oil more often? Case in point, my VFR owner's manual states oil changes at every 6K. As I don't know what the riding criteria the engineers had in mind, what do you think?

[KitNYC]

If you run a good synthetic you should be fine sticking to the 6k intervals. I change my oil every 3k, but that's because I do a lot of trips under five miles and it gets pretty nasty pretty fast. My usage is atypical; yours is not.

Cheers,
-Kit

[frider]

Kits on the money, short rides 'ull kill oil quicker than a 24 hour non stop blast.......

ask me how I know.......!!!!...even when I was averaging 6000 miles a month, hard, brutally hard riding, with short quick City drops and loooooong 700 miles non stop days combined, my oil lasted 3000 ( my preferred change period......non synthetic) these days, with modern synthetics, no reason why 6000 shouldn't be possible......I'm just a creature of habit so stick to my 3K change limit!!!!!

[Macduff]

3k oil changes are a waste of money and a product of habit from when oils were simple. Modern oils are more than capable of handling sustained high rev use for the full change interval

I do agree with more frequent changes when lots of short journeys are involved

[frider]

I agree Macduff, I used to bung my (still fresh, slightly used) 3K old semi synth oil into the motah car, after it came out of the XJ/GSXR/GPZ.........!!!!

it was good in there for another 4K!!!!!

[DaveM]

Macduff and Frider you may be technically correct.

I am one with a habit of changing my oil every 5,000kms I have doubled my oil changes for 37 years.

I have found especially on my Hinckley Triples this gives better and more smooth gear changes.

UF I always ride my bikes like that every time I ride them (once they are warmed up) which is another reason why I change out more than the recommended in the manual.

All of my four-stroke bike engines have lasted a very high mileage and I put that down on my own bikes mostly to regular maintenance and frequent oil changes.

Also your manual states you can use a semi synthetic as well, which is what I have used and continue to use in my Hinkley Triples.

I suggest you do what you can afford easily and what suits you personally best and how and where you ride.

Not everyone gives their engine the berries in the hills every time they ride. And I also know a couple of senior techs that also recommend more frequent changes than the manual if you consistently ride hard.

My
Cheers
Dave

[KitNYC]

Oil change intervals and hard riding are where the full syn oils will have an advantage. The real difference between plain old dinosaur juice and the fancy, man-made, stuff is that the synthetics resist viscosity breakdown for much longer.

I said before that I change every 3k because of all my short trips. I also run fossil oil these days; there's not much reason to run the synthetic when you pour it out before it can make a difference.

Cheers,
-Kit

[frider]

With ya Kit, might not be technically 'proven' but I've allus been a firm believer in more frequent, regular oil changes.......clean oil= engine longevity, in my experience, even more so ( I was getting down to every 2K with cheaper supermarket dino oils).........just because an oil CAN go to 6K+ doesn't mean it has too!!!!

[nehpetsthegrey]

Seeing as Triumph now make engines that have a 10K miles oil change interval, and the biggest change seems to be a larger sump vol. Then provided you always run at the correct level, and providing the oil gets nice and hot to burn off the water vapour it absorbs then it seems that the 6K oil change is fine. As others have said, its the water in the oil that occurs from short journeys and cold climates thats the killer. Me, I stick to 6K and buy the best fully synthetic I can get hold of. Its an excuse to go for long rides and "warm it up ".

[DeanRider]

It's sneaky how an oil thread pulls you in....