Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey all,

I'm coming up for the 500km mark. I remember reading somewhere that it's best not to wait until the 1000km service, and to change the oil/filter at 500km. I also seem to recall that you're not to use fully synthetic oil.

If I recall correctly (and I'm too tired and really can't be arsed looking) is this:

a) Correct on all counts (if so, any particular oil recommendations, seeing it's ony in there for the next 500km?).
b) Advisable, or do I just wait for the 1000km rip-off?

I've got three weeks off from this Monday, I think I'm going to sleep the first week. Might see if I can rid of some of those little rubber dangly bits off the tyres .

thanks all.

Mick

Don't change the oil, leave it til the 1000km service

Colette wrote:Don't change the oil, leave it til the 1000km service

Sounds good to me, it'll only be another week or so .

i was always led to believe that the best thing to do was change the oil at 2-300km with a mineral oil. This gets the majority of the metal flakes & crap out of the engine so that it can bed in without any excess wear.

mike-s wrote:i was always led to believe that the best thing to do was change the oil at 2-300km with a mineral oil. This gets the majority of the metal flakes & crap out of the engine so that it can bed in without any excess wear.

My trip to work and back is pretty close to 200km (it's 185km) .

change it now

should have changed it by 100 kays

there will be plenty f metal fleck in there

think of it as panning for gold

I'd go with the early change with mineral oil too, then just let em do the service at 1000km

Johnnie5 wrote:change it now

should have changed it by 100 kays

there will be plenty f metal fleck in there

think of it as panning for gold

Sorry but I disagree...I have spoken to a number of people in the industry and all have said that oil should not be changed too soon as the components have to bed in, etc. There is a reason why manufacturer specs recommend the first oil change be at 1000km, so my suggestion is to leave it.

My thoughts are that the engineering nerds could advise the oil to be changed whenever they specify, yet they choose 1000km, which is probably conservative (ie early) in any case. So if the manufacturer, and the nerds they employ reckon 1000km won't hurt, who am I to argue?

If your going with the dealer service thing just leave it too them and if not change it yourself but dont go near a full synthetic for 12000kms.

I would be removing the chicken strips and start giving the thing a bit of a rev at some stage soon as well within reason mind no need to try to find the rev limiter.

Had a diesel that didn't run in once babied the thing too much but the bike engine worked out fine.

Colette wrote:

Johnnie5 wrote:change it now

should have changed it by 100 kays

there will be plenty f metal fleck in there

think of it as panning for gold

Sorry but I disagree...I have spoken to a number of people in the industry and all have said that oil should not be changed too soon as the components have to bed in, etc. There is a reason why manufacturer specs recommend the first oil change be at 1000km, so my suggestion is to leave it.

sorry i disagree , most people in the industry have their head so far up their arses they wouldnt know if they were on fire

change it early several times and use a mineral oil, they are correct if they told you do not changed to a synthetic oil too early

a mate bought a new R1 06 model changed the oil at 150 rode to sydney , changed it again at 1480 and it was like panning for gold

by 3500k the gearbox was starting to get notchy due to the oil going off

a change again and all good again

all that metal flake travelling around the motor does not get filtered out due to the size of it

they spec 1000k as that gives the bike time to show up any problems and also time for the rider to run in as well

considering its relatively cheap and so damn easy .. just change the oil at 500k .. i know i sure as shit would, at 500k im betting there would be quite a bit of shit in there being a new motor and all.

lol colette .. as for talking to a number of people in the industry .. you can take that with a rather large grain of salt imo, some of the shit ive heard come out of these so called people in the industry is scarey :S

You have to change your oil
Damn, knew I should have read that owners manual...
And sorry Col I'm with the other here, unless you are actually rooting someone "in the industry" dont believe any of it, come to think of it dont even beleive them if you ARE

this is kinda a newby to bikes question... y dont you want to run a full synthetic oil to early? with my car (modified mazda rotary) i ran a full synthetic oil from the begining
also with the high tollerances bikes run theses days would there be that many bits in the oil after the 1000km oil change?

rotaboy wrote:this is kinda a newby to bikes question... y dont you want to run a full synthetic oil to early? with my car (modified mazda rotary) i ran a full synthetic oil from the begining
also with the high tollerances bikes run theses days would there be that many bits in the oil after the 1000km oil change?

synthetic oils lubricate too well and dont allow the rings to bed in properly so will be down on power and use oil hence why the recomendation is wait till 6k but preferably 12k using mineral oil till then

as to the bits in the oil, did you read my previous post on the R1 ? its been the same on every mate that has had a new bike in the past few years