[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by asdfman

The PDF in the first post says to change oil once a year or every 6000-7000 (9600 - 11200 KM) miles, whichever comes first.

A lot of people think that's too long an interval. While modern manufacturing and oil technology mean that engines can go a lot longer between oil changes, our bikes also share the oil with the transmission. The transmission gears simply chew up the oil a lot faster than in a plain engine, causing the viscosity of the oil to drop quickly. In one test, a Sabre's oil lost 3.9x as much viscosity in 42% of the time, compared to the same oil in an Accord. After only 1500 miles, the bike's 40 weight oil had degraded to 27 weight.

The best thing to do is actually have your oil tested. We can assume oil will degrade in similar ways under similar circumstances, but testing what your specific bike is doing will always be the best way to know its condition. A few tests at different timespans will give you an idea of how the oil is holding up, so you know when it needs to be changed. Once you get that figured out, you can just do occasional tests to verify that things are still going according to plan without having to worry about testing it every single time.

Personally, I figure the cost of an extra oil change or two each year is cheap insurance to avoid subjecting my engine and transmission to unnecessary stress. The 250 holds even less oil than my 500, so there's that much less to shoulder all the wear too.