Originally Posted By: donnyj08
In addition to the debut thread of my XSR900 I wanted to get opinions on the first oil change. I've been breaking it in like I will normally ride it. Some full throttle runs shifting short of the redline, and no sustained highway speeds.
The manual says 600mi for the first oil change, should I do that or swap out the oil sooner? I'm at 48miles of spirited break in right now.
The bike is currently filled with dealer bulk Yamalube 10w40 according to the guy who prepped it.
Donny, Yes that sounds hard enough and do you first oil change soon!
I bought a brand new Yamaha Super Tenere last year and I broke it in following the older methods. Google Moto man method or Dan's MC Course on new engine break in for more on that. Basically, you ride hard but not to red line and avoid the constant rpm highway for a while in addition to several early oil changes to "flush" the engine of particles and give it the best possible environment to break in with. I changed the oil at 50, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 miles. After those oil changes, you follow the interval listed in the owners manual. I can tell you I am glad I did my break in that way. The first 3 oil changes were filled with metallic shavings, especially the first one at 50 miles. The oil was already pitch black and loaded with silver shavings. At 1,000 miles, the oil starts to look normal but still has some shavings in it.
I am happy to report that my engine and transmission are doing great! I have used this method on several other machines and it has always worked great. I can't say changing the oil that frequently makes a huge difference but I know riding hard to break it in does. Doing very gentle, easy break ins almost always results in a bike that seems hesitant to accelerate and burns some oil between oil changes. The bikes that are broken in gently also seem to take much longer to smooth out with shifting and clutch feel.
Heck, even on modern passenger cars I like to drive fairly hard and do at least 1 early oil change, usually around 1,000 miles, call me crazy....