I just changed my oil this weekend thinking its gettingtoo cold to ride soon preparing my 05 rr for storage. (before anyone says it, yes im wimpyto ride inwinter i dont like frozen dryroads and cold tires)now im thinking november might have some good dry sunny crisp 50 degree riding weather. can i still ride the bike for X amount of mileage without having to change the oil again when it's put away soon? I heard that you can ride the bike as long as its within 500 miles for it to still beconsidered "fresh oil" to be stored. i also heard that you should not ride the bike at all after a fresh oil change before storage. which is more accurate?

 

pffft, if you recently changed your oil (say in the last 1000 miles) you didn't need to change the oil at all. since you changed it anyway, you should be good to go until your next OCI (That's Oil Change Interval for the less informed). There's no need to change it again in the spring, you can take your bike out and run the pants off it right away. as far as when it's considered fresh or not, well, that's really up to your latest UOA (Again, Used Oil Analysis for the less informed) to say, isn't it?

 

the whole winter storage oil thing might have been true 20 years ago but in todays age of synths and high quality dino, its fine

 

dude, if your oil is within 50% of oil life, you're good to go

 

thanks for the answers. what i was really asking is-not necessarily about the "freshness" or expiration of the oil but moreabout how much can you ride after an oil change without having to worry about tiny metal bits getting in the engine and *staying there all winter*. i might be totally wrong but that was my initial question. i always hear that its recommended to change the oil before storage but not sure why, ithought it wasto prevent the metal bits.

 

That doesn't make any sense, thats what your filter is for. Ride the **** out of it as much as you can in Nov, and then change next summer when your manual tells you to. Nuff said.

 

+1 (baxsom) improved technology is great

 

cool, thanks. possibly 61F on saturday!

 

leave them there, they belong in the bottom of the pan.

 

I agree. I mean, IF you happen to hit your OCI mark, yeah, you should definately change the oil. I'm with Harry. I ALWAYS do a fresh oil change every Spring as well as a fresh coolant change, brake fluid, lube the cables before and after Winter, fresh plugs and so on. You might not HAVE to do some of these things but it's better to be safe than sorry. When it does come time to put the bike up for the year I'll also put some Sta-Bil in the tank, fill the tank full and run it until it's in the system, shut it off, put it in the garage, throw it on the stands and work on everything else (lubing/cleaning the chain, lubing/greasing bearings, etc...While it's sitting in the garage on those lonely, cold Winter days just begging to be ridden but can't be because there's snow outside, at least 2-3 times a weekI'll back it up just enough to were the exhaust is outside of the garage, start it up and let it run until normal operating temp(s) , shut it off and pull it back in.

I know you just had the oil change question but I figured that I'd throw in some other pointers as well.