Anyone just do scheduled maintenance (no extra oil changes)?

[RRrider]

I know there is a lot of religion about changing the oil every 3,000 miles (on both cars and motorcycles). I'm under the impression that this is historically based, as this was very true back in the day. But today, I hear modern cars (and bikes) with modern synthetic oil don't need to be changed so frequently. I've been going on the assumption, that I could rely on the maintenance schedule for everything including the oil changes.

Does anyone else do this?

I notice most of you who post here, do your own maintenance, and change your own oil, and do so frequently (like every 2 -3 K). Oh, I haven't yet tracked this bike, so it is getting twisties and commuting load only. Am I crazy to wait until the 6K maintenance for the oil change?

thanks

[Taylor]

I am just following the factory service intervals, it's what BMW wants and it has a 3 year warranty with 3 year road side assistance, if something comes up it will be taken care of.

I have a kick ass dealership so no worries at all, just ride.

[Taylor]

On a side note, I am doing the same on my brand new truck to, it is 10,000 miles between oil changes

[craiger527]

I say go with scheduled intervals. Mine has 4200 miles so I am waiting until I hit 6k. Dealer says it is ok to do that. The old 3k rule is a myth perpetrated by the oil companies. My friend told me that owns a quick change oil company.

[c.rod]

since i dont own one yet. i dont know for sure, but i know on NEW cars with the magic oil change light, they tell you to change it when it comes on, or at least once a year whether the light was on or not.....

im assuming the s1k is the same way? if u dont hit the mileage, change it once a year minimum?

[1000RR]

I change mine WAY too often

[awelch85]

I only do the scheduled maintenance. No track riding, just daily commuter.

[markjenn]

Nothing wrong with going the factory schedule. But....

Everybody likes to make this a black/white issue with one camp saying you're ruining your engine if you let it go to the factory intervals and the other painting a giant conspiracy by the oil companies to push you to extra maintenance that has no benefit whatsoever. Many believe in either side to a fault, either changing the oil every few hundred miles or letting it go right to the limit, even when their riding circumstances might make this a risky approach.

Isn't something in-between much more likely? By in-between, I mean that while your motor won't grenade at 6K intervals, it may be suffering some accelerated wear/tear as you get near the end of the interval. Perhaps not enough that BMW is likely to be on the hook for anything in the warranty period nor long enough that the typical bike with a useful life of a year or two before it is wrecked can tell the difference. But long enough that it might matter if you plan on riding big miles or keeping your bike long-term.

In reality, there is probably a broad range "in the middle" where any reasonable strategy can be justified. Go early if you want extra insurance and don't mind the extra service expense. Go late if you're likely to trade the bike every year or two and you simply want to ride as cheaply as possible. Either will work fine.

And there is calendar time and riding conditions to be considered. Your riding may not be average.... you may make many short trips where the oil doesn't completely come up to temp to burn off contaminants, perhaps you hammer on the engine a little too hard before the oil is completely up to temp, perhaps you like to wheelie, perhaps you enjoy bouncing the thing off the rev limiter a lot more than average, perhaps you take it on gravel roads now and then, perhaps you ride in severe weather, perhaps you're using an aftermarket air filter that doesn't clean as well, perhaps you use Walmart-brand oil, etc. etc. etc. Going a little earlier on the oil change gives you some headroom to take care of these sorts of things.

Personally, I halve the 6K interval to about 3K or a year, whichever occurs first. But I'm not religious about it - if it goes to 3750 or 2435, or 10 months or 14 months, it probably doesn't matter much - I do it when convenient and/or between trips. I think I'm in that broad middle ground of six-for-one, half-dozen-for-the-other where I'm confident I'm not causing any unnecessary wear/tear and am probably helping the engine enjoy a long healthy live, but OTOH, am not obsessively changing it prematurely.

I also will note that most Japanese bikes have 4K intervals and I really don't think there is anything fundamentally different in the engines to justify the difference - it's simply one companies opinion of what is overall optimal vs. another. So this makes me think that 6K on the S1000RR might be a tad long - that BMW's marketing department decided to prioritize marketing a bike with "long maintenance intervals that is inexpensive to maintain" over the last word in longevity so they could get their sales numbers up and kick the Gixxer, ZX, and CBR competition a little harder. It's just their recommendation and we're free to adjust things a little for our own tradeoffs.

- Mark

[RRrider]

Cool...thx guys! I'm also hitting about 4200. Think I'll wait this one out to the 6k service.

[YELLOPER1L]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that of the four Japanese factories only Suzuki had 4000 mile service intervals. My 2006 R1 was the standard 6000 miles as was my ZX-6R. To be honest I changed the oil on my R1 every 1000 miles but I was really anal about that bike. I only rode it in good weather. I left the I've since chilled out a wee bit. I rode the Ninja every day hail rain but rarely shine, (the R1 came out for shine), and stuck to the 6000 mile changes.

I think that even Ducati now quote service intervals of 7500 miles which is pretty impressive though I would want an oil change well before that point.
I use my S1k in all weather but I may well give it an oil change in between annual services just to keep her running sweetly.