Checking oil

[Kcboom10]

Bike on center stand. Front tire on the ground or off to get accurate check of oil?

 

[Fun4me]

Instructions on page 61 of the owner's manual simply state place on center stand on a firm, and level surface. My bike's front wheel rests on the ground under those conditions. I'd bet front tire on or off the ground doesn't really matter as long as you're consistent. Since I don't want to push or weigh the rear down to check the oil, and "a level surface" is a relative term, I'm sticking with front wheel on the ground.

 

[South of the border]

I don’t know what others have noticed but when you put the dip stick back in and pull it out oil shows mostly on one side but not much on the other. I just drain it and put 700mls ( yes I’m metric)

 

[Kcboom10]

I don’t know what others have noticed but when you put the dip stick back in and pull it out oil shows mostly on one side but not much on the other. I just drain it and put 700mls ( yes I’m metric)

I wished the U.S. would have went metric. More precise, easier and accurate.

 

[AstroStrat89]

Both of bikes I have with center stands the front wheel naturally goes down. Seems like that is intentional to be able to preforms maintenance on the chain as well. So I think with front wheel down.

 

[Kcboom10]

Both of bikes I have with center stands the front wheel naturally goes down. Seems like that is intentional to be able to preforms maintenance on the chain as well. So I think with front wheel down.

Thanks. with my rotopax fuel container, which is always on the rack, the bike is tail heavy. Front wheel is off the ground.

 

[G19Tony]

Thanks. with my rotopax fuel container, which is always on the rack, the bike is tail heavy. Front wheel is off the ground.

Remove Rotopax FOM.

 

[zamdrang]

A great question/point. It makes a noticeable difference on the stick whether the front tire is off the ground or on. During a service it makes the most sense to just add 700ml and be done, but on the trail it's not so straightforward. On my last ride of 350 miles, I checked it about 150 miles in, got a reading just barely on the dipstick. It was a parking lot that at first glance appeared pretty flat but I did notice the front wheel was off the ground. So I topped it off to just below the full line. When I got home a day later I checked it in my usual parking spot in the garage where the front wheel is always on the ground, it was well over the full line.

I have 1200 miles now and just changed the oil again. I meant to add exactly 700ml and take make a mental note of where 700ml reads with the front tire off and on the ground, but forgot and just eyeballed it from the bottle with the wheel on the ground to roughly the upper fill line, so i'm back to guessing lol. Next time.

So far mine has used a little bit of oil on all my longer rides (150+ miles). My rides have included a bit of long highway and a lot of flat dirt road stretches where temps are obviously running higher, I can feel/smell it as soon as I stop after a long stretch at higher RPMs. I'm talking 40-45 mph with short bursts between 45-50, I don't rev the hell out of it, to me there is no need, its not happy there and has no more torque anyway. I'm guessing the oil use is maybe the higher temps cooking some off? and still breaking in. I just switched to Honda full synthetic after running Rotella T4 since break in. Curious to see what changes if anything. I changed it at 160 and roughly every 300 miles since. It was noticeably clearer and smelled less like fuel at the last change at 1200 miles than any of the others, so in my bike's case the rings are still seating/breaking in well into the 1k range.

Curious if other folks are experiencing the same .. or not.

 

[m in sc]

at 1st oil change at 100 ish miles went to full synthetic. never experienced that and i rev mine quite a bit. same with the grom i have. (same topend).