Oil Filter Options

[Yata-Garasu_imp]

For those of us who don't put many miles on our machines, like 1,000 or 2,000 or less a year, how often should we be changing our oil? And fuel, for that matter. I use Sta-bil fuel stabilizer in my 1923 Model T Ford and have considered using it in my motorcycle.

The reccomendation I've always seen was once every season if not meeting the mile requirements for a bike. A car is usually the 3/5k miles or every 6 months.

I assume this difference is because a car is generally used year round and a bike gets the winter months off in most regions.

Not really sure why but that's what I usually see reccomended.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

The reccomendation I've always seen was once every season if not meeting the mile requirements for a bike. A car is usually the 3/5k miles or every 6 months.

I assume this difference is because a car is generally used year round and a bike gets the winter months off in most regions.

Not really sure why but that's what I usually see recommended.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca
Agreed. What I learned was to change dino oil every 3k miles, synthetic oil every 5k miles, or annually, whichever comes first.

That's what I follow, but the mileage numbers are probably kind of random because different engines wear out oil at different rates.

My liquid cooled V-Twin Shadow has a much lower revving engine than the CB1100, and it doesn't get as hot either.

Since the CB1100 is air cooled and generally revs much higher, I think the CB1100 engine is probably much harder on oil than most other bikes. This is just a deduction as I haven't actually done oil testing and compared the used oil between the two bikes.

I use both my bikes for around town driving and I have a car too, so last year I averaged a bit less than 5k miles per vehicle, where in Texas we generally have a year round riding season with a slow month or two.