Oil Change Frequency?

+1for Dealertool. Well worth the money.

 

Anyone know the weight of the oil delivered with a new T120??
Dealer suggested I use Castrol Power 1 10W50 at my first oil change so I bought 4 quarts of it.

 

The 10W/40 seems to be the default option, albeit that 50 is okay as well.

 

i change the oil in my old machines probably every thousand miles or less. but theyre all air-cooled vintage things with no filters.

i have a filter on a race bike but i never change the oil. i just rebuild the motor.

theres no mileage guide that will work for everybody. if youre running mostly highway with the motor warmed up already, then oil changes can be far apart. if youre doing stop and go , short trips, in cool weather, then shorten up the intervals.

you cant hurt the motor by too many oil changes, unless its an old trident and youre doing it wrong. so start with the factory guide, and modify it from there to suit your own life and use. oil is always cheaper than bearings.

 

The peace of mind alone I get from more frequent oil changes is more than worth the cost of said oil change. I do 5k changes on everything I own - filters every other time.

 

Time was I did 10k a year on whatever MC I had, easily. No longer. 3k a year now, tops. Same with my '06 Explorer. Oil and filter are changed on both vehicles once a year in the fall with full syn regardless of how little mileage I put on them. All my power equipment, Deere ZT mower, leaf blower, snow blower, power washer and emergency generator get done then too.
Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you.

 

I live in the US Southwest and plan to pick up my new/first bike (T120) at the end of January/February. I have been reading the owners manual and can not find a place where it says to change the oil at the end of the break in period. I know that many cars no longer do a change at the end of a break in period. I am old school I guess and it just seems right to do a change around the end of the break in period. From some of the posts I see here, many do that as well. So my question is: did I miss this recommendation in the manual, or are people here just as old school as I am?

I will most likely take it to the dealer which is about 60 miles away.

 

The very first post of this thread mentions the first oil change at 600 miles; I saw that same number somewhere else; after that, I plan to change mine every 4000 miles along with the oil filter. An oil change requires 3.4 liters or 3.6 quarts or 115 ounces. I will use Castrol Power 1 10W50.

 

It appears that the 600 miles first oil change has been dropped for later model years and is now an annual service. You can download Owners Manuals on Triumph's website and for example 2019 T120 is 600 miles whereas 2023 T120 is annual. Not sure exactly which year the change was made?

 

Thanks TX; that explains why I couldn't find the 600 mile recommendation in the owners manual; I think I will still go ahead with the 600 mile change anyway unless there is some thought that it would do more harm than good.

 

Conversely, I'd say that NOT doing it could do more harm than good given that for the first few hundred miles you're bedding in the rings. Not sure when the manual was updated but it was certainly scheduled for my '23 120.

 

Thanks, this is exactly the information I was looking for. This may be a marketing driven change since I am unaware of any fundamental chances in the 1200cc HT engine since then. I am going to do what others have done, change the oil around 600 miles.

 

More frequent oil changes can only be a good thing.

 

I have a 2020 copy of the Owner's manual for my Street Scrambler which shows 1st service at 500m or 1 month but the latest version does, indeed, omit this service. That's crap IMO. I do my own servicing so I changed the oil on my 2022 model at around 600m as usual. The first oil + filter change was once widely regarded as probably the most important so what's changed?

 

Perhaps not if your name is Greta.

 

She's obviously not a biker

 

I'm sure that if Gretta was given just one ride on a Bonnie, she would have an awakening and just love the internal combustion engine