Oil change ,how often?

[waltconrad]

4 liters of synthetic oil from the Triumph dealer here is about $60. I just changed my oil at about 3K miles, the handbook reccomends changing every 6K. How often do you all chnge the Tigers oil?

[whoa]

Mechanic at the shop says 3k.  I'm going with 6k.

[kevm]

Triumph say 6K or 12 months, the only reason to do it more often is to make you feel better (or make the dealer sell more oil !).  Unless you live in a very dry and dusty place .....



Anyway, how many people have ever worn out a modern motorcycle engine ?  

[djr]

Unless you live in a very dry and dusty place .....

why would that make you change oil more often? Air filter yes, oil?

[waltconrad]

I live in the Mojave desert. It's hot dry and dusty.

[djr]

I still do not see why that would make someone want to change oil more frequently than anywhere else?

[kevm]

I'm no expert but the generally held belief is that in dusty conditions you should change your oil and oil filter more often than usual.  Do a search on the interweb and you'll find lots of such advice, for example in here:



http://www.oilexpress.com/docs/faqs.htm



Their explanation is that your air filter is not 100% effective and dirt and grit will get in.  



Might be a load of bollox but OTOH it might not be .....

[djr]

I accept that there will always be very fine particles getting past the air filter, especially if you use the standard type but enough to severly damage the engine? Like you say though better safe than sorry I suppose.