That pic looks like someone didn't change their oil ever and ran it dry. I use synthetic and change it every 5k miles like the manual says. I really doubt anything would happen if I changed it once a year but I don't.

 

I guess you do what make's you happy. I change my oil in every car or truck I have ever owned every 3 k. Never had any trouble engine wise in any, I have ever owned. Change my bike oil every 2500, too often I'm sure, but makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

That is what I was talking about. Not quite that drastic but yeah.

 

Used to change the oil in my 95 ultra every 2500, easy to keep up with. When I traded it in, it had 168k miles with no internal engine work. Ran strong and didnt smoke. Buddys evo just turned 300k. Miles not metric miles. He was the one who told me change every 2500. We used Castrol gtx 20w50. I use synthetic in my 12 limited but will change it at 5k.

Your results might vary but it worked for us.

 

The primary and the trannies getting a change regular is a preventive / diagnostic thing not because the oil goes bad so much as what comes out like is the oil clean with minimal fuzz in the plug magnet , does the oil had a metallic sheen to it with grit you can feel on the plug ect . These things are a big indicator of what's going on inside with small parts like gear faces , bearing , bushings , clutch plate material and stuff like that . Isn't about just the oil .

 

Don't forget short trips, or very cold weather......moisture will condense in the oil and if the bike doesn't get hot enough to boil it out, it will turn to a glue-like white load of phlegm.

I like to change my oil at 3000 miles, but I subtract all the miles on a road trip from that. A good long hot ride will get rid of the moisture.

My top end starts rattling more after 3 or 4 thousand routine miles, or 5 or so thousand road trip miles.

I will even change the oils because I have nothing else to do.

 

The interval on my bike is 6000 miles and the cars are 5000. If I don't log 6000 in a year then I'll change it once a year. My Harleys would get engine at 3-5000 and trans at 15-20,000.

 

i change engine oil about once a year, i have never changed trans or primary oil unless it is taken apart for something.. in all the years i have been driving and working in garages, i have only changed transmission/diff oil a hand full of times each.

 

There are any number of businesses that will analyze your used oil. Large fleets do this with every single oil change and track the results religiously by VIN. Lots of opinions in this thread . . . but each rider and each bike will be different . . . if only out of curiosity I'd recommend that you have your oil analyzed the next oil change you do. Google <used oil analysis kit> . . . over 3 million hits!

 

The only way to know how an oil is doing in your engine is to have it tested at a lab, everything else is just people bullshitting each other.