At some of these change intervals mentioned, I'd be doing oil changes every other day...

 

A lot of people are talking about metal particles in the oil. Uhmmm... isn't that what the oil 'filter' is supposed to take out? Isn't the oil-change issue more affected by the depletion of the additives?

 

Could it really hurt? no...better safe than sorry.
Well, your wallet/pocketbook maybe.
Do it yourself or convince someone to do it for you

 

Not that I store my bike, but the short run thing has been added to my knowledge bank now thanks to you

 

There is always some metal breakdown even in 50000 mile engines. Engines breaking in the first 1000 miles just have a lot more. The filter doesn't always get it all and you can see it in oil analysis. Normal oil changes are mostly to replace the additives, but oil during break in also has some assembly grease used during engine assembly at the factory, and corrosive material from engine combustion before the rings seated. That is why many people replace their oil with in the first 100 miles. Some folks even change oil first thing to get rid of the assembly grease. Harley says first oil is OK for a 1000 miles.

Beary

 

Changed mine at 500 then 1000, then would change the oil every 2500, last year I swapped to AMSOIL - now eng goes at 5K and the primary and tranny go every 10K.

 

I'm totally with Beary on this. Its called breakin for a reason. Your pinching pennys and wastin dollars. Oil and filters are cheap. Thanks for reminding me why not to buy a used harley.

 

Your oil filter has a pressure activated bypass valve. You'd be surprised at the percentage of oil actually filtered and how much bypasses the oil filter. You can have metal particles circulate throughout the engine many times before be "caught" by the filter.

I'm in total agreement with following the recommended oil change intervals. With that being said I've always done my first oil change at about 100 to 200 miles on my bikes, sometimes I've done anther prior to 5000 miles. Once I get past 5000 miles I change my oil at 5000 mile intervals.

 

interesting how the 09 manual dosn't mention synthetic oil at all. Not even HD syn.
oil specs are all in dino.

 

If you're asking me, yes. I settled on this after doing two lab tests on my old RK, one in winter and another in summer, with 5k on each sample. The results showed that the oil was good for longer use, although I maintained that 5000-mile interval and still do for this new bike. I rode that old RK 106k miles, never had the heads off the bike (thus no top- or bottom-end work), compression never decreased (yearly checks), and oil consumption never increased.