[greenham]

02man My #s are similar lubeman please comment

you seem to have high levels of gas in your oil. 6%

I have an oil analysis done by Blackstone labs every change now.

I had 7% at 4,000 miles w/ a subsequesnt viscosity of 20w

I had 5% at 5,800 miles w/ a subsequesnt viscosity of 30w

The mfg / dealer/ zone rep all told me that this is normal for the Vrod as long as it stays below 10% The Vrod takes 10k miles before the rings are fully seated because they are so hard. The quote was the Vrod engine needs to be "RUN HARD" Having just read all your post above on break in proceedures this looks to be all BS.

"LUBEMAN"

I ride the bike daily putting about 600 miles a week. That being a combo of 400 70mph highway miles and 200 city miles.

I would love to have you look at the reports I have had done on my oil from Blackstone and get some insight.

I sure hope you stick around. You appear to be a real expert,a nd one that can shead much light on the holygrail of M/C.... oil

 

[greenham]

Vroddrew,

I have to disagree with you. I have routinely been able to put far more miles on oil on other bikes with a hint of fuel in the oil. Your suggestion is exactly what HD recommended. Ride harder, change more. Changing the oil every 1000 1500 miles is unrealistic I ride year round and put 1600 miles a month on my bike. This isn't;t rocket science. It's oil, and oil should be free of fuel. I have been corresponding with other Vrodders who also had their oil changed and had fewer miles on their engine and had no noticeable fuel in the oil. The engineers at HD via Customer support said it should drop after 10k miles of riding. I bought off on the rings seating explanation for now. But when you see a 19k$ high rev engine w/ 20w oil after only 4k miles make me nervous. I have used Mobil 1 on my Valkyrie for 3 years and would put 8k miles between changes, again w/ no fuel in it and all the other specs well within tolerance.

I am suggesting that I do have a problem that perhaps only time and or a good dealer will tell.

 

[greenham]

Vroddrew,

I agree withthe self fullfilling prophecy notion. I also have to protect my investment. I do the oil analysis to confirm my suspicions. The bike has shown signs of hard starting and the smell of fuel on occation and a cloud or two of smoke when starting. These symptoms, while not definitive are part of a trend of excess fuel in the system for some reason. When I took it to the dealer and issited they call HD dealer support, the answer they got surprised me a bit. "This is a high revving engione they said" and it needs 10k miles of breakin to level off many oil/fuel issues like this" They even went as far as to say "this engine loves to be run hard" and that by running it hard (higer RPMs) many of these issues don't show themselves. This sentiment is echo'd above.

I ride year round. Like Max I ride a dailey total of about 80 miles. Thats 60 hwy and 20 city stop and go. The climate here is cold right now and I do warm the bike up for 5-10 min beofre taking off.

I guess what I am saying is "trust but verify" I trust that much of this may be driving habit and conditions, but to protect the investement verification by analysis and independent review (Lubeguy) not to mention other experiencies on boards like this.

I just want someone to take an interest at the dealership/mfg level to say "let's all just keep an eye on this" but till we prove something is wrong, ride it !!!!!

So thats what I am doing.