I have a 2000 Fat Boy with 17K miles on it - basically averaged 1K miles a year. I have changed the oil myself every Spring but a Harley Tech told me I was wasting my money and I could easily go another season with the amount of rides I do. I know it is cheap insurance but feels like overkill every year

The bike sits on a jack all Winter in MN. Not sure if that has any impact on this but would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks

 

An oil change every year is cheap insurance like you said. So cheap, so easy that yeah, in your position, I'd change it once a year.

 

I can't think of a good reason not to. Perhaps if you live in a very temperate climate it might be ok. If you live any where that gets below freezing or has high humidity, I would want to get that condensation out of my oil.

 

Water from condensation is the big concern here. Though I've never seen any in motor oil that gets hot regularly, tranny fluid seems to attract it (tranny oil only gets hot after a longer time.). Since your motor clearly doesn't get hot regularly, I'm with the change it every year crowd (but I wouldn't change the filter every time. That's a waste.)

 

Bring it up to operating temperature (oil, in all three holes, over 212*F) and then change the oil. You should actually be doing this every 6 months. Moisture in the air and the breakdown in the additives within the oil once it is exposed to air, and the moisture in the air (Boyle's Law and Partial Pressures, Google can be your friend here), are what contribute to this recommendation by every oil company and also Harley-Davidson. See your owners manual.

 

Any way you could ride more? Life is short.

 

Your wasting your money letting it sit there, not by changing the oil.

 

All vehicle manufacturers have x miles or one year whatever comes first.

Reason: The additives that all oils are engineered with are volatile and evaporate.

Having said that some years ago with 6 sports cars and 20 motorcycles I went cheap and go 2 years. So far so good.

 

Once a year is fine but, it should be in the fall. You should not store it with the contaminents in the engine.

 

The Harley tech is probably right in that you could likely go two years, but you are doing it yourself, its an easy and cheap job so why not. As you said it is cheap insurance. I am sure you do keep an eye on them but another concern would be tires. Likely they will need replacing from age before mileage. I have heard some "experts" claim tires can go 10 years and others say 6 years. For me personally I would be changing them out at 5-6 years despite the wear.