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Yep. I just went out for a quick ride before the damn heat of the day ( thats around 934 am here) and I touched ever so briefly 5k and my mind went to this forum !
This year I wont get to do major riding. Thats the only worry I have. Lack of riding time!
1. Is it happening to stock motors as well as ones that have had work done to them IE. stage 2 and beyond?
2. Is the 18's any better, worse, or the same as the 17's.
1. It's happening to stock motors.
2. No difference.
Bone Stock 2018 Road Glide Ultra, built Sept 2017, bought and put on the road 17 March 2018. Broken in carefully according to the book, once past 500 miles ridden normally 1k miles in hot weather to LA area.
Then I moved to LA. The freeways around here are crowded, often backed up, often very fast moving, with many ramps that offer the opportunity to hit 5k, which I do every day I ride it. I don't baby the bike, but neither do I punish it. I ride it the same way I rode every other bike I've owned. I will accelerate hard and then back off to legal speeds.
My 2018 doesn't transfer oil from tranny. I know, because I check it every couple hundred miles.
It hasn't sumped. I know because I pay careful attention to how the motor is running whenever I'm out on the highways.
It doesn't use more than a "normal" amount of engine oil for a bike of this design and capability. About a quart of Syn3 every 5k miles.
The bike is at 6k miles. I ride about 2k miles per month, because I use the bike for basic transportation as well as recreation.
Bone Stock 2018 Road Glide Ultra, built Sept 2017, bought and put on the road 17 March 2018. Broken in carefully according to the book, once past 500 miles ridden normally 1k miles in hot weather to LA area.
Then I moved to LA. The freeways around here are crowded, often backed up, often very fast moving, with many ramps that offer the opportunity to hit 5k, which I do every day I ride it. I don't baby the bike, but neither do I punish it. I ride it the same way I rode every other bike I've owned. I will accelerate hard and then back off to legal speeds.
My 2018 doesn't transfer oil from tranny. I know, because I check it every couple hundred miles.
It hasn't sumped. I know because I pay careful attention to how the motor is running whenever I'm out on the highways.
It doesn't use more than a "normal" amount of engine oil for a bike of this design and capability. About a quart of Syn3 every 5k miles.
The bike is at 6k miles. I ride about 2k miles per month, because I use the bike for basic transportation as well as recreation.
The bike is perfect.
A quart of oil every 5k on a brand new bike ain't acceptable in my book....
Anything I've purchased new (cars, bikes, equipment) has been broken in hard and never uses oil. Breaking them in easy is a mistake because the rings simply will not seat properly. I would be furious with a full quart lost between oil changes. I have 4K on my last oil change and it's still dead-on full.
My 2016 FLHTCU used oil exactly the same way as what I described for my current 2018.
I think it it would be odd for a big air cooled (with a little liquid help around the exhaust valves) motor like this to use zero oil in 5k miles. Especially riding in triple digit heat at highway speeds.
Maybe theres an odd duck out there, but according to what we read here in these forums it is much more likely these motors will use around a quart every 5k. Some more, some less, but most ALL use some.
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