After a mid 30's ride into the NC mountains last week, I noticed upon returning home that my bike now had 596 miles on it. I pondered if that was close enough to take a leap of faith and change the engine and final drive oils. I figured that even this electronic marvel doesn't have a feedback link to Kawasaki's warranty attorneys, so I made plans to move ahead.
After read about 596 posts about oil, filters, seals, and the Moss Magnuson Act, I went ahead. In spite of or as a result of my almost 50 years of riding, a ridiculous number of motorcycles, forum posts from experts and obvious clueless experts, and fourteen pages of legal stuff about the risks I was taking by servicing my own bike, I took out the appropriate tools and serviced my new bike.
Yes, I used 10-40 Mobil 1 4T with an official Kawasaki filter and a oil drain washer/seal from Murph's and 75w90 Mobil 1 LS in the final drive. The oil out of both drains had a visible metallic sheen to it. I guess I am lucky that I didn't wait until 600 miles. I hope the two rare-earth magnets that I put on the two drain bolts stay in place and do their job. Of course I couldn't pry them off after they attached themselves and thankfully they didn't interfere with the socket when reinstalling them. I can't wait to see what they pick up.
Yesterday I headed back up into the mountains of North Georgia which are about 100 yards from my garage. The shifting was noticeably more precise feeling, but I expected that change as I have experienced it in my other bikes as well which switching to this type oil. What I didn't expect was to finally start enjoying a few more revs on the tach and then promptly get "smoked" by a girl on one of my favorites bikes (actually I like almost anything that burns fossil fuels), a red VFR Honda. I was impressed with her riding as she eased away from me in the corners. I only saw two Georgia State troopers and one was already busy and the other caught me slowing down as I approached home. I fear this bike is going to make me become even more careful with my speeds. I even started to understand why someone might want a radar detector on one of these after having never even thought about one on my BMW RT. I hoped to find that young lady and thank her for helping me remove the last vestiges of the "chicken strips" on my rear tires and making a noticeable impact on the reduction of the front ones. Alas, she didn't stop for gas along my route, as that was my only hope of seeing her again.
I love this bike! It handles so much better than my previous two sport touring bikes from Germany. It is helping me learn to be a more adept rider.
Best wishes to all for a great holiday riding season.