urban commute - shorter service intervals?

[Jamieboy]

I commute 100 miles a week - all within London. To do this, my actual cumulative journey time is probably around 7 hours a week.

My thinking is that as my bike is running (inc stopping, starting, changing gear) for a long time relative to miles, that I should service it more often than the 6k miles intervals in the book. Was thinking 3k.

Any thoughts? Am I just making more work for myself when not necessary; or do others do the same?

Thanks

 

[Tsiklonaut]

Manual states if the daily rides are short enough that the engine doesn't fully warm up then oil change every 3000 km (2K-ish miles) instead of the regular 10 000 (6K mi) km.

The oil doesn't like warming/cooling cycles that rapidly shortens the oil molecule length, hence losing lubricating properties. The same goes vice-versa, if you mainly use the bike for long distance touring you can go over the maintenance spec, on travels I've gone to 15 000 km before replacing engine oil, with daily rides 500 km before the engine cools down again.

The regular 10K service spec comes from long rides when the oil runs long on a stable temperature. By mainly building touring-purpose bikes I've heard from BMW factory they originally designed the maintenance specs for the average rides to be around 200 kilometers before the engine cools down fully. But at BMW factory they figured the average rides are actually much shorter these days.

 

[Bryn]

There we have it in one clear and concise answer

 

[Gonzo]

Absolutely. I used to change mine every 3k when commuting. Which was a PITA on 18k miles a year but as 80+ % was in traffic, worth doing.

 

[JonF]

Hmm,not so sure about this. Tsiklonaut's absolutely right about shorter service intervals, but that's based on rides in which the engine doesn't warm up. Jamie's commute is about 40 minutes through London each way,making up the journey time of 7 hours a week assuming a daily commute. 40 mins in London traffic will easily get the engine up to operating temperature, which is what is important,not overall bike speed.

incidentally, 7 hourss to do 100 miles is less than 15mph, which is less than i used to manage on a push bike in London.

 

[Jamieboy]

Thanks Guys. Food for thought.

Yeah, i'd expect an average of less than 15 mph. Limit is 20mph for 80% of the way and I hav 34 sets of traffic lights each way - gotta love London

Oh, and unlike the bicycles I stop for red lights!

 

[Slipperyeel]

Jamieboy, you must be the only one adhering to the 20mph! Even the police don't! It's a joke. Who's going to book the cyclists doing more than 20? Don't get me started!

Like you I have a London commute. But as JohnF points out, getting up to temperature isn't an issue, more than 3/4 of the journey is done with a fully warmed engine. I imagine the same would be true for you.

I change the oil roughly once a year. But with the same thoughts as you. I use fully synthetic, in the hope it survives that bit longer. To be honest, it's the poor clutch I worry about mostly . I try my best to look after it, but there are times when it's hard! I'm sure you've been there!

 

[Jamieboy]

Ha, yeah I suppose it means I ride at 25 rather than 35!

Yes, clutch is likely to be used a lot more and sometimes you just need to show some dick on a scooter a clean pair of heels from the lights!

I definately get up to full engine temp - but feel like i'll reduce intervals to some degree.

Thanks all.

 

[theoneandonly]

why not drop your engine and drive box oil , half way between normal oil changes . i do this on mine

 

[AberdeenAngus]

I would consider a 40 mins commute to be 'normal'.

 

[JoeC]

For shorter journey's what is the best engine oil to use?

 

[JJH]

I thought that service intervills were a minimum. For long distance riding you could extend oil changes?

 

[Jamieboy]

Thanks to all who responded.

Having thought about it, I certainly get up to full temp, however the number of heat cycles relative to mileage will still be high, as will the number of cold starts.

I'm not desperately concerned, but as this bike is my pride and joy I will err on the side of caution (and quite enjoy the process) so think I'll tend to shorten the intervals but not get obsessive!

 

[Nin]

Lots of engines are serviced on an 'hours run' basis (Marine and aero engines). Might be worth considering that as an approach?

 

[JonF]

Agreed, you're right of course, but these are usually steady speed engines, which are a bit different in terms of their wear profile, and dependability, too.

I think the main concern about the sort of use Jamie puts his bike to is that it will be very heavy on the clutch and with lots of starts per X thousand miles battery liefe will be shorter. I commute into London every day as well, right to the centre (although from a lot further out) and I've found that clutches manage 50-70k. By contrast, I was talking about this to Brian Giles (excellent Kent based independent BMW mechanic) and he mentioned two of his clients. One was a nutter who ragged the bike to death, wheelying everywhere, and he got through a clutch in 20k. At the other extreme, he had a client who had (I think) an R1100R still on it's original clutch after 220k, being used sensibly for open road use.

 

[Stevie4scoops]

I had a 320d BMW car which didn't 'ask' to have its oil changed until it had covered 25,000 miles and I learned recently that some diesel vans now have 30K service intervals. My Honda CRF250 has 8,500 mile service intervlas and only has 1,500ml of oil so with the above in mind, I think 6,000 mile oil changes on a GS are on the cautious side. I'd be interested to see the results of tests on oil that had covered 6,000 miles on a GS. Ducati and Triumph's have 10,000 service intervals