Afternoon everyone !

just a quick one if I may ?

i regularly change my gear oil after every 3 rides, each ride being about 4 hours.

i notice it change colour from a lovely golden brown to a dark brown almost black.

does this sound about right or should I be changing it more often ?

the bikes a 2018 vertigo and I use the proper Castrol Transmax z synthetic oil.

heres an example after 3 rides :-

 

Yes, after every three rides is about right. I change mine after every National trial (road based events) or after three local events/practice rides. And yes Transmax Z does discolor and it's nothing to worry about.

 On a side note I have had my clutch plates last two and a half years using only Transmax Z and pulling a sidecar from new. I used to run Beta Evo's and would need new plates at least once a year.

Thanks for that Paul,

I’m a big believer in using the right oils. Good to know it’s doing it’s job correctly and great news about the clutch plates too.

i used to have a beta evo 250 and would change the oil in that every 3 rides but it never came out that colour, although it was recommended that I used putoline oil

A lot of colour change is from clutch debris and dust, the oil itself is probably still quite good when changed, on cars some of the gear oils stay in for the life of the vehicle. personally I keep an eye on it through the level window, when it's dark I change it, I am a big Putoline Nano trans fan.

On 5/30/2019 at 1:46 PM, misscrabstick said:

, on cars some of the gear oils stay in for the life of the vehicle.

Not a good idea on vw's, change it if its done 100k.

On 6/1/2019 at 7:24 AM, b40rt said:

Not a good idea on vw's, change it if its done 100k.

Not a good idea on anything really, not even a drain plug on some vehicles!