The motorcycle in this video is a 2006 American iron horse Texas chopper. This is a factory custom motorcycle with an S&S 111 in.³ V- twin engine. sure, anybody can bring their bike down to the dealership and have all the maintenance performed. But, if you want to save money and also get the satisfaction of doing the job right, most of the maintenance is relatively easy to do.
Motorcycle Oil Change
No matter what type of motorcycle you’re considering changing the oil on, the two most important things to keep in mind is to do this after you take a short ride so the oil is all mixed up and hot. The second most important point to keep in mind is you want to do this when the bike is as vertical as possible, not leaning over on its side kickstand.
Any time you talk about changing motorcycle oil, there’s a debate about whether you should use regular motorcycle oil or synthetic motorcycle oil. I’m not going to get involved in that except to say do your own research and decide for yourself. Naturally, you might want to look in your motorcycle manual and see what oil is recommended and if it’s not synthetic then double check with the manufacturer to be sure that synthetic is okay to use.
Personally, I do use synthetic oil in my bike, but, I don’t think it’s critical the type of good quality oil you use. What is more important, is that you change the oil and the filter based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. Now, on my 2006 Texas chopper, I changed the oil and the oil filter every season or 3,000 miles whichever comes first.
I used to replace my oil filter with a Harley Davidson oil filter that was compatible with the iron horse. But recently, a fellow motorcycle enthusiast turned me on to the K&N motorcycle oil filters. After doing my research, I determined that this is the best possible oil filter to put on your motorcycle. Besides the enhanced performance of the filter, they come with a 7/16 not on the end of the filter which makes it super easy to install and uninstall without having to use a traditional oil filter wrench.
If you’re interested in further information about the history of American iron horse motorcycles,click here to visit the Wikipedia page.
You might want to be careful on synthetic oil, particularly on old bikes. The owners manual on a 1980 Honda I had said not to use synthetic oil. It was just coming out on the market at that time and they didn’t know that if it’s reduced friction would cause problems with the clutch plates slipping. I’ve never put synthetic oil in a motorcycle, I’ve ridden over 100,000 miles, never had any problems.
I used to replace my oil filter with a Harley Davidson oil filter that was compatible with the iron horse. But recently, a fellow motorcycle enthusiast turned me on to the K&N motorcycle oil filters. After doing my research, I determined that this is the best possible oil filter to put on your motorcycle. Besides the enhanced performance of the filter, they come with a 7/16 not on the end of the filter which makes it super easy to install and uninstall without having to use a traditional oil filter wrench.
Thanks for the informative video!
Way cool bike
You save over $100 from having HD do it for you!
thx, for the video this will be the first time I have change my oil
You might want to be careful on synthetic oil, particularly on old bikes. The owners manual on a 1980 Honda I had said not to use synthetic oil. It was just coming out on the market at that time and they didn’t know that if it’s reduced friction would cause problems with the clutch plates slipping. I’ve never put synthetic oil in a motorcycle, I’ve ridden over 100,000 miles, never had any problems.