I bought the bike last May and put only 300 miles on it before winter storage so I decided since it was getting late in the season, just store with original oil. I just did the first oil change at 594 miles. The original oil was brown in color and had what appeared to be particles of metallic dust the size of a pinprick in the drain pan. There were only a few that I noticed after tilting the drain pan to gather any particles that might be visible. This is similar to what I observed of the first oil change at 20 miles after a peak rpm break-in of my 08 Hayabusa. We'll see how those two bikes break-in oil compare down the road because the busa did have some slightly larger flakes by the third oil change. I'm going to do a filter dissection to have a look at the pleats on this one so I'll update the thread when I do.

OH...and the spec for oil capacity with a new filter is spot on, 4.1 liters or slightly less than four and one-third quarts put the oil level right at the center of the high and low marks on the sightglass after the bike ran a minute and was allowed to sit for several hours.

* Last updated by: Rook on 8/23/2025 @ 9:11 PM *

Always fill to the top of the glass. Fresh engine will have glitter. as long as the glitter is small, its probably the bearings loosing their topmost layer. Or the clutch fibers loosing their high points.

Thanks Dan. I recently read a comment on a Youtube video expressing the same idea concerning the Gen2. I'm going to have to research that because it might have some real merit but if running a high oil level in a Gen2 has similar effects to a high oil level in a Gen1, it will have a little downside too. On my Gen1, the oil level was a little above the high mark on the sight glass. It was just an accidental over-servicing and the bike used some oil anyway so i left it in. One day, I happened to remove the air box doors and found the inside of the air box was coated with oil. The throttle body plates were coated with oil too. The air filter wasn't exactly damp but it was blackened with oil. It wasn't a problem, I just wiped what I could out of the air box, replaced the filter and let any other oil drain out of the air box drain tube which resulted in none dripping while the bike was parked. A couple years later, I removed the air box doors again and the whole inside of the air box was dry. On a stock motor, I've never heard a problem with the sump running dry unless perhaps from long, high wheelies. No improvement with oiling or cooling either. A high oil level would increase windage, oil sheer and foaming. I'm just learning about turbo so if I had a turbo 14, I'd go with a high oil level if that's what the turbo boys were telling me to do.

Rook, gotta ask you, did you book it or run past the rpm limits. Remember, I run 2qts of +40yr old 50w racing for the 600mi and there after every 3k miles. My oil changes do not sparkle, nor are the pleats showing crank/rod insert material between the pleats.

The beater bikes always spat insert debris. This bike has been showing zero contamination.

Sign,
NOLTT

Pee Yes,
Especially break-in

Oh I ran past the recommended rpm limit. There were a few large throttle sprints to 7000 rpm. Eight thousand once. Just a few seconds. The owners manual says you can exceed the recommended rpm briefly and I did. Most of the time I tried to keep it 3000 to 5000 rpm. If you ask me, this bike feels very relaxed but still perfectly capable running at 3000 rpm on the road. We'll see what's in the tea leaves when I open the filter. I'm predicting there will be very little stuff in there. The sparkles were so small and so few, I never looked at oil as hard as I did to see those tiny specs and there weren't even a lot of them. Actually, I'm a little disappointed in myself for not having the balls to get on there and redline it in 4th gear like I did the busa. Shit happened in life and I don't have the nerve to do that anymore, at least not on the road.

Most people I read from or talk to run the full 5 quarts or so in their engines to keep things oiled and keep the likelihood of starving down. I think the upgraded oiling systems most people run keeps a lot less oil in the pan consistently. That could be why lots run extra oil. Windage losses are real. No doubt about it. Also might fog the airbox and make your air filter less efficient. Might be worth considering it cost of business to run to the top of the Glass. The Facebook group for these bikes will have a lot of input about the topic and might give better reasoning than me

I bought some fancy Maxima brand oil for $200 or so for I think 2.5 oil changes worth of oil. I filled my bike up to spec then to the top of the glass. The oil was a hair thinner than recommended. Caused my airbox to literally fill with oil. My bike was blowing smoke from the exhaust like a diesel. I have a video of it somewhere..... I know your bike is just a baby, but I'd think about blocking off the airbox and rerouting your crankcase fumes to the ground if you have any reason to take the fairings off anytime soon.

Silly emissions systems tend to dirty up the insides of engines and stuff anyways. ask anybody who owns a diesel...

OH well. Ever see my air cleaner video? I capped off the box and breather is open to the ground. Hardly drops if at all on the garage floor. Shit, just remembered I have a mini filter and it's all wet. Haven't got up and looked if I'm thinking of another bike?

Just keep an eye on the window before its 3k change out. Shows it dropped lower, shows how that break-in worked out for you.

Oh yeah, a drop in level changes performance. Loss of power. Happened to me. It needs that perfect bubble in the crankcase. Too much, box more levels it out is the escape route. I think it's an old Smokey Yunick idea. Tie in the crank's push pressure to the intake's vacuum pressure to cause somewhat of a balance, if I understand the concept.

Was watching a car race and the co-drivers being interviewed at the end of the race where saying, in a round about way of, changing the crankcase pressure as they both looked at each other smiling. I sort of knew what they were talking about power wise.

My 2012 Engine was dyno'd at the Factory. How else can Kawasaki say my engine produces 197HP?
Did they replace the engine oil before shipping it? Probably not.

* Last updated by: doubleD on 9/19/2025 @ 9:56 AM *

They redlined that fucker before it hit the showroom like every other bike.

My 2012 Engine was dyno'd at the Factory. How else can Kawasaki say my engine produces 197HP?
Did they replace the engine oil before shipping it? Probably not.

The topic of wether or not motorcycles are dynoed at the factory comes up from time on the org, usually when I mention it. We know at least some are. Thanks for that pic doubleD.

Regarding proper oil level, I kept my Gen1's oil level no higher than the top line. Even so, I noticed signs of oil that had blown up the throttle bodies. I saw the oil on the underside of my secondary throttle plates when I removed them. Also on the underside of the primaries when I removed the throttle bodies assembly. I also wiped the greasy dust off of my duct clamps once a year. It looks like my Gen2 is the same, first time the fairings come off, there's the oil on the throttle bodies. The oil level was perfect from the dealership and it is perfect now after the first oil change. All I did was run the engine at idle about a minute before shutting down for the year. This oil film we see has to be from the oil that came in the bike. The oil film is also on the inner ducts ...not a big deal, I'll just wipe it off once a year like always. I'll have a peek at the air filter in a few days. As long as I didn't run the oil in my Gen1 higher than the top line, no oil made it past the ducts.

* Last updated by: Rook on 5/10/2026 @ 6:01 PM *