Hi Guys, just bought a k1200rs it's an early one with the Daytona yellow and chequered grey and black squares, only 15000 miles from new...here's the thing, I'm a bit confused on what oils to use, I'm in the UK, Scotland..so its not that hot over here, we might get the occasional 25c day but that's a rarity..usually I ride in 14- 20c ....so my thinking was to put Castrol 4t semi 10w40 in the engine, and I was thinking of putting 75/90 GL5 in the FD and gearbox, it's supposed to be 75/140 in both but I've read that for the FD it's out of spec now but I could use in the gearbox ...any thoughts guys..please share..
Nice looking bike - On questions about oil, it seems like one has to choose whose advice to take - BMW’s, conventional wisdom, chemical engineers, etc. Personally, I’ve subscribed to the Illinois BMW Riders YouTube channel and mostly follow the advice given there adjusted to my warmer location. I use a non-syn 20/50 oil that meets or exceeds the SG requirement. i believe the main factor is to change fluids at least per BMW recommendations. There are some folks who recommend against Synthetic engine oil and you can google that.
i recommend choices according to what makes sense to you and RIDE!
'03 1200 GT, 15W-50 Mobil 1 automotive oil since break in. 160,000 miles with no engine issues. Still on original final drive and transmission using petroleum based fluids. I suspect equivalent results could be obtained with most any off the shelf oils that meets BMW spec, assuming you change them at least as often as BMW states. (Mixing engine oils may make some people feel good but experience shows it's unnecessary. The BMW engineers' specifications appear to be fine). Anti-synthetic sentiment is based on outdated information and urban legend. Ride the bejesus out of your bike and have fun.
Hey, that is Dakar Yellow by the way. I've had two of those in days gone by. Also remove and neversieze the bottom bolt surface of the front shock every year.
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