hello lads. Got an 09 blade last weekend and have a few questions. My last bike was a Harley I got brand new, it got its first service at the dealer and i traded it in needing its second service so never had to do any maintenance on it. How often should I change the oil and filter? The bike has done 18k and I'm assuming it's had the 16k service but should I get it done again for peice of mind? It has a yoshi can and a few other expensive options but no evident of a power commander. Is there anyway to check if it's had a re map? The idal seems lumpy but I don't know if I'm being paranoid. It sort of bounced between 1000-1500 rpm. Thanks for any help
Hi mate, I'd do an oil and filter change so you know where you are, £40 well spent. I change mine every 3k miles or so. Take a look under both seats, if there is a power commander you'll find it there. The stock ECU is not programmable so if you don't have a power commander it's running standard fuelling. Not sure how the yoshi affects the blade but I have a Racefit and without the PCV it was very lumpy on tick over
PS As far as I'm aware the ECU is not programmable but I may be wrong. Not heard of anyone that's done it.
I looked under both seats and round the battery but no power commander. The dealer said he serviced and mot'd it for me last week but I'll probably just change the oil anyway. I have 5 litre of castrol magnatec in the shed so I'll just need to get a filter from victor Devine on Monday. Cheers guys
Yoshi are lumpy especially on standard fuelling without the baffle. With the baffle the idle is quite smooth on standard fuelling, without the baffle ideally you need to richen things up a bit. Re servicing as above change the oil anyway, from my experience the Blade feels much nicer with 10w40
Then you more than likely don't have a PCV. I wouldn't use Castrol Magnatec if I were you. That's designed for cars with a dry clutch. The additives in it will not agree with the wet clutch on a bike. When you change the oil check the level on the dipstick without screwing it in and keep an eye on the level regularly as the blade can be a thirsty old girl.
RBengineering have just released their flashing kits for the blade. Check out the recent started threads. I've just received my kit.
Thanks for that mate, which oil would you recommend? should the bike be on the side stand or paddock stand for checking the oil level?
The bike has to be level,upright back to front and side to side.you'll need front and rear stands or get someone to give you a hand. The oil debate is as old as the hills. Honda recommend 10w 30. I use Castrol power 1 racing fully synthetic but others use semi synthetic. Take a look through the forum you'll find a number of oil related discussions
DO NOT use Castrol Magnatec, that is for use in car engines. You'll need to get a proper bike specific oil. Personally I use semi synthetic and have had no issues in both the GSXR and the Blade. Silkolene is probably my favourite but at the moment am using Castrol in the Blade as i want to try it out.
I used Silkolene Super Four semi synth. The bike had had a recent oil service with Putoline DX4 and straight away the Silkolene made the gear change smoother and the engine quieter. Silkolene pro energy is meant to be superb and reportedly increases your mpg and give a few bhp more, but is around £58 for 4l!!
