[Slater1601]

I picked up my 1800 yesterday and had a couple questions regarding the maintenance. What are some of the first mainetnance procedures I'm going to need to do? I've put about 150 miles on it since yesterday, and I'm not going to take the bike to the dealership, I think I'll just do them myself. Do the 1800's have self adjusting valves or will it need that done as well? Basically I'm just wondering what the first few moves I should make are as a new VTX owner. Thanks fellas.

 

[Slater1601]

one more thing....does anybody have a .PDF of the VTX service manual? I have plenty of other manuals to trade if someone does. Both Honda and Suzuki. Thanks.

 

[Brewster]

First thing I would suggest is go through and make sure all of your bolts are tight. Dealers are supposed to check, but sometimes do not. Second thing, this is my opinion. Change the oil at 800 miles. The valves don't need adjusted until 8k miles. Check Ebay for a manual. I got one for 5 bucks on cd.Other than that..........ride.

 

[Slater1601]

Thanks man! So the valves aren't self adjusting...that kinda sucks. I'm not sure I want to try to do that one myself so I might have the dealership do it afterall.

 

[Chicago-Spike]

Per the owners manual and Honda of America, the first service is not due until 8,000miles.
That being said, almost everyone here suggests doing a once over on all the fasteners and an oil change at 600-800 miles. Just good sense. Torque specs/tips/tricks and other tech stuff can be found on the sister site of this one the VTXOA Garage.
http://tech.vtxoa.com
The service manual you will not find online due to copywrite laws and Honda has been cracking down on that of late. You might still find one on Ebay as said, or buy one from this sites sponsor HondaDirectLine aka HDL. Click the red banner at the top of the page, beats all advertised prices and ships free.
8)

 

[JimAC]

Service

Spike I dont have my manual handy but I thought the first oil change was supposed to be done ot 4000 or were you just talking about the valves ?
"the first service is not due until 8,000miles"

Per the owners manual and Honda of America, the first service is not due until 8,000miles.
That being said, almost everyone here suggests doing a once over on all the fasteners and an oil change at 600-800 miles. Just good sense. Torque specs/tips/tricks and other tech stuff can be found on the sister site of this one the VTXOA Garage.
http://tech.vtxoa.com
The service manual you will not find online due to copywrite laws and Honda has been cracking down on that of late. You might still find one on Ebay as said, or buy one from this sites sponsor HondaDirectLine aka HDL. Click the red banner at the top of the page, beats all advertised prices and ships free.
8)

 

[Chicago-Spike]

Yes, my bad I meant 4k, but my fingers typed 8. Sorry about that.

 

[neovtxtreme]

change that oil and filter and the final drive/differential fluid at about 300 miles, then again at about 800miles to get out all that metal. most use a conventional oil for these first two changes since it's not in there that long then switch to a synthetic(if you like) after that. (you can use a synthetic in the diff from the first change since it only holds 4oz so you're not wasting that much) if you decide to stay w/conventional oil, i would say change the oiland filter at no more than 2,000-2,500 mile intervals. Synthetics, I use a 5,000 mile interval and change the diff fluid every other time.

the general consensus i've read on here is:
the first two changes conventional oil-any 10-40 "name brand" or the honda GN4(I'm partial to Valvoline and mobil myself for conventionals)

then, if you decide to go synthetic, either mobil-1 15-50 or Amsoil 10-40
(from all that i can read you need not spend the extra $$ on "motorcycle specific" oil-unless you're going Amsoil, then i think it is the same price as the "car oil")

for your final drive/diff. Mobil-1 or Amsoil 75-90

finally check bare's site for desmog, ground fix and headlight rattle fix instructions. and he has oil change walkthrough also.
www.bareasschoppers.com

welcome to the community and enjoy the X
RIDE HARD :twisted:

 

[Slater1601]

Ahh more good info. Thanks friend. So I can use regular automotive oil in her huh? That won't cause clutch slippage or anything? GN4 is so damn expensive.....so using some good old Valvoline sounds pretty good to me.

 

[neovtxtreme]

i dunno if it's true or not, but one guy at a local dealership said the the GN4 is just repackaged Mobil drive clean(conventional) oil.

from all that i've read on here and in other places, "car" oil(synthetic or dino) is fine in wet clutch applications. just be sure to check the API service label on whatever oil you use and make sure it does NOT have "energy conserving" in the circle. i haven't found any 10-40 or heavier oils(15-40,15-50,etc) that are labeled as "energy conserving". Also, we do not need to use a 20-50 b/c from what i understand it is way too heavy for our bikes being that they are water cooled. I've used synthetic since about 5K in this bike and since about 3800 in my 1100 Aero(35K on her now) and not clutch slippage at all-at least not due to the oil.
if you jump to bare's site you see a clutch spring install write up. many of us have experienced clutch slippage under hard accel.(espically after adding performance parts like pipes, open air kits etc) at around 3-5K and the springs have, for the most part, been found to be the weak link. again, from everything i've read, this is NOT due to using "car" oil OR a synthetic, just weak springs from Honda. replacement springs here and pretty simple to install(esp. w/bares' write up) even if it's not slipping now and you plan on removing factory pipes to install aftermarket ones, install these new springs to keep from having to pull the pipes off again later. i would recommend the spring install no matter what since it's so simple/easy, but each to his own.
http://www.hondadirectlineusa.com/store ... =350185311

sorry so long winded :lol:
oh yea, tell us what year, model, spec., size etc of X. easiest to put it in your signature

 

[Slater1601]

Great info. The bike is an 03 1800-S orange. How do I put pics in my signature? I tried using the

 

[Chicago-Spike]

It's all over on the "Support&Testing" board. 8)
http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1065

 

[Slater1601]

weird....wonder why it wouldn't work yesterday when I tried it.....oh well, here's my sig from the honda sportbike board until I get a new one made up with the X.