Ducati Monster Forum

attempting my first oil change today.  monster is up on pitbull rear stand (non-spooled) and i was planning to leave it there while i run the motor for a while to warm up the oil.  just wanted to make sure it's not a bad idea to run the motor while the bike is on the stand.  any thoughts?

thanks in advance!

Give the bike a shake. If it's stable enough you can't shake it off the stand, it's stable enough to run the motor.

I've always left the bike on the stand(s) and run the motor for oil changes, etc.

It's probably fine but I've found that I can't get an accurate oil level reading in the sightglass unless the bike is off the stand and upright. You can do a little test. Warm up the bike, then drain the oil with the bike on the stand. Then let the bike down from the stand and hold upright and see how much more oil comes out. It will be a good bit.

You want to drain all the dirty oil that you can out and refill clean oil to the proper level, and in my experience you can't do that with the bike on a rearstand. It would be a little bit easier if you could but I've found that it can't be done.

Now if you also had a front stand that held the bike upright and level fore to aft, maybe it would work. I don't have a front stand so I couldn't comment on that arrangement.

Oil drain/fill works fine if you can get the bike on a front and rear stand.

DSS bikes can creep 'down' the stand due to vibration and the angle of the swingarm.

Don't set the oil level with it on a rearstand only or frontstand only.

Just don't try to clean your chain with your engine running while on a rear stand.

This might happen to you: OUCH (http://www.gixxer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242261)

Warning: Graphic pictures of injuries.

what happens if the rear stand is on a treadmill?

sac

knew someone would point this one out eventually

It well take off, well as long as it has enough head wind.

That's what I do, Pitbull stands at both ends. That way the bike is up a little higher off the ground so there's more room for the oil pan but the bike is also upright and even for proper oil drain and refill. I typically ride the bike around the neighborhood to get everything up to proper temp before I start. My bikes all have rear spools. Speeddog is right about a rear stand that doesn't use spools. The bike can indeed slide down the stand due to engine vibration. It has happened to friends. Be careful with that.

great feedback guys.  i had my suspicions about the oil reading being off while on the stand, so thanks for confirming them.

and yes, i promise that when i clean the chain while the engine is running, i will definitely have it off the stand.

I REALLY wanted to make the sarcastic suggestion that he should take advantage of having the bike on the rear stand and running, but I didn't really feel like being held liable should he mangle his digits, and I couldn't find the link to include.