New Owner Questions

The bike is a 2016 1200 8V SE

Question on too much oil.  
My bike arrived from the dealer filled with oil to the top mark on the dipstick.  That is a cold bike, sitting in a LA chock (bike is vertical) and the oil is up to the top mark.  Should I siphon out oil to get the oil level down to the lower mark?  Or do I just wait until the first service and put in less oil from then on.  Bike has 340 miles on the clock so I am hundreds of miles from the first service.  

Question on battery charging
The owners manual says that when charging the battery (keeping it topped off or recharging if low), the battery either needs to be removed from the bike or the electrical connections to the bike should be removed ("disconnect the cables of the terminals").  Is that actually required and if so, can someone explain why?  If I don't do that, am I in danger of frying the electronics?  For all my other bikes, I installed an SAE connector to the battery so that I can top off the battery without removing the seat.  My battery charger is a CTEK smart charger that charges at 0.8 amps on the motorcycle setting.

I would remove some oil. Too much oil will cause the excess blow-by, which will get into the throttle bodies. Having it the top mark when vertical is way too much.


Charging the battery with a smart charger while the leads are connected won't hurt anything. I suspect that warning is to prevent idiots from connecting the charger arse-about, thus potentially frying something.

When you check the oil level, are you screwing the dipstick back down?
If not and the level is high it would be good to get it midway between low and high on the stick.
A large syringe and tube would be the easiest way to get the excess out.

FrontRangeRider wrote:

The bike is a 2016 1200 8V SE

Question on battery charging
The owners manual says that when charging the battery (keeping it topped off or recharging if low), the battery either needs to be removed from the bike or the electrical connections to the bike should be removed ("disconnect the cables of the terminals").  Is that actually required and if so, can someone explain why?  If I don't do that, am I in danger of frying the electronics?  For all my other bikes, I installed an SAE connector to the battery so that I can top off the battery without removing the seat.  My battery charger is a CTEK smart charger that charges at 0.8 amps on the motorcycle setting.

I'm sure that's just lawyer-required nonsense to prevent claims. Or maybe they expect people to use italian-made battery chargers from the 70's that can catastrophically overload at a moment's notice. I installed an SAE connector to the battery the moment I got the bike and have been charging it without disconnecting the battery from the bike ever since (with a cheap CTEK-clone from the Lidl no less). I even left it charging overnight outside in the rain once because I forgot, with no adverse effects

Dit you check the oil level without screwing the dipstick in by the way?

I have a front wheel chock. It lifts the front of the bike up so the front it higher than the back. I believe when I check my oil on the wheel chock, it shoes the level at the top of the high point indicator or more. When I put it on the side stand, and don't screw in the dipstick, it shows in about the middle -between the two marks. So, don't check it when on the wheel chock.

Correct procedure is:
Oil at correct operating temp.
Bike upright on level ground.
Remove dipstick, wipe and reinsert the dipstick but don't screw down.
Remove dipstick and read level on stick.

Yup, but always aim to have the level no more than half way between the ‘Add’ and ‘Full’ marks in this position. After you’ve checked it this way once just stick it on the side stand on level ground and check it again. Where it shows then is your correct level on the side stand. Note it and use that method in future. Very easy.

Pete

Thanks for all the replies.  The dipstick was not screwed in when checking the oil level.  I did check it with the front wheel in an LA chock.  Did not think about the 1" to 1 and 1/2" lift of the front wheel.  Will have to check it again on level ground.  Damn hard to do on warm bike with hot pipes and reaching around the side of the cylinder while trying to hold the bike upright.  That's why I put it in the chock to check it.  

I used a small block of wood under the sidestand (1-11/16" thick) that I had laying around in the garage. It gets the bike close enough to upright, without it possibly tipping over to the other side. Then I did like Pete said and checked it after letting it down on the sidestand. I then noted that oil level mark (made a small notch with a razor knife) and I always use that mark to check the oil level on the sidestand now.