Maintenance
The first service you do yourself is three parts and one manual. The manual is the important one.
The oil. Matched on an API category and a JASO grade from your manual. JASO exists for motorcycles specifically, because the engine oil also bathes a wet clutch, and MA2 is the grade that keeps it from slipping. An oil publishing neither cannot be matched to anything.
The filter. Bought by cross-reference, never by measurement. Two filters in this catalogue publish diameters two millimetres apart, identical heights, and M20×1.0 against M20×1.5 — near-identical to the eye and not interchangeable.
The plug. Bought by its code. The letters and digits encode the thread, the reach, whether a resistor is fitted, and the heat range. One character apart is a different plug.
A filter wrench, in the right size.
One listing here publishes 65 mm and an edged fitting — which is enough to buy the cup wrench before the sump is empty. A filter tightened by a season of heat cycles can be genuinely stuck, and the alternative is a screwdriver through the can.
Some filters solve it themselves with a nut welded to the end, which turns the whole problem into a spanner job.
A stand. Either the machine is upright on its own or you are holding it with one hand. A scissor jack lifts from underneath; a paddock stand lifts one end.
Oil ages once the seal is broken. Buy the volume your engine actually takes rather than the biggest can on the shelf.
Mineral · 10W-40 · API SN PLUS · JASO MA2 · 1 L · for wet clutches
A one-litre mineral 10W-40 four-stroke motorcycle oil published against API SN PLUS and JASO MA2, stated to suit wet clutches and tested with a catalytic converter.
Best for: Topping up, or changing the oil on a machine whose manual asks for JASO MA2 in 10W-40.
≈ €14
65 mm wrench size · edged wrench fitting · vehicle-specific
A vehicle-specific spin-on oil filter published with a 65 mm filter-wrench size and an edged wrench fitting — the figure you need to buy the right tool.
Best for: A rider who already knows HF204 is their filter and wants the wrench size before starting.
≈ $8 / £7 / €12
BR8HSA · resistor type · heat range 8 · standard range · 1 plug
A single NGK Yellow Box standard spark plug, reference BR8HSA, published as original-equipment quality with vehicle-specific fitment.
Best for: A machine whose manual names BR8HSA, or a cross-reference that arrives at it.
≈ €5
M20×1.0 · Ø 68.0 mm · H 65.0 mm · bypass valve yes · Aprilia, Sachs, Suzuki
A spin-on oil filter published with a complete dimensional specification — M20×1.0 thread, 68 mm diameter, 65 mm height — and a stated bypass valve, for Aprilia, Sachs and Suzuki among others.
Best for: A rider cross-referencing by specification rather than by part number.
≈ £7 / €6
500 kg · 95–350 mm · 6-position safety pin · platform 365 × 222 mm · folds to 95 mm
A motorcycle scissor lift jack rated at 500 kg, raising from 95 to 350 mm on a six-position safety pin, with a 365 × 222 mm non-slip platform that folds flat for storage.
Best for: Lifting a machine clear of the floor for a chain, an oil change or winter storage.
≈ $54 / €45
Two classifications from your manual: an API category and a JASO grade. JASO exists because a motorcycle shares its engine oil with a wet clutch, which a car does not — MA2 is the higher-friction grade a wet clutch needs.
No, and this is the trap. Two filters in this catalogue publish nearly identical diameters and heights with two different thread pitches. A filter is bought by cross-reference against your machine.
The filter wrench size, which one listing here publishes as a figure. Drain the sump, find the filter stuck and have the wrong tool, and the machine is immobile until a shop opens.
For : Topping up, or changing the oil on a machine whose manual asks for JASO MA2 in 10W-40.
Main strength : Publishes both classifications — API and JASO — which is the pair that decides a motorcycle oil
Main limitation : Mineral oil has shorter drain intervals than a synthetic
For : A rider who already knows HF204 is their filter and wants the wrench size before starting.
Main strength : Publishes the wrench size, which is what you need to buy the tool before the oil is drained
Main limitation : No dimensions and no thread size
For : A machine whose manual names BR8HSA, or a cross-reference that arrives at it.
Main strength : A named reference from a maker whose code system is documented and cross-referenced everywhere
Main limitation : Four bullets, none of which carries a dimension
For : A rider cross-referencing by specification rather than by part number.
Main strength : The full dimensional specification — thread, diameter, height — published in one bullet
Main limitation : Its M20×1.0 thread is not the M20×1.5 of the filter beside it — near-identical dimensions, different threads
For : Lifting a machine clear of the floor for a chain, an oil change or winter storage.
Main strength : The title figure and the bullet figure agree — which two stands in this family cannot say
Main limitation : A scissor jack lifts on the frame or engine — you must know where your machine takes a jack
49 € – 60 €
6 models
The models here come from the catalogue of this site. Specifications are those published by the manufacturer and on the Amazon product page; prices are what Keepa reported on the date below, and both move. The ranking uses declared specifications, the balance of stated strengths and limitations, and price. No product on this site has been physically tested, and nothing here claims otherwise.
Last checked on
Nothing written into the text below is a current price. Where an amount appears in a sentence, it is the reading taken on the day that sentence was written; what a shop is asking at this moment loads beside the product itself, and that is the figure to go by.
Helmets and riding gear are discounted over and over through the year — hardest of all in the weeks when nobody is riding, which is months away from when most of it is bought — and a struck-through figure on its own says nothing whatever about what the same model was charged at four weeks ago. UniverTrack holds a week-by-week history for every retailer, which means a reduction is judged against a price somebody actually paid rather than one dreamed up for the sale — and it tells you when the moment to buy has genuinely come.
