went for a ride and then checked the window. It shows just a hair below full. Someone on here posted that shifting will be smoother with fresh oil, I can testify to that. I bought the bike with 700 miles on it. It now has 1000. Looking at what came out, this was the first change.

Glad that you are happy with the results.

Did you switch over to synthetic or are you still running dino oil?
As shifting goes, fresh dino oil is nice but fresh synthetic is like butter.

If this were my bike, I'd change it again in about 500 miles and then start doing 3000 mile or so intervals.

Jonathan, that is what I was thinking. I used dino oil as a learning tool to make sure I could do the oil change myself. I will change it again soon but will switch to synthetic.

I would tend to agree that synthetic oil does result in some nice shifting. I changed my bike's oil to Mobil 1 Racing 4T 10W-40 from whatever the previous owner had in it (about 1300 miles since the last oil change). It was expensive, but so far it seems to be worth it.

As you have probably read in other posts, make sure you get either straight motorcycle oil or that you use car oil that doesn't have friction inhibitors, just to be safe and avoid clutch slipping.

I'm going to try out the Mobil1 stuff soon enough. It is expensive but at only $6-$8 per bottle so it's not going to bankrupt anyone. The Castrol car oil that I have is starting to break down. It's only been 2400 miles.

Most car oils probably don't have the shear characteristics of M/C specific oils. There are some exceptions of course, Shell rotella appears to be one of them. Amsoil M/C oil has shear values equal to a 90 weight gear oil which keeps the transmission happy and smooth. Works very well in both bikes but is very expensive up here in the GWN. Oil and filter changes cost about $100 but I consider the ease of operation(shifting) and overall life of the bike.

I know you don't mean $100 just to change the GZ oil ?????????

probably meant $10. I spent $12 buying the oil from the dealer.

A $10 oil change. I wish ! Both bikes cost about $100 for oil and filters. Canadian prices are much higher than U.S. prices for 99% of anything you want to buy. You would be fortunate to get a new GZ for less than $5300 OTD on a good day. Our gas just went to 6.67 an IMP gallon(5.34 U.S. gal). No more good days ahead.
The oil filters are bought at the local Yammer dealer to show support for small business and the oil comes from Canadian Tire. They seem to be the only place that will stock Amsoil in this smaller city.

Holy crap, man!

Can you not order from over here? Even with shipping you'd be doing yourself a favor. I don't know what the exchange rate it but it can't be that bad...

Whenever I want to buy something big, I usually look Canadian first cause it's cheaper for us, especially car/motorbike stuff