First oil change for my 696

[Louv]

I bought my Monster 696 about a month ago.  I figured I'd do my own 600 mile oil change today, since it we got our first rain in 6 months, and there's no way I'm going riding on that (read 6 months of oil rising to the surface).  It was time anyway. 

I'm glad I did. It took me about 4 hours.  Huh?  4 hours!?!  Did you take a nap?  Nope.  I spent 3+ hours driving to six different stores looking for a 14mm hex to remove the oil screen.  Timing tip: Don't go to Ace Hardware, OSH, Pep Boys, Kragen, or your (my?) local Ducati Dealer.  Duh.  Just go to Sears. 

An oil sample will be sent off to Blackstone for analysis.

These photos show the part that, if I took it to a dealer, I never would have seen:

Drain Plug w/ Magnet.  (note: the magnet does NOT have a lip, the "ring" around the top is collected bits of metal)


Removing the Oil Screen: 


Shards of Metal in the Screen:


Clean your Screens:

[Raux]

is that NORMAL? where's shadowchaser? tell me my bike didn't look like that? or is that a breakin period thing where everything kind of meshes together better and the crap gets shaved off.

Louv, thanks for the pics. it was an eye opener 

[Howie]

Normal.

[Raux]

Normal.

great i feel so much better