I’ve done dozens of oil changes on cars as part of an auto shop class I took decades ago in high school so I was familiar with the process, but I hadn’t ever done it on a motorcycle, much less my own.

The oil filter wrench attachment got stuck on the oil filter and I started to freak out but my wife (who has no emotional investment into this motorcycle) quickly googled it and suggested I tap around it with a hammer.

Came off immediately much to my relief! The rest of the oil change went by without incident. Drained all the oil, saw all the tiny metal bits that accumulate in a new engine, made a small oil stain in my garage, tightened everything up (I couldn’t get a torque wrench to fit on the new oil filter so I did my best to estimate tightness).

I was planning on going for a celebratory ride afterwards but it was a big emotional ordeal over whether or not I’d break something so to be safe, I’ll keep the bike cozy in the garage for now. I’ll take it out for a nice long ride tomorrow.

Thankful for my wife who was calm and level headed and didn’t freak out at the first sign of trouble like me. One day I’ll get the confidence to not expect things to blow up if I touch them. I’m just happy I’m good for another few thousand km.