On the right side of the bike, below the oil sight glass there is what looks to be a large 21mm bolt head. Remove this "bolt" and you'll find a cage like structure with a fine mesh screen on it. This is what's referred to in the Owners Manual as the "Engine Oil Intake Filter" or "Oil Mesh Filter" and the manual says that it only needs to be checked/cleaned every ~12000 miles. My philosophy is if I'm going to be getting oily anyway, it's worth the 50 cents for a new crush washer to check and clean the screen while I'm down there. There will typically be some small metal shavings on the screen, particularly for the first few oil changes. Like the sediment that comes out of your drain hole, If it's just a few very small pieces, you're probably fine. If anything looks too big, you may need to investigate further. Another thing to check is to make sure that the plastic cap is still in the end of the screen filter. I've heard of a few cases of this piece falling off (both on Supersports though). I don't know that the plastic would do severe damage from falling off in your crank case, but it would make it so that filter wasn't doing its job. Clean the filter screen. Some people just swish the screen around in a jar of gasoline or kerosene to clean it. I use a can of VP carburetor cleaner and just spray it off. Carefully replace the oil screen using a new crush washer. Make sure that everything sits flat while finger tightening it. I've bent the crush washer in the past while putting the screen on and found that I had an oil leak afterwards. My manual says to tighten the screen to 45 Nm (33 ft-lbs), check your manual to be sure.
Answers & Comments
On the right side of the bike, below the oil sight glass there is what looks to be a large 21mm bolt head. Remove this "bolt" and you'll find a cage like structure with a fine mesh screen on it. This is what's referred to in the Owners Manual as the "Engine Oil Intake Filter" or "Oil Mesh Filter" and the manual says that it only needs to be checked/cleaned every ~12000 miles. My philosophy is if I'm going to be getting oily anyway, it's worth the 50 cents for a new crush washer to check and clean the screen while I'm down there. There will typically be some small metal shavings on the screen, particularly for the first few oil changes. Like the sediment that comes out of your drain hole, If it's just a few very small pieces, you're probably fine. If anything looks too big, you may need to investigate further. Another thing to check is to make sure that the plastic cap is still in the end of the screen filter. I've heard of a few cases of this piece falling off (both on Supersports though). I don't know that the plastic would do severe damage from falling off in your crank case, but it would make it so that filter wasn't doing its job. Clean the filter screen. Some people just swish the screen around in a jar of gasoline or kerosene to clean it. I use a can of VP carburetor cleaner and just spray it off. Carefully replace the oil screen using a new crush washer. Make sure that everything sits flat while finger tightening it. I've bent the crush washer in the past while putting the screen on and found that I had an oil leak afterwards. My manual says to tighten the screen to 45 Nm (33 ft-lbs), check your manual to be sure.