As a teenager, I worked at a Suzuki, BSA, Triumph dealer as the guy who uncrated the bikes and assembled them before they went on the showroom floor. We always test fired the Suzukis. I was not even allowed to put oil in the British bikes because they would just leak all over the showroom floor, right out of the crate. I never could figure out what was so difficult about keeping the oil in an engine that the Brits just couldn't get.
Oh, this one is simple. If you have worked at all with British cars, you know that they are made out of a metal that will turn to rust in short order if it is in the garage and you have a container of salt on your kitchen counter. This includes if you live in Arizona. The Brits, understanding this, then realized they needed to implement an anti-corrosion system that would enable the vehicles to last at least 5 years - just long enough for the first owner to sell them and buy a new one. The simple solution was to specifically engineer seals in the oiling system that would dispense oil onto the rust-prone components of the vehicle during operation.
A pleasant side effect of this is what you noticed - the engine will tell you when it needs oil because it has ceased leaking, and thus you know that the sump is now dry and in need of a top off.
In all seriousness, I haven't been able to figure it out, either, however newer British vehicles (made within the past 10-15 years) are significantly better. My '92 XJS still has the V12 originally designed in the 1960s, and still leaks as a result, but when I was a Jaguar mechanic it seemed that starting in about 1995 they got it significantly better. By the time Jaguar switched over to the V8 engine in '97-'98, they figured out how to make a relatively leak-proof engine.
Interestingly, I have reason to believe that Yamaha and Suzuki are still having problems with their motorcycles. When I was in the process of test riding motorcycles, I test rode a brand new Honda VTX with 0 miles on it. The bike was sitting on the showroom floor, and the guy pulled it out ready to go. When I went to go test ride the brand new Yamaha Stratoliner at the Yamaha dealer (which was a whole other story), they said the bikes on the showroom floor were not ready to ride, as they did not keep them with oil or batteries in them. That makes me suspicious - I have never otherwise been to a dealership where the vehicles on the showroom floor or lot weren't immediately ready to rock.
Michael, sucks on the oil change, but just think about how much money you save on therapists by riding your sport bike.
I've not noted that most motorcycles were designed with ease of maintenance in mind. And this comes from a veteran Jaguar mechanic. Doubly so on sport bikes or other bikes that have lots of fairings, hence my love of naked bikes and cruisers.
