Is Motorcycle Oil Overpriced?

some thoughts from some dudes: :reg:

Motorcycle Oils vs. Automotive Oils

 

Believe it or not, back in 1984 some engineering students at Cal Poly SLO performed a similar test using oils available at the time ( we did not have our time machine perfected) and using a diesel and gasoline engine and pretty much came up with the same results when it came to petroleum vs synthetic oils.

The results in the link you posted only interested me because I thought that surely by now there would have been enough work done on additives to close the gap a bit

 

Good read.

I've heard some riders used Mobil1 oil in their bikes....was never sure if this was the normal off the shelf Automotive Synthetic oil.

 

Good read. Not just another Oil thread. This one has some support from someone with some credentials behind them. Think I have bought my last gallon of Motul Synthetic at about $80.00 a gallon. WTF

 

I myself honeslty use shell rotella (yes the heavy duty diesel oil) my father uses it in his 95 goldwing with 2002 cally side car. I prob will keep using it great stuff

 

Pussy is way overpriced too, but that won't stop me from buying it. Before some guy makes a complete ass out of himself and says that he doesn't pay for it.....think it through.


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I myself will continue to put into this bike or any other bike I own the recommended oil......I think thats kinda what NCB said

 

Think what it would cost if you had to dig it out of the ground and refine it before you used it.

At least motor oil doesnt whine and complain about you hogging the remote.

 

That was just a very round about way of saying that this subject is one that has been brought up and debated ad nauseum. Spend your money on what you think is worth buying and leave it at that.




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First off this test/article seems very old just by the pricing of the oil and using SG designation of oil. The only/most oil today is SM. I have been using Golden Spectrol since the late 70's in all the bikes I've had.

My own observations is my gen one still has the factory cams for one. Spectrol used only except once. I could not get it when I need to change oil. So I put an automotive oil in, Valvoline. Well first thing I noticed was the valve train sounded louder and the trans didn't shift worth a damn. I changed out the oil after 500 miles back to Spectro and the valve noise was gone and the trans shifted nice like it used to. Since that time I've never even thought about using automotive oils.

They did show how motorcycle trans beats up the oil. They state basically that the mc oils had about 70% retention after 800 miles and the 87 Accord w/3600 mi on the oil had 91%. Shows me what the trans does to the polymer strings. As far as the prof's test procedure I'm no chemicle engineer so I don't know if his tests are 100% valid after reading this statement: "Therefore in reality, this kind of viscometer does not measure viscosity directly, but rather the ratio of the viscosity to the density of the liquid being tested"

I'll keep using Spectro. It's worked great for the last 28 years. So why change?

 

The only oil I've ever used has been Castrol, GTX before Syntec was introduced. I use Syntec exclusively in my bikes and change it around 5-7000 miles. Never had any problems or excessive oil usage. The air cooled FJ has 60,000 miles and was still running strong the last time I had it out and about.

IMO motorcycle specific oils are snake oil. (pun intended)

Howard

 

Are you talking about oil or pussy? Oil out of the ground is fine the other is beyond Freud, free or COD.


Golden Spectro was fine. Used the semi-synthetic in my old trusty for years after draining and flushing out the Honda break in oil. The nearest Honda dealer/stealer to me now is Fred's Honda in Corvallis, Oregon who at last look wanted $8.00 a quart for GS. I called the distributor and he told me that was a rip.

Thankee Jesus for Wally's and Rotella and for making that wart go away and the new garden hose I got for Christmas.


Regarding viscosity, the applicable term is rheology and is not confined to either Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluids. A standard viscometer measures shear strength vs shear rate at ambient temperatures . Plug one of those gadgets into 220 and you can make whipped cream or meringue for a lemon pie. This information is not found in Cliffs Notes.

 

Interesting read (the original post). After I thought about it, I realized I've been using Golden Spectro for at least 15 years or longer. I've had no oil-related issues with any of the bikes, and the top ends of the motors have always been clean and shiny when I've had the valve covers off for the normal maintenance items. Apparently automotive oils have come a long way over the last few decades. :smile:

The sad thing is that even though I know it, and the article more or less proves it, I'm reluctant to change; I tend not to mess with something that works. I do know that a lot of the folks on the SVRider's forum use the Rotella, and a lot of them do track days with no oiling issues. So I guess I should open my closed mind and give it a try.