Hmm...you drive a hard bargain...but ok! I"m sure the top-shelf Motul is great oil...the question is if it's better in any meaningful way than the Rotella...will be interesting.
I must say I am quite pleased that I asked this question!!!! So much useful info. I put the non synthetic in the bike for this weekend as I didn't know how the synth. would affect the slipper clutch but from what I am reading it shouldn't make a difference in the performance of the clutch. I will be changing to the synth. before next race weekend!!! Thanks again for the great replies and I look forward to the oil test results!!!
I've read that this is also great oil, but I've never used it. re: the clutch... If you're going to use non-bike-specific oil, be sure to use one that does _not_ say "Energy COnservig" on the label on the back of the bottle. Rotella-T synth. is fine, as is Mobil1, _if_ you get the right Mobil1. I forget off-hand which it is you need...it's either the SUV/Truck one, or the Extended Life one, I forget which...just read the bottle.
energy conserving oils have friction modifiers to help increase effieciency and lower wear and tear. they will also make a wet cluch slip and become useless.
Sam's Club also sells it in drums. Since I use it in 9 vehicles (some hold over 5 gallons of the stuff at a time) It's the best way to get it.
good to know about rotella. that's kool oil/$$$ i believe in synthetics after a guy at my sailing club said he wasn't into them till he bought amsoil and ran it in his chevy Citation and got over 300k out of the motor.... mind u, this was a late '70's/early 80's GM BUCKET O SHIT!...AND amsoil got over 300k out of it. after that, he became a distributor for amsoil. good to know. better start running synthetic in my truck again.....Sluggo the Mule, my 1992 yoda banger 3VZE V6 has 151k on her and he still pull like he always has..not quite hard enough whilst driking gas like it's going out of style.....begging me to put some '92-93 camry 24v v6 heads that bolt on, get an extra 50hp, better gas mileage, add some lower compression pistons or a thicker head gasket, turbo, intercooler, and get oh...300 at the wheels...a winter project. anotehr oil that hasn't been mentioned is a small company out of ohio. i mention them becuase teh gave us a couple free cases of full synthetic for the Virginia Tech formula SAE car as well as their awesome synthetic chain lube that stuck to the chain like a mofo, but didn't attract dirt like most others (turbo'd, fuel injected cbr600F3 in my day...1997 and 1998 they gave us oil after seeing us at SAE congress in D troit..) anyways, the root of this is what the honchos at the oil company told me... only really concern yourself w/ the 2nd # (viscosity) in the oil, that's the hot viscosity, the one that really counts. they also told me that their oil has 3-4x the film strength of mobil 1, so we could run 5w30 instead of our typical mobil 1 15w50 to get a couple extra free horses, and all would be kosher. the oil is ALISyn, or Aerospace Lubricants, Inc. they make most of their oil for ross royce/pratt & whitney aircraft engines, and of cousre they make 2 smoker oil and car/bike oil as well. i believe back in the day they were sponsoring some head that drag raced a CBR600 and he got like 4 extra hp by going from factory 10w40 to their soooperlightweight oil. granted, the stuff is pricy, but it really works. i have heard form others that raced porsches that Mobil 1 used to be a lot better than it is now, and that they (G&W motorsports, now at VIR) actually used to run fucking kendall in their race engines. taht's cause cole told me he got a couple of bad cases of mobil 1 and motors went south when the shouldn't have. that just kind of feeds the "fill it w/ rotella" theory as kendall non-synthetic is some of the cheapest oil u can get, restating what the guy said about slapping labels on the same oil for different companies, jag, mobil, house brand, etc. i have also heard the same thing, that Advance auto oil is actually Pennzoil in a different bottle. makes sense any anyone curious, here's the Alisyn website... http://www.aerospacelubricants.com/ hope that helps. one more oil tidbit, i used to work at fast lane cycles, and we dyno tested motul full synthetic and repsol, and they made the same hp #'s if anyone was curious. if i remember correctly, regular repsol (all came w/ teh free nicky t shirt and poster, booo yaaaaaaaaaaaah!) was like $17/ gallon, semi synthetic was like $26, and full syn repsol was like $42 i think...been a couple months, but for what it's worth........ that oil test info is good stuff, might have to try that just to know...
My friensd are amazed that I am running a "car" oil in my bike. They think I am going to damage my engine. I showed them the article that sln posted and haven't heard back from them yet. :up: Good information but what does the guy in the article base his facts on? http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html
It's hard to believe that people still buy into some of this oil bullshit. As if Honda and Yamaha invest more in oil technology then Shell, Mobile, or any of the other car oil companies. When was the last time anyone even actually witnessed an oil related engine failure? How about even a part wearing out prematurely due to oil? And I don't wanna hear "Joe down at Squidlies Performance and Wheelie Center said that....". Fuck that shit. And if anyone thinks 2 gears meshing together put oil under more stress then a piston ring you're retarded. For every "my engine went 5 million miles" on XYZ synthetic, you can find a counterpart that'll say the same thing about a natural oil. So give that tired old excuse a rest. There are benefits to running each type of oil. And if changing out perfectly good oil and oil filter after every race weekend helps you sleep at night, more power to you. But if you think you're doing anything to help your bike, you're delusional. I'm sure the oil companies and the economy do appreciate it though. /rant off
Maxima Synthetic Blend Or Non Synthetic. I Never Lost An Engine On Them. They Dont Glaze Cylinder Walls Like The Other Stuff Either. 9000 Miles And Still Had Nice Silver Cylinder Walls With Cross Hatch Still There.. 50000miles On A Street Zx6r And No Wear Anywhere. Sorry For The Yelling But That Is How Firmly I Believe In The Stuff
I sent an email to the tech/engineering email addy on the Mobil 1 site when you posted this, and I got a reply while I was gone to the GNF. In short, the dude said that under full accelleration, especially on a high hp bike, the psi on the trailing face of a transmission gear is way higher than the psi of a piston ring...like a whole order of magnitude...not close. He didn't address the fact that the oil onthe cyl. wall is alot higher, but he did say that the transmission is what makes bike oil wear out when it does, fwiw. He didn't include any cool physics mumbo jumbo for me to post and pretend that I understand, but that was the gist of it.
If you woulda sorted through most of this crap in this thread you would've found that already posted.
Amsoil or Mobile One Racing T4 or V-Twin (motorcycle oils), are all full synthetic. Royal Purple is also and is a good oil. They do cost more, but that's because they cost more to produce. Worth the extra in my opinion. Shell Rotella T Syn, Mobile One Tri-Synthetic, Castrol Syn, and others are organic based and make great oils for passenger cars. I wouldn't use them in a motorcycle race engine or any motorcycle for that matter. Again, IMO.
I don't know about the quality of it as I've never tried it and/or had it tested, but I do know that it's a brand who's mission in life is to give dealers a higher margin product to sell. I'm pretty sure the company is just a brand, with no engineering behind it. It's prolly all rebadged products from some mass manufacturer. Note that this doens't necessarily mean it's bad.
What measuranble difference is there between these performance-wise that leads you to spend the extra dough? Or is it just one of those 'it seems like the right way to go' things, like my changing my streetbike oil every 5k even though I _know_ I don't have to.
