Mobil 1 15/50 or Factory/Dealership???

[kuhlka]

The MCN article was talking about full synthetic Mobil 1, not dino oil. You'd have to be a cheap bastard to pour dino oil into a modern motorcycle. A few of the other times I've read these posts about oil, I've seen numerous Triumph owners post up saying they're at over 30,000 miles on their bikes and have been using 'red cap' 15-50 mobil 1 full synthetic with no clutch issues. Some of these riders had over 60,000 on their clocks.

Sorry, I have to agree with MCN that T-branded synthetic is just rebadged 15-50 synthetic.



p.s. The MOST annoying posts are all the, "Yay, I've got a brand new S3 and here are pics of my bone stock bike!" or "1st impression of the new S3" for the 50th time...

[cheapbastard]

On 2006-01-06 22:05, kuhlka wrote:
You'd have to be a cheap bastard to pour dino oil into a modern motorcycle.

I resent that remark! I don't pour dino oil into my machine!

[Pig9r]

The MCN article was talking about full synthetic Mobil 1, not dino oil.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't that MCN article you are reffering to from 1994? I hope MCN standards on reporting maintanence tips are higher then everything else they report on!

[Speed3]

The bottom line is, use whatever oil that you want in your bike, and I'll use whatever oil I want in my bike. It's a free country.

[kuhlka]

No, the report I saw was from just a few years ago. My father subscribes and showed it to me when he and I were debating whether or not $50 was a bit much for a jug of Triumph branded Mobil 1. I'll try and see if he's still got that article. I'm pretty sure they even did chemical analysis to prove they're the same oil.

Sorry, cheapbastard. I forgot about your nickname. I laughed my ass off after reading your response though.

[ This message was edited by: kuhlka on 2006-01-07 17:01 ]

[cheapbastard]

On 2006-01-07 17:00, kuhlka wrote:
Sorry, cheapbastard. I forgot about your nickname. I laughed my ass off after reading your response though.

Yeah, you guys really have to watch it with the "cheapbastard" comments. JK, I thought you would get a kick out of that. :-D I truly am a CB though, but not quite that bad! Go with the Mobil!

I'm hoping to put an end to this post!!!!

Well I've read every post here on this topic and will be the first to admit I'm not a scientist. What makes most forums a real drag is too many people talking about things they really know nothing about. You've read all the quotes too and probably have realized as I have that most of them don't know sh## about oil. Pig9r was the only one to mention the fact that motorcycles share their gearboxes with the engine. In order to fully understand 'Anything' in this material world, you've got to break it down to the molecular level. (No, I'm not trying to be some 'smarty-pants.) How do you think we can enjoy all the major discoveries made in our world in the last few decades. Without an understanding of molecular structure, we'd still be pouring some ol' unrefined 'Flying 'A' 30 wt. into our scoots and hoping for the best.

Oil used in gear boxes are subjected to 'shearing' of the lubricating molecules in the oil as the gear faces rub across each other. Motorcycle oils have additives to compensate for this. In essence, 'more' of these molecules so the oil won't break down as fast. Because oils of today are so much better than oils of yesterday, many of the riders who use automotive oil do not encounter any problems. Also, most riders change their oil well before this becomes a potential problem. The issue of friction modifiers etc. and the 'potential' for automotive oils and their additives causing a clutch to slip isn't usually a problem for 'most' bikes. The catch word here is 'most'. If it becomes a problem with 'your' bike then your opinion most certainly would change in a hurry. Just because you haven't encountered a problem 'yet' doesn't mean you've made the right decision.
I agree that oil companies want to sell oil, most definitely their higher priced oil. But I have to put my faith in the facts of advancing technology and a better understanding of whats going on inside your engine on the molecular level. Believe me, there's much more happening in there than most people can imagine.

This is 'not' a slam, but I'd be willing to bet that most guys on this site don't know the actual differences between 'dino' oil and synthetic.........But thats another topic entirely! :-D

PS I use good quality name brand 'motorcycle specific oils' in most all 6 of my bikes (54K miles on my 97 Daytona). The cost difference is not that great. I also use automotive Castrol racing oil in my Guzzi because it has a seperate gearbox. I use gear oil in its transmission with a little moly added.

Here's a good question (just to 'stir the pot'), why dont' we just use good ol' automotive engine oil in our vehicles gearboxes and rear ends? How about putting gear oil in our engines??????? Oils oil-isn't it? (Now where have I heard 'that' quote before?) :-D
I'll get off my 'soap box' now, thanks for listening. :-D :-D :-D

[kuhlka]

Ok, there may be a few newbies on the forums who haven't read the numerous industry and independent scientific testing that has been done over the past 20 years, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the people on here understand the differences between the various lubricants. What is at issue is whether or not Triumph oil is any different than standard Mobil1 15-50 full synthetic. Until I see direct evidence and standardized testing which PROVES there is a major difference that is catastrophic to motorcycle engines if we don't use the Triumph oil, I'm going to stick with regular full-synthetic and do more oil changes for less money.

I've read too many scientific oil reports in the past few years to remember everything, but essentially what I took from what I read was that synthetic is synthetic and the difference between motorcycle synthetic and automotive is negligible. As long as you're not waiting 10,000 miles to change your oil, you should be fine with regular 15-50 FULL-synthetic. There are major chemical differences between full-synthetic and other blends that call themseves part synthetic.

I found the longest I care to wait to change oil is between 3-5,000 when I start noticing the transmission gets a bit clunky and the motor noise increases. When I tried waiting the full 6,000 miles after using the Triumph branded Mobil1 synthetic, I found my gearbox was ***** and the shifting was stiff as hell after 4,500 miles and at 5,000 miles I couldn't stand it any longer and did an oil change using Mobil 1 'red cap' 15-50. Now the transmission behaves just fine and I make sure to change the oil every 3,000 miles or so.

I'm not using automotive Mobil1 because it is cheaper. I'm using it because it is the same thing (possibly without supposed motorcycle additives) and works perfectly for me. Its really nice being able to get 3 jugs of the stuff for the price of 1 jug of Triumph oil, though.

[Mad]

I get 10 to 15% more HP in my bikes by using Mobil 1 oil, K&N filters, Michelin Pilots, and BelRay chain lube..
I swear this to be true and I AM an expert cause I say so. There ya go.....
Mad` :razz:

Members,
Please re-read this part of my last post:

"What makes most forums a real drag is too many people talking about things they really know nothing about. You've read all the quotes too and probably have realized as I have that most of them don't know sh## about oil."

I rest my case! :hammer:


"Synthetic is Synthetic",,,,,,,,,, good one kuhlka! :???:


"I get 10-15% more HP in my bikes with Synthetic oil, K&N filters........etc."
Uh huh! 10-15% is huge! Show me the dyno charts Mad (before and after). The K&N is the only change that will give you any real noticeable gain.

I'm really not trying to upset this forum, I really enjoy having it as resource and love seeing all your cool bikes and mods everybody has done to their bikes. I just get tired of "bad, uninformed information" that can run rampant on most forums of this type.