Triumphrat

Birdy68 · 07-27-2009, 10:58 AM

I was wondering what was the preferences for oil in your new Thunderbird?

I read that a lot of you/twin owners tend to go with either:
- Amsoil SAE 20W-50 (MCV)
or
- Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50

Both the above oils state they have been developed with 'air cooled' engines in the foreground!

AMSOIL
...specially formulated to excel in all areas unique to motorcycles, including high temperatures of air-cooled engines...

MOBIL 1
...Optimized for hot-running, air-cooled engines...

I was wondering, does the fact that these oils being developed for air-cooled engines make any changes to your choice for the new water-cooled TBird?

What are you thoughts - I'm interested.

engage · 07-27-2009, 03:36 PM

Triumph references Mobile 1 4T so I've just stuck with that. ALso, it is an easy oil to find at local auto stores (although I haven't looked for it in Switzerland lately

)

Besides, I've been running Mobile 1 in my cars for decades and have had good luck with it (although I'm a data point of one).

dazco · 07-27-2009, 04:21 PM

I've researched this ad nausium for the last 4 years and having read a ton of things from oil tests to user opinions to oil analysis, i came to the conclusion amsoil is the better oil. But it's also as easy to find as gold. So i used M1 Vtwin. I did try amsoil once, but it was more expensive and i had to drive 45 minutes to get it so i just went back to Vtwin. By the way, my dealer who builds and races very high powered bonnies says amsoil is far superior to M1. So if i weren't getting free oil changes from my dealer, (with an oil called Torco that he says is better than either MI or amsoil) i think i'd probably go to the trouble of using amsoil in my bird just because this bike means a lot to me. I'm convinced amsoil is the best, but not that the difference is really enough to matter at all. If you really want the best as oil goes, just use any known decent oil that meets the requirements and change it every 3k. Thats what they say anyways. Point being i guess that after a short time any oil no matter how good loses a lot of it's protection, and new oil even cheap stuff, (within reason i assume) dino OR synth is perfectly fine till it begins to break dowm. And 3k seems to be where oils begin to degrade.

anyways, i won't swear to any of that because with oil most all of us can only go by what we read from those who HAVE down the kinds of things required to learn the truth such as oil testing. But to the best of my knowledge i think amsoil is the best stuff, at least if you intend to change the oil at 6k like triumph suggests.

Birdy68 · 07-28-2009, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engage

Triumph references Mobile 1 4T so I've just stuck with that...

I wonder what the main difference is between the 'Racing 4T' and 'V-Twin' besides the obvious 10W-40 vs. 20W-50?

So they (Triumph) are recommending a thinner oil (10W)!
I can go with that - especially when things are new and bearings are still very stiff/tight.

Maybe once there are a few 10k of miles on the clock it might be worth thinking to step down to a thicker (20W) oil - possibly to bring the oil pressure back up, increase the oil film over moving parts, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazco

...I did try amsoil once, but it was more expensive and i had to drive 45 minutes to get it so i just went back to Vtwin...

That would be the same situation as what I'm in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazco

...and change it every 3k. Thats what they say anyways...

That's what I hear - and I honestly think I'd be doing that myself.
For me the TBird is a 'Sunday' bike - only brought out in the sun and under no stress situations. So I can see myself changing the oil in between the official Triumph services. I'm sure that wouldn't harm things.
I put it down to a long-term insurance.

engage · 07-28-2009, 11:44 AM

Speedy - I'm looking at the owners manual and it says:

Semi or fully synthetic 10w/40 or 15w/50 motorcycle engine oil which meets specification API SH (or higher) and JASO MA, such as Mobil 1 Racing 4T

What Dazco said above is correct - any quality oil that meets the specifications will do. Like Dazco, I used to go out of my way to get Amzoil. Back a few decades ago or more, the quality of oils varied more than it does now. Oils have gotten very good.

There was a major study done a number of years back where they put dino and synthetic oils in New City cabs and then tested the oil at various drain intervals and logged engine repairs. Interestingly the study found that dino or synthetic didn't make a difference. In fact, the study claimed that after 5,000 miles, the dino oil was still fine.

Bottom line, if you are putting a modern synthetic oil in your bike that meets spec, you'll be fine. In fact, I no longer change my car oil at 3,000 miles (my Audi calls for 10,000 mile change intervals - I do 7,500), but being new to bikes, I'll have to dig around a bit before I decide my change interval.

Bottom line for me: if the manual states Mobile 1 4T and I can get it locally (which I can) then that's my oil.

Birdy68 · 07-29-2009, 03:06 AM

Well - it would seem that I'd have to go with Motul oil.

I popped over to Germany last night to have a new tyre fitted to my Speedmaster. I know how that sounds, so for your information, I go to Germany because:
1) It's the next nearest bike shop to me
2) The German prices are cheeper than Swiss prices
3) I can get the tyre TAX free.

OK - so on with my findings... While I was there I questioned the guy about his experience in engine oils. He simply said that he once used the Swiss oil Motorex but due to increasing import costs he has moved onto Motul. It's around €19.00 ($27.00) a liter! 1 major personal problem for me! It's French oil!
If you didn't know, the English and the French have a loooonnnnnng history of 'conflicts' *cough* Napoleon *cough*

Anyway, he - the guy in the garage and not *cough* Napoleon *cough* - claims it is a good oil (used here in the German DTM Racing) so I think I'll be going with that - and take the advice of changing earlier rather than later.

Rayzor61 · 07-31-2009, 06:55 AM

At the Triumph dealer they have Mobil 1 15w-50 fully synthetic made by Mobil with Triumph's logo on the jug. There is a semi synthetic for break-in but not to be used after first service. The 4 ltr. jug that I bought was only $32.00. Why even consider anything else?

dazco · 07-31-2009, 11:13 AM

My dealer used torco semi at the 500 service, but this weekend i'm trashing that stuff and going with mobil 1 V twin. I'd get the triumph branded stuff but my dealer uses torco and there are no dealers close to me. i can get V twin at any auto zone so i'll god with that. It's 20-50. I'm actually very anxious to see if i notice a difference bacuse i have in the past between dino and synth, a big diff actually. But whether i can tell between full synth and semi remains to be seen. The bike ran much stronger with full synth compared to 100% dino.

Birdy68 · 07-31-2009, 03:58 PM

It probably safer anyway to have an oil that is commonly found - especially if you tend to make long trips!

That way you can always top up - replace or what ever, it doesn't matter if you have the same stuff.

OKCTriple · 07-31-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rayzor61

At the Triumph dealer they have Mobil 1 15w-50 fully synthetic made by Mobil with Triumph's logo on the jug. There is a semi synthetic for break-in but not to be used after first service. The 4 ltr. jug that I bought was only $32.00. Why even consider anything else?

For those not in the know, read below link.

https://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English...4T_10W-40.aspx