Triumphrat

31712

For everyone but Daz, what oil are you guys using? The Bird is going in for the 500 this weekend and I've elected to take care of the oil change myself. Dealer says they are using the Mobile 1 15W/50, which incidentally is only supplied to them. The manual states to use this or the 10W/40T. My preference is Lucas but they apparently do not have the correct weight. The 10W/40T is about $10 a bottle over at the local Autozone. Any other options available?

mad_angler

im using Motul 7100 4T 10w40, my bike now has real blood in its veins

__________________
Thunderbird 1700cc Big Bore - There's No Replacement For Displacement

robertrichhart

Mobil 1 Racing 4T 10W-40 ..... and Bosch 3300 filter

engage

Mobile 1 4T 15w-50 because that is what my dealer sold me. If I needed to change the oil, but didn't want to make the trip to my dealer, then I would go to Autozone and get the mobile 1 4T 10w-40.

Personally, I believe any good synthetic motorcycle oil of either weight specified would be fine. Going with the 4T is easy since it is recommended by Triumph, i.e., one less thing to argue about should there be a warranty claim down the road.

dazco

I know you didn't want my opinion, but on a side note i just read in 2 different places that triumph seems to have struck a deal with castroil and that will now be what they sell and recommend. I've heard nothing but bad things about castroil for years and when i read those oil shootouts they do online from time to time i have never seen it score high. I certainly won't be using it. M1 on the other hand gets consistently high scores, so i think this just goes to show you where a manufacturer's priorities lie. No big surprise there.

31712

It wasn't your opinion, I just already knew you were a Torco fan. This however is interesting stuff. I think Mobile 1 is the way to go as I have also seen nothing but high scores in the comparisons. My only dilhema is that Lucas was actually 7$ a quart instead of the 10$they want for the Mobile 1. Curious, what is the dealer charging for 15W/50?

engage

I don't have the receipt in front of me, but it was around $85 for the oil and filter and that was with my discount. the 10w-40 and an after-market filter will save you money.

dazco

I'm not a torco fan really. i just use it because i researched it to see how good it is or isn't because my dealer gives me free oil and filter every 6k, so i use it because it's free and from what ive read it's good. however, i will be changing it every 3k, and every other change i will have to pay for and then i will use motul. In years of researching oil every now and then i keep coming to the conclusion that more people consider motul the best bike oil than any other. And mickey recommended the motul blend to me saying it's better than torco and that it smooths out your gearbox considerably. So motul blend will be my next change. I never seem to hear anything but good about it. The torco i'm using is a blend too, but thats where i'm undecided....some say use synth, some say blend is better in big engines due synth getting past the rings and i guess thats bad because of the cat too. But i don't know what to believe. Blend is a good bit cheaper tho.

engage

I never read that a blend is better than a synthetic, but I have read that most modern oils are very good and do not need to be changed nearly as often as one might think.

There was a famous study of New York cabs a decade or so ago where they ran synthetic and dino oils through a bunch of cabs. the conclusion was that after 5,000 miles, both oils were in really good shape, i.e., even in a NYC cab, 5,000 mile change intervals are unnecessary.

In fact, my Audi calls for oil changes every 10,000 miles.

For me, I don't think our bikes notice a difference between major brand oils. I will be changing my oil annually or every 6,000 miles, whichever comes first.

dazco

True, but a car is different than a bike because the engine doesn't share the oil with the gearbox. And it's there that the oil faces it's harshest test. thats why bike oil needs to be changed sooner. As to the blend thing, i wasn't saying it's better, just that it's said in some bikes, older and i think they also said very large engines, blend is supposedly better because it doesn't get past the rings like synth can if tolerances aren't super tight.

I'm just the messenger tho. i'm not stating any of this is ture except for the oil being shared by the gearbox being why bikes kill oil faster than cars. Thats a known fact. The tranny breaks down oil faster than any other part. As far as i know, a good way to choose the best bike oil is to find a test where they test all the top oils and one of the tests is the shear factor. The oils that score best there are supposedly the best for longevity and protection for a bike.