Triumphrat

barryd · 11-24-2005

Here is a website that has some really good information about what kind of oil you can use in your motorcycle.

http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm

I am interested in your opinions.

Lobo · 11-24-2005

An interesting article. To be honest I'm quite happy putting in whatever oil the manufacturer stipulates; I figure they know their engines better than most. It might be more expensive, but it will hardly break the bank!
As for frequency of oil changes I would have to disagree with the author. OK, maybe the oil doesn't degrade that much over a few thousand miles, but it does carry around more and more debris and metal particles the longer it remains in use - although the oil filter should take care of a lot of this. However, I doubt that the small benefit would outweigh the extra expense of more frequent changes.

billstokes · 11-24-2005

As far as the little bits of metal suspended in the oil, try this. Get a couple of old/broken computer hard drives. Take them apart, and inside you'll find 2 or 3 VERY strong magnets, semi-circular in shape. Stick 3 of these on the bottom of your oil filter. When you change filters, just remove them and stick on to your new filter.

Bill

panda · 11-24-2005

article was good, but missed one imporrtant point..

oil ratings eg sg sh etc, are -MAXIMUM- ratings... unlike most things eg octane which are minimum ratings..3

so buy an oil that just says sg and it will be good, if it has half a dozen or so 'ratings' it can at most only meet the lowest grade out of the list.

note also that these maximum ratings only apply to 15x40 and lower. 20/50 is exempt ( before catalytic converters) which is why modern oils sl and later have less and less ingredients to avoid fouling the converters.