Choosing The Right Oil and Other Tips!
by Dickfer
Choose the oil for the temperature of outside air for the area where you are operating. Look at the charts and figure out the correct ranges for the temp you are riding at.
Example is, I live in Florida, I run with thicker oil than normal.
You want the best protection; I would buy a simple laser temperature gun. I picked mine up at Harbor Freight on sale for $29.00 Ride your bike for a half of a hour or so, uphill if you got it and then use the gun to see the temp of the case of the MOTOR. Try to get the temp from where your crank shaft would be at is the best target.
I found this other web site that has a good chart to look at. http://www.synlube.com/viscosit.htm
Things I would suggest is a good EARTH magnet on the bottom of your oil filter and then put some duct tape over it and it will stay clean. Will help with grabbing the metal particles that are in the fluid from normal wear.
Bikes very, riders very, roads and locations very. So if your lazy, just go to a dealership or look in the factory manual and put the multi viscosity oil in and call it good.
Or get some knowledge, get some tools, and figure it out yourself.
BTW, Synthetic Oil WILL run cooler than conventional oil. Reason is the Paraffin’s in regular oil will trap heat.
Who knows, maybe I just have not a clue what I am talking about. OR??? Maybe I have been doing this for a while.
Synthetic VS Conventional Oils.
A few years ago a friend and I had this conversation and then after reading some articles on it all and especially having to do with motorcycles. I will attempt to give you a breakdown of some basics that many people
First, Viscosity: Lets go with this: “ Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear stress or tensile stress. In everyday terms (and for fluids only), viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick"
Now Oil Viscosity: I found this on line and if you take the time to read all of it, it will help in understanding even more. http://www.oilviscositychart.info/
Okay, if you have done that, then now lets look at what we are talking about. What Oil is best for your motorcycle? The answer: Oil MADE for motorcycles! No I am not being a smart ass, and I will explain it this way.
This Web site says explains even more:
http://micapeak.com/info/oiled.html
Again, it was years ago when I started to read all about this and I learned about Zink.
I found out about this on line and I wish I could find it again, but it was a real eye opener.
In the article it talked about “The Clean Air Act” Way back when, they decided to get rid of pollutants and the first thing they came up with was to find a way to “BURN” cleaner.
So they came up with the Catalytic converter back in 1975 and how it works is basically, as air is rushed past a surface, that surface will heat up and cause the air to get hotter and burn anything in that space.
Granted these are so small of a hole that it is almost like a filter. So, with that in mind, if you have a car and you want to know if your catalytic converter is working, take a laser thermometer and take the temp at the front of the cat and then at the rear, the rear should be hotter!
