A topic as old as vehicles

Man this is debated on street bike forums so much it makes one sick, I am surprised it is not as debated on off road bike forums as much.

All I can go by is what I read and the miles I have put on a bike with no clutch wear and no engine problems. Most people learn whether right or wrong by reading, you can draw your own conclusions. So at the end of the day if someone used oil that you otherwise would not approve of, you are saying you would turn and walk away from that sell? If so that is your loss on a great bike. I'm no idiot and realize the controversy of the subject so if you asked me what oil I use I probably just say HONDA, or with my Yamaha FZ1 it be Yamalube if someone would ask me at the time of sale. I never ask on autos what oil is used, not do I care. Funny how people seem to care much more with a vehicle that tends to cost peanuts vs. an auto. I never did understand that.

I trust MCN (Motorcycle Consumer News) and if they can do test over the years and say there is no difference then I trust their independent lab test. (I do not think I have old articles on the subject but will look) It has nothing to do with PR, type in Rotella in google and you are flooded with motorcycle forums with people very happy using the stuff. I know way too many people that use it and are happy...after all we are not talking about using automobile oil which typically has friction modifiers in it thus making it Energy Conservative.

Actual from my understanding Diesel Oil has a good shear factor as it has to hold up in some very big engines that tend to put a lot of stress on the oil molecules. I myself tend to use Rotella Synthetic. In the autos I tend to use Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic, although I have dumped in Rotella before.

Some links to threads:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165074

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Consumables.html

http://www.suzukicavalcade.com/Maintenance/oil_test.htm

http://board.mcnews.com/Topic34207-9-1.aspx?Highlight=oil+test

What manufacture will not hype their own products? That right there is an attempt to sell you their oil, pretty good PR if you ask me. I mean after all Kawasaki claims the same break in for a Ninja 250 as it does on their liter bikes although we all know different engines would require different break ins (I'm not sure on Honda so thus is why I did not use them as an example). However a lot of people will argue that Kawasaki must know something, and yeah they do...it is called they do not want warranty work so it is in their best interest to have conservative break ins and use the same one for all bikes to make it standard, less for the dealer to remember. So somehow I am to believe Honda's oil is better then everyone else's? I'm to believe it is better then Shell Rotella, or other oils!

Draw your own conclusions but at the end of the day to make what oil was used a deciding factor in a buy seems silly. After all how do you know what the person used? A lot of us understand the oil debate is a very heated topic and I will never say what I use during a sale.

I was only offended 'Bump' because you made it sound like I do not care about my bike/s. I do not use Rotella to save a buck, and believe me I used to put Honda shit into my bikes, and other oil dealers tend to sell until I woke up and realized there is little difference in oil today, The PR on using Honda oil is big. Again I am not arguing to use automobile oil as that will effect clutches, Shell Rotella does not share much with that type of oil.

Good site that explains things for people:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=61

I apologize if my tone was in any way demeaning or pedantic. I'm saying I probably would not buy a bike from myself too!

When I buy a bike I like to look for that anal retentive guy who is a freak about stuff. Me? I'm not that freaky or I would have known more about this a long time ago.

I'm cheap too! So when I buy a used bike I try to find someone who is taking a bath on it. For example, my wife's RM80 I bought from a guy who bought it for his niece. She rode once and beefed and never rode again. So the bike kinda sat for two years. It was perfect. The guy was a Husaberg freak in the 90s and his garage was all white. Everything was spic and span.

Same with my BRP. I bought it from a guy who also had a box full of all the Honda oils he used. He was short and couldn't start the bike too. He even had a kick stand modified to help him get on and start the bike. So it was hardly ridden because the jetting was way off. And he used the aftermarket filter I used so I jumped. Later, when I had the head down in LA for the Team porting work they schooled me on aftermarket filters. And told me I was buy some new intake valves... Hence me always going on about that too.

I think a lot of stuff in the motorsport world is like this. Octane for example. Many, most IMHO, seem to think more octane more power. Actually the opposite is true. Octane is a measure of the resistance to detonation. So higher octane means the more stable the fuel is to exploding. When I was on a pit crew for a race boat in the 70s as a kid I learned about this stuff the hard way too. We were mixing av gas, race gas, toluene and other stuff to get an advantage. We were trying to run the lowest octane possible.

I think the point of the article I referenced was not to buy the motorcycle oils claiming to have extra stuff beyond what the regular motorcycle oils have.

Let's get back to the oil discussion and move along to tires.

Afraid. Very afraid.

As for tires, I can say my knob is now box shaped. Time for a new rear.

Now that will cause oil shear!