Synthetic oil in XS11.

[motoman]

Mobil 1 V-Twin 20/50 is supposed to be specifically formulated to work with wet clutches. Supposed to be better in high temp air-cooled motors than dyno. I'm going to give it a try when I give Betsy her annual oil change in a month or so.

Your choice, but addional expense is unnecessary as stated above. 20-50w Vavoline or Super-Tech works fine.......least has for my Venturer since buying it new.

[tomcos67]

oil

Hello. !dbeardslee.!Please keep us posted .Might give that try if you're happy.Iam a bug when it comes to oil changes,every 1200 miles+final drive.middle gear every other.Oil is cheap I figure .

[BA80]

Live and learn.............live and learn......

[trbig]

Hello. !dbeardslee.!Please keep us posted .Might give that try if you're happy.Iam a bug when it comes to oil changes,every 1200 miles+final drive.middle gear every other.Oil is cheap I figure .

Me too! I change mine every 3k miles.. or 5.. or 8, or whenever. But at least I splurge and use the cheap stuff! (Regular 20/50 dino oil.. I have a personal favorite but won't get into that) I change the filter every other time.. most of the time.. I think. I change the drive gear oil every year.. or other year.. or when I forget to put the fill plug back on and spew the contents all over me, the bike, and the highway, or when the middle drive plug falls out the bottom going down the highway. That reminds me....that was a couple years ago. I need to change it.. Maybe.

Meh... I think I'll go on another ride first. Cya.

[dbeardslee]

I've been running the cheapest dyno I could find since I bought the old girl, and while it works I do notice a considerable amount of heat coming off the motor. Not surprising in an air cooled motor, right. But I got reading about Mobil 1 V-Twin (Reading... ALWAYS dangerous) and the thermal properties of Mobil 1. It will flow at a much lower temperature than dyno, and it's supposed to be better at dissipating heat, too. The reports I read claimed a noticeable difference in engine heat with Mobil 1 vs. dyno, as well as a noticeable difference in engine noise. I'm taking it all with a grain of salt, but I figure for $40 or so I can find out for myself. Worst comes to worst I've spent $20 I didn't need to. $40 if the clutch slips.

[trbig]

Running V-twin oil is going to make it lope, vibrate, and you won't be able to take your hands off the bars to wave to people.

[dbeardslee]

Running V-twin oil is going to make it lope, vibrate, and you won't be able to take your hands off the bars to wave to people.

LoL Probably make it loud and slow, too.

[BardGriffin]

Good info!

Thanks for all the info guys! I've been debating on Synth or Dino after I finish rebuilding my motor. Cost isn't an issue (within reason) since I get a great price on oil and intend on spoiling this bike rotten.

[BardGriffin]

Does anybody have thoughts on Royal Purple?

[Bonz]

Guys, most "synthetic" oil as you know it to be, is pumped straight out of the ground like all "regular" oil. It is simply refined (synthesized, ergo synthetic) to a higher grade so the molecules are a more consistent size and shape, thus the better flow properties and longer life before shearing. Simple as that. I know of no clutch in good working order that will know the difference between any proper oil (dino or synthetic) without friction modifiers. Synthetic base oil is no slipperier than Dino base oil, only the additives can make the oil cause clutch slippage. If it isn't energy conserving, it will not have the bad modifiers for wet clutches. Again, simple as that.

I have done oil analysis and seen many, many other reports that show any non-friction modifier oil in an appropriate grade (syn or dino) with appropriate levels of wear preventing additives (Zinc and phosphorus being the main ones) to be absolutely acceptable in performance.

What I believe to be true is the few instances where issues have occurred, it should also have happened in every other wet clutch engine the oil was run in. And that is not the case. A few issues vs hundreds of thousands of oil changes that had no issue makes no sense to "comdemn" synthetic oils over.

Where synthetic falls down is from from a purely cost standpoint in the XS is the 2500 mile oil change intervals recommended. This is because regardless of synthetic or not, an old air cooled engine pollutes oil much sooner than most newer bikes. Dirty oil doesn't shift as well as clean oil, and air cooled engines breakdown any oil faster especially if it gets crazy hot on a ride or two in the summer.

So, regular Dino oil gets the nod in my 80SG, and I change every 2500 miles or so, usually based on the shift quality which deteriorates around that point almost without fail. But a synthetic oil will never be a bad choice.

[trbig]

I hate when someone takes the voodoo magic out of stuff and explains things coherently and in simple terms for idiots like me. I suppose next, you'll tell me there is no "Magic smoke" in my electrical systems...

[IanDMacDonald]

I hate when someone takes the voodoo magic out of stuff and explains things coherently and in simple terms for idiots like me. I suppose next, you'll tell me there is no "Magic smoke" in my electrical systems...

If there was a "like" button, Trbig and Bonz would get it from me! Synthetic Mobil 4T in my sport bikes, Mobil 1 in my cars, Wally World Super Tech in the oldie, but goodies. I believe it was Trbig that scared me away from a certain oil, when he spoke of a spun bearing.

[trbig]

If there was a "like" button, Trbig and Bonz would get it from me! Synthetic Mobil 4T in my sport bikes, Mobil 1 in my cars, Wally World Super Tech in the oldie, but goodies. I believe it was Trbig that scared me away from a certain oil, when he spoke of a spun bearing.

Yup.. Spun a crank bearing in my first motor and 2nd motor, only got @ 2500 miles out of while using Rotella T. Probably has nothing to do with the oil since many on here use it, but since switching to regular Castrol and having really terrible oil changing routines, I'm at well over 150k on this motor and still going strong. *Knock on wood*

[Bonz]

Dang, two spun bearings really sucks. Running Dino Rotella 15w-40 in the 80SG currently and the newer semi-syn Rotella T5 15w-40 in the ZRX1200. Will be running an oil analysis on the semi-syn to check the additive package/levels of Zinc and phosphorus.

[ViperRon]

Just like everyone I have a theory on the issues with synthetic oil and the wet clutch. I feel that the oil has nothing to do with the slip issue but that the friction modifiers definitely have an effect just like using ethanol gas on the cork in the friction plates. Face it the clutches in these bikes are old and everything breaks down over time. The frictions in different bikes have been exposed to different things. Heat has a big effect on cork as well as ethanol and other chemicals. Also some of these clutches have set dry for many years while others have been wet in oil. I believe that break down of the springs is probably the biggest issue with slip along with adjustment bad cables etc but don't disregard the frictions could be bad. Along with that synthetic oil with modifiers will make some slip probably not the oil but more likely the cork has broken down.