Synthetic Oil

[Radioguylogs]

Greg definitely did not like the front.

A rear 130/90-16B 74H, not available for 17" rims.

How was the wear mileage?

Kenda's advertised 3+2 casing for that tire looks like it's not as tough as the 6-ply nylon.

Light wear after 2k miles. I'm on the throttle as much as possible.

[3Phase]

Light wear after 2k miles. I'm on the throttle as much as possible.

Tough tire.

I'm sometimes lucky to get 3,000 miles out of a rear tire, which makes me angry but at the same time it's a lot of fun running those miles and thinking about getting a squeegee/scraper to get the layers of rubber off the street in front of the house.

[jetmechmarty]

Sounds like a great deal! Where are you buying ahwl an' tahrs?

Rocky Mountain ATV, when they have what I want.

[Bonz]

Hey now! I'm not a foaming treehugger but the smog and other pollution laws here make sense.
When I was a kid there were times that I couldn't see anything farther than half a block away and just breathing hurt like blazes, forget about running and playing.
You don't even want to know about the water and garbage everywhere from millions of people just tossing almost anything you can imagine wherever they felt like leaving it.

Even decades after the laws went into effect, I was on a plane back in the late '80s coming home from Hawaii and at 57,000 feet up in the air the brown finger of smog started to become visible below us for several hundred miles before we reached Lost Angeles and there was a series of huge, widely scattered, 'slick' patches on the ocean that gradually became one giant slick at 50 to 100 miles of the coast. Blech.

There are tens of millions more people here now and the air and water are still better today than they were back in the '60s. Be very, very, very, glad that you live in Colorado.

Good morning! I'm happy that we both can see as far as the eye can see in clean air.

My comment about the green lovers was probably not taken like I was meaning it. In stock form the ZRX was a 45-58 mpg machine. With the 40 mm carbs adapted from the ZX-11/ZZR 1200, they are a more modern design relatively speaking and boost gas mileage into the low 50s. In stock form it did not have converters, so I don't feel there's additional vice from the exhaust it emits that I'm aware of other than a little louder sound.

The Colorado skies have been more blue every morning as a sun comes up then I've ever seen quite honestly. The world needs a month off every year to allow the Earth to recover. For heaven's sake, oil futures are in the negative. There's no place to put everything that's not being used. Gasoline prices for the nation are going to be low for awhile.

As you've probably seen under $1 in many states, my brother sees $1.39 in Austin. I'm seeing $1.69 a gallon for regular here in Colorado, with stations much lower than that just not in my area.

[3Phase]

Thanks, Marty! I usually use Dennis Kirk or the Bike Bandit but they've never offered me any oil. Bar stewards....

.

I know what you meant, Howard, and thank you! It's been raining and overcast here for over a month and it's finally a clear and sunny today.

I remember talking about mileage, emissions and smog at the Colorado rally when you and Bob were sitting off to the side with plenty of gas in your tanks and doing the Precious Pup snicker up your sleeves while the rest of us were always pulling over for fuel, especially the Specials. When I go to the store this afternoon I'll take a look at gas prices.

[Bonz]

In my last post it should say 45 to 48 mpg, not 45 to 58 mpg.

I know the ZRX has 4.6 gallon useable of the 5 gallon capacity. I was on reserve and it went dead stick pulling up to the stop light at the the off ramp with a gas station 300 yards away. Put the petcock on prime and sloshed the tank side to side and got enough fuel back in the bowls to reach to the station. Put in exactly 4.6 gallons.

Running at the high elevation and leading the group at the rally, mpg is typically in the low to mid 50's. I have to work really hard to get it lower than the high 40 mpg range.

Harry gets some really good mileage with his FJR out here, and I know that Jerry Fields does really well with his Concours 1000 if I'm not mistaken.

[3Phase]

The lowest gas prices in Simi Valley today were $2.69, $2.79, $2.89.

I didn't buy my Heritage and have it built up for economy.
A weird coincidence is that the Heritage gets the same mileage as my XS and XJ:
240 to 260 miles per tank
High 30s to low 40s normal riding and down into the 20s if I'm really laying on the throttle.


Beautiful day today! I am so glad I was able to go ride!

[MPittma100]

Gas Prices

News reports that oil barrel prices are less than a case of Pepsi? Gas here in Georgia is 1.39/gallon and steadily headed further down. Predictions say under $1.00 eventually.

[Bonz]

Yep, they keep pumping it out of the ground, there's no place to put it. Folks aren't sticking it in their gas tanks that's for sure.

The futures are for June and July so we know prices will stay low throughout a lot of the summer. Unless when things come around (hopefully sooner rather than later) folks start charging the prices we had before this disaster.

[3Phase]

News reports that oil barrel prices are less than a case of Pepsi? Gas here in Georgia is 1.39/gallon and steadily headed further down. Predictions say under $1.00 eventually.

They're synthetic prices, Mike, the conventional ones will be along shortly.
(ducking)

[Bonz]

Anybody who is worth a salt on their motor oil knowledge, knows that most of the synthetics you will buy in the store are made from the same oil pulled out of the Texas Hillside as conventional oil. The oil is synthesized, thus the name, so only molecules of uniform shape and size are used. This gives it better cold flow properties and much more stability and resistance to shear.

Redline and some others use fully synthetic oil that is made in a laboratory, per se, however they do provide long oil change intervals if you are willing and the bike doesn't consume oil.

[MaximPhil]

They're synthetic prices, Mike, the conventional ones will be along shortly.
(ducking)

Good one Scott.

Phil

[Bonz]

Yeah, that's about the best humor I've seen in awhile!

[thebottle]

Yeah, Greg. I'm with you on running Super Tech from Walmart. Never saw any harm. Auto Zone has Castrol 20W50 for $4/qt. I was just curious.

When I had a leak out of my CCT (there was actually a crack) and was out in the middle of the country traveling I bought regular auto oil to top off more than once ), and the clutch started slipping badly. I was putting down 500-750 miles a day and had to add a quart like every 200 miles, was ridiculous.

I either use syn-blend or a good quality dino. One of the Rotella’s is supposed to be rated for bikes. Maybe it is the T6?

Yeah, there are a few diesel oils that will work for wet clutches. Any oil with the JASO MA specification. Just check the back of the bottle. Rotella T4 is the one I use, cheap and spec'd for wet clutches.

This is a good little read on oil standards for motorcycles.

[Bax]

Just want to make a shout out to the engine designing engineers at Indian and Victory for creating a recent demand for 20W-40 motorcycle oil...... Amsoil stepped up to fill the need. This XS owner is riding this wave to the beach sands.


Bax