Posted by Tim Schroeder on January 11, 19100 at 17:13:29:
In Reply to: Re: oil posted by Hogryder on January 11, 19100 at 06:11:49:
Hogryder,
I agree, motorcycle oil must lube the usual engine parts, just like car oil, but it also has to handle the clutch plates and gears. According to Suzuki, additives in m/c oil make all this happen with one product, whereas car oil is separate from the gear oil and doesn't have the additives needed for bikes.
I remember a high school buddy who bought a brand new '68 396 Chevelle. He was the meticulous type, and started using STP when he changed his oil. He ended up rebuilding the engine, as the STP didn't allow the different metal parts to wear correctly, after he began having valve problems and bearing problems. His mechanic told him, just like mine has told me, that nothing beats petroleum-based lubricants for providing the right amount of slickness with the right metal to metal "wear" characteristics. Too much "slickness" was the opinion on STP, though that was 30 years ago. Maybe newer synthetics have overcome all these problems, and maybe once an engine is broken in, after a few thousand miles, synthetics will work better than petro-based oil, although I think an engine continually "wears in" over the entire life if the bike.
I've emailed some of the bike magazines to see if maybe they can do some articles on real vs. synthetics, as this subject seems to come up a lot.
We'll see what they come up with.
Tim