ReconRat

A search today for decent oil comparisons, turned up nothing but website articles comparing... God's gift of Amsoil compared to all other oils... I'm sure Amsoil is a decent and even great oil, but can we stop the Jim Jone's koolaid events over it's greatness. The reason diesel oil has taken a spot in motorcycle oil choices. It's all the advanced slippery anti-friction additives that modern oils have, so that manufacturers can squeeze a little claim to gas mileage for the feds. Not good for motorcycles, and not found in most diesel oils. The creation of JASO is in great part also a result of the anti-friction additives of any rating past SG. Some bikes have absolutely no problem with advanced anti-friction. Others will totally freak out. You want good viscosity shear resistance. Good heat resistance. And good anti corrosive capabilities.

After using up oil I already have... I think I'm going to Winter store with Rotella T6 5W40, since I will ride it a bit in rather cold weather. And continue using either Mobil 1 T4 or Castrol RS T4, with an occasional Castrol semi syn ACT-Evo 4T 10W40 if I have to. Mobil 1 4T and Castrol RS 4T are roughly the same price. Rotella T6 and ACT-Evo 4T are roughly the same price. Hell, I still store Winter bikes with Castrol GTX car oil. It doesn't hurt my bikes.

Got it, thanks. I forgot the spec sheets. The main page used to list the full ratings of T5 and T6. No idea what oil to buy anymore. I still have a gallon of Triple T, a gallon of Castrol 4T, and 2 gallons of Mobil Racing 4T to use up first. Bought them all on sale...

Yes, it listed Mobil Super Moto 4T 20W-50 and MX 15W50, from South Africa. I can't find that around here, and it's not the oil weight I was looking for. And yes, Mobil 1 4T is a good choice. No Shell oils were listed. Read closely the JASO-MA on an oil container. Many list JASO, but were never tested and/or certified. Shell listed JASO-MA on their Rotella website for a short while, and then took it down. I use the Rotella T for Winter storage. Even ran it for a while. It's the cheapest oil I could find, that was close or maybe ok for a motorcycle. I've heard the T6 full synthetic Rotella is marked JASO-MA, but I haven't seen that yet. On my bike any auto/bike oil could be used to store for Winter. Cheap is good for that. From the Rotella website: Rotella T1 & T3 are single weights. Rotella T Triple is JASO DH-2 (Diesel) edit: wait, I read it wrong. T Triple is also JASO-MA rated on the website. Rotella T5 semi synthetic blend doesn't list JASO (probably not JASO-MA) Rotella T6 synthetic doesn't list JASO (probably JASO-MA rated, not certified) A search of Rotella website for words JASO or motorcycle yields no results. I also noticed that several of the Castrol bike oils were not listed as certified either. And I like those. edit: What happens is that rating levels change a lot. Oil companies are no longer interested in certifications for every change. So they don't do them. They just put "meets the rating" or "meets the certification" on the can. They won't use the official seal of the certification, since they didn't pay up for that certification.

Yes, that will meet that ratio of torque to weight easily.

This is crazy. A bunch of oils aren't tested or have failed. This is a cliff's notes of all the 10W-40 that have met JASO requirements. From the official JASO qualified list. Skipped all the foreign brands that we won't see in the USA. 10W-40 oils that qualify JASO-MA (the original standard): Bike Master Performance Motorcycle Oil (Tucker Rocky Distributing) Bike Master Performance Semi Synthetic Motorcycle Oil (Tucker Rocky Distributing) Bike Master Performance Full Synthetic Motorcycle Oil (Tucker Rocky Distributing) BP Vistra Super 4 (BP p.l.c.) Power 1 Scooter (Castrol) Castrol Activ X-Tra (Castrol) Castrol Power 1 Scooter (Castrol) Castrol Power 1 (Castrol) Power 1 4T (Castrol) Power 1 Scooter 4T (Castrol) Caltex Revtex Fully Synthetic 4T (Chevron) Caltex Havoline Fully Synthetic 4T (Chevron) Caltex Havoline SuperMatic 4T (Chevron) Caltex Revtex SuperMatic 4T (Chevron) Caltex Havoline SuperMatic 4T (Chevron) Honda ULTRA G2 (Honda) Kawasaki 100% Synthetic Premium 4-Cycle (Kawasaki) Motul 3000 (Motul) Motul 5100 Ester (Motul) Motul 3000 4T (Motul) Motul 5100 4T (Motul) Motul E-Tech 100 (Motul) Motul 3100 Silver 4T (Motul) Motul 5100 (Motul) Motul 3100 Gold 4T (Motul) Motul E-Tech 100 (Motul) Motul HI Tech 100 4T (Motul) Motul 7100 4T (Motul) Motul 1100 4T (Motul) Motul 300V 4T FL (Motul) Motul 5000 4T (Motul) Motul Power Quad 4T (Motul) Motul Quad 4T (Motul) Motul Scooter Expert 4T (Motul) Repsol Moto Off Road 4T (Repsol) Repsol Moto Sintetico 4T (Repsol) Suzuki ECSTAR Type 04 MA SJ (Suzuki) Suzuki 4T SP SL (Suzuki) Yamalube Premium (Yamaha) Yamalube Sports (Yamaha) Yamalube FX (Yamaha) Yamalube Standard Plus (Yamaha) Yamalube 4 (Yamaha) Yamalube 4S (Yamaha) Yamalube 4 AP1 (Yamaha) Yamalube 3 Semi Synthetic (Yamaha) 10W-40 oils that qualify JASO-MA2 (catalytic converter): AP SUPER 4T (AP Oil International Limited) Bel-Ray EXL Mineral 4T (Bel-Ray) Bel-Ray EXP Synthetic Ester Blend 4T (Bel-Ray) Bel-Ray Thumper Racing Synthetic Ester Blend 4T (Bel-Ray) Bel-Ray EXS Full Synthetic Ester 4T (Bel-Ray) Motul 3000 Plus 4T (Motul) Motul 3100 Gold 4T (Motul) Repsol Moto Off Road 4T (Repsol) Repsol Moto Sintetico 4T (Repsol) Repsol Moto Racing 4T (Repsol) Suzuki Performance 4-Cycle (SOPUS) Suzuki Performance 4-Cycle Synthetic Racing (SOPUS) Boulevard Suzuki Performance Synthetic Blend 4-Cycle V-Twin (SOPUS) Suzuki Performance 4-Cycle ATV (SOPUS) Pennzoil Performance 4-Cycle (SOPUS)

Japanese manufacturers use JASO standards for oil. (Japanese Automotive Standards Organization) The JASO standard for 4 stroke motorcycles is JASO-MA (or JASO-MA2). (The new JASO-MA2 is in response to catalytic converters on motorcycles.) Oils meeting these standards are acceptable by Japanese manufacturers per the owner's manual and service manual. Since some marking on the containers are confusing, here is the official world-wide JASO list of JASO-MA 4T motorcycle oils that qualify. A Japanese font package might have to be downloaded to view the document. http://www.jalos.or.jp/onfile/pdf/4T_EV_LIST.pdf Shell, Mobil, Amsoil, Harley, etc are missing from the list. Some haven't been tested, some have failed. No way of knowing which.

Slightly different thoughts. Under 10lbs road weight per each 1 ft/lb torque is enjoyable. That would be bike wet weight plus rider weight. edit: So yes, a light weight high compression 750cc tuned for torque will do this. Or a light weight low compression 900-1000cc.

Please Fasten Your Seatbelts https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b4i-4OhsVjk/UK5T7AXJ2JI/AAAAAAAAc-4/elt6_v7JvaI/s620/267485_314315858675548_402590249_n.jpg

I'm still riding... but not for long...

Yes. I should have been more specific and said internal acids form from combining the water with the combustion contaminants that get in the oil. It's also the reason guys will say don't just run the engine for a few minutes occasionally in the winter to try and charge the battery. Something we've probably all been guilty of. It has to warm up completely, and probably as long as possible. And it won't charge the battery at idle. My shop manual says charging starts at 3000rpm. I wondered about a cheap pipe cutter. Wondered if the one I have is big enough. Probably not. And I could use a cheap bigger pipe cutter anyway. I will pick one up next trip to harbor freight. I'm going to start cutting open my filters again. Cutting open a filter is fun. Recommended for every one that likes to make a really neat mess. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/motorcycle.php Here's some motorcycle sample reports. Yes, viscosity is reported. From reading the sample reports, it looks like two main sources of wear on an engine. One is low viscosity, which can be oil diluted by fuel. And storing an engine with old oil in it, which allows moisture to create acids which cause corrosion. The killer is letting old oil sit idle for years. Yes, high RPMs in a motorcycle can chop up the oil's viscosity really quickly. I've seen it happen in a very few miles. It shouldn't. If an engine does this, start looking for a better oil, or how the fuel is getting in to dilute the oil. Smell the oil that's in the crankcase or drain pan. It shouldn't have a strong fuel smell. The viscosity can be roughly judged by how it flows off the dipstick, or when it drains. Modern oils are way better at holding viscosity in a motorcycle than what was available thirty years ago. Some motorcycle oils are a lot better at holding viscosity than others, but that's still going to be a personal decision.

I've heard sympathetic harmonics from lots of things, mostly metal. And mostly AM, since that is a set frequency and a length of metal will attenuate that if the wavelength matches. Speakers are common, plugged in or not. Motors with fan blades can do it. And oddly, I've seen/heard metal window frames vibrate the glass and play music.

The filter inspection can be done at home. The filter media gets spread out, and you're looking for shiny metal, either aluminum or steel. The filter media should be ashed to get to the metal and quantify/qualify, but I think the message is there if the metal is there. The tool looks like this: about 40-80 bucks at jegs, summit, newegg, amazon, aircraft supply... http://www.efficient-mileage.com/images/oil_filter_cutter.jpg

Oil testing is indeed the proper way of determining an oil's quality. But I'm going to have to say that a dark oil isn't an indicator to keep it either. Small particulate just means small abrasion. Sort of polishing the innards, I guess. If it's just a viscosity test, that can be set up at home. Flow rate through a calibrated orifice at a given temperature for a given viscosity index. If I'm thinking about testing the oil, I spend the money on changing the oil. What oil testing will do for an engine, is tell you if there is a failure of parts going on in there where you can't see it. The amount and type of metal failure can be seen and measured. Turning the old oil filter in for testing, is an even better method. Some of the newer filters, have a secondary filter of finer micron filtration. Exactly what that means, I'm not quite sure yet. They are still fairly new, and some say it starves the engine by blocking the flow. I'm using them, and haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. It's a filter. A proper filter design will bypass all oil rather than shut off flow, so starving the engine of oil is not likely. Depending on the design, I wouldn't want the finer part of the filter causing an early bypass either. So don't know yet. Would be most impressed by a dual filter media with a dual set of bypass capabilities. I have not seen one of those for bikes and cars yet. Aircraft yes, but not cheap. Yay, it's Winter time. We're talking oil here.

It will do that, if it's changed or not. Moisture gets in every time the engine cools. (Or air temps cycle hot and cold.) Not much, but it will have a bad habit of collecting in one spot and trying to corrode metal. Moisture is easy to remove. Cook it out by riding the bike. Old oil will have a collection of carbon, acids and contaminants held in suspension by the detergents and additives. Opinions differ, but it's still corrosive and it's in there. It's about the only reason to change oil anymore. Other than that viscosity thing... edit: And yeah, I still put fresh cheap oil in for the Winter, and change it again in the Spring with the good stuff. Unless I'm lazy, and/or don't have many miles on the current oil change.

I think so. It meets all three definitions of curio and relic. There were not a lot survived, and several variations. It could easily be very rare. StG 44 wiki edit: 425,977 StG44s were made. Not many survived. "New semi-automatic reproductions of the MKb 42(H), MP 43/1, and StG 44 are being manufactured in Germany today by SSD (Sport Systeme Dittrich) and distributed by HZA Kulmbach GmbH[23] in the original 7.92x33mm Kurz chambering."

I tried Rotella T. It got "crunchy" shifting way too soon. Not impressed. But it's still oil and it worked. I'll say that. crunchy = not smooth edit: 800 miles on the current oil? I wouldn't change that.

Never try to out drink any one in Cherokee South Carolina that's walking around in the early morning with a case of 12 pints of whiskey under his arm. He'll share, don't do it.

Yeah, any oil is ok until it gets dark or looses viscosity. Oddly, I still swear I can feel when it needs changed. Sort of a crunchy feeling when I shift. Any where between 4 times a year and once a year for me. Obviously a full syn doesn't need changed 4 times a year. But if I had a lot of blowby that darkens the oil quickly, I'd probably switch to dino and change more often. And yeah, changing right before Winter parking is a good idea. It removes corrosives that would sit there all Winter.

I've not seen a black label on Corralejo. Red, white or blue. Interesting. The red and blue are pretty highly rated.

I'm still reading. This is very very good stuff. "Our lives can be spent carrying out actions that we hope will lead us to a greater sense of purpose, acoomplishment and meaning, but all these are secondary to the need to feel alive. And when we pursue the activities that make us truly feel alive, we discover the places and people and things we always had wished existed. And we find out that they have always been there, waiting patiently for our arrival."

covered that...

My Dad crashed a malfunctioning F6F-5N offshore in Hawaii, a couple of years after the attack. He wants to go to the memorial, but he's never going to make it there. I've said it before. If you get a chance to talk with a WW2 veteran, do it now.

Searching... and the lowest found is 129. Really, double drums suck. They jam. There are rifles that handle drums well, but I'm not thinking that the AR-15 is one of them. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/07/robert-farago/100-round-ar-15-double-drum-magazines-for-dummies/