The best OIL to use!

Here's another oil to check out. It's the Brad Penn motorcycle oil. I've used their auto oil in the bike with no problems, but now they make a specific oil for motorcycles. They bought the plant that used to produce the Kendall GT1 oil (the green stuff). This oil has the same green tint. Anyway, worth a look. The auto stuff runs about $3.50 a quart.

www.bradpennracing.com/Products/motooils.html

Also for those really interested in learning about oil, cruise over to the Bob Is The Oil Guy Forum. You can read for days.... www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

I found it interesting that a lot of drag bikes are using synthetic.So clutch slipage isnt an issue.
Also in the Amsoil report, most of the the oils lost there vescosity quikly but the synthetics did not. this would indicate that they are actualy thicker(after use),so u would think that they would be less prone to cause leakage? i put new gaskets in my bike so it will be interesting to see what happens.i will break in with straight 30 wieght then use dyno for a couple thousand mile before swithching to Amsoil or Moble 1.

Ok guy's, i have always ran Valvoline 20w-50 in the summer and 10w-40 in the cooler months in all 3 of my kz's, i change the oil religiously at 1500 miles in all 3 of my bikes. I have put 28,000 miles on my z1 with this oil , i just pulled the clutch plates off and they were like brand new. I have never experienced clutch slipping in any of my bikes with this oil either. I always change the filter along with the oil evey time, even though ma kaw says to do it every other time, to me it dosent make scense to drop the oil, but leave the old dirty filter in with old oil.

austin3119 wrote:

Here's another oil to check out. It's the Brad Penn motorcycle oil. I've used their auto oil in the bike with no problems, but now they make a specific oil for motorcycles. They bought the plant that used to produce the Kendall GT1 oil (the green stuff). This oil has the same green tint. Anyway, worth a look. The auto stuff runs about $3.50 a quart.

www.bradpennracing.com/Products/motooils.html

Also for those really interested in learning about oil, cruise over to the Bob Is The Oil Guy Forum. You can read for days.... www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

Yes, the Brad Penn oil is as good as you can get. Many cam manufactors and crank builders swear by Brad Penn/Kendall. I had personally always used very light weight synthetic oil in my small bore race applications and never had any clutch related problems using stock plates but whatever oil you use, change it often.

I use what used to be "Quaker State" and is now owned by Wall-Mart, pure synthetic, 5w-30 Since the Molecule of the synthetic is much larger and gobs stronger than mineral oil, you can go much liter. In the old days I used to use Clotz Lite which was straight 5w or 10w and very expensive. Than I changed to "Royal Purple". Today all the oils are so far beyond the manufacturers specs that any oil is better than the oil available pre-1980. I do get a few small oil leeks but I just wash the bike once a week and wash it off. Also the brake-down of the new oils is so slow that many new car manufacturers like on my Jaguar state that when using modern synthetics to change oil every 25000 mi yes 25K. I change my oil every 10k on my bikes, and have never had a problem or had to rebuild an engine because of ware. Not bad for 31 years and about 200,000 between all of my bikes, out of which only four. have any millage to speak of on them. I have only ever replaced one set of clutch plates, when some Einstein (me) thought that a Barnett clutch would be better than a stock clutch. I regretted the change almost from the day I did it. I also add 1qt of "Ryslone" to every 5qt of the oil and "Lucas" oil stabilizer. Once a month I also add 4oz of "Sea-Foam". Ive been doing this for thirty years and do not plan on changing now.

Otto

It is a well know fact that most of engine ware occurs during start up. If u use thicker oil in cold weather it will take longer for the oil to reach each part and warm up.
It then makes sense to me to use a thinner oil in the spring and fall.
The synthetics claim e to form a stronger barrier to help prevent this were , and maintain the viscosity, where the viscosity of the dyno oil thins as it ages.
there is no way for us to look at our motor parts and tell if there is added were due to an oil choice.
all we can do is read the data and make an educated decision. everyone will come to a dif conclusion based on there personal experiences and BUDGET.
Personally i like to read the data and use it to my advantage. But truthfully , i do find it almost impossible to know which data to trust ,since every manufacturer says, "our product is the best".
In the end i find myself using trends that may say synthetics do this or that vs dyno oils, rather than specific claims.
i feel the synthetics don’t cause clutch problems, and will do a better job in the long run of protecting a motor, "according to the lab tests”. Weather that is measureable out side a lab in our world??
Just my opinion.

They always say most wear happens at startup, but I'll have to wonder about that. I've had many KZ650s, 1000s, 1100s for example and put a lot of miles on a few of them. Always the ones that had long freeway trips had more engine problems than the ones I'd ride just a few miles at a time. This using the same 2000 mile oil change interval. The 650 I ride to work gets 3 miles to work, 3 miles home all yr around down to around zero degrees and I've had near zero problem in 65,000 miles, can't say that about some of the others. The castrol GTX turned to sludge in the 160,000 mile KZ650, but after reading more this will happen with any oil in a worn out engine so I guess I'll forgive that, but won't use it again none the less. Rotella 15w40 has worked good for me, but no good in the winter, too thick to start. 10w30 or 10w40 is amost all energy conserving now, so no good for wet clutch from reading, but I've used valvoline 10w30 in the winter and never a problem.

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but regarding wear on startup: I think the startup after an oil change can potentially do some damage. Has anyone else noticed that the oil pressure light stays on 5 to 10 times longer after the initial start after an oil change? Obviously it's because the filter needs to get filled along with the other areas that were drained.

This goes against most convention, but I do not drain the oil while hot. You are never going to get all of the old oil out, and draining it hot means the bearings won't retain much oil. I first start the bike for about 5 to 10 seconds while cold then shut if off. Then change the oil cold. That way, there is thick, cold oil still clinging in the bearing areas. You don't get every drop out, but you also don't start the motor with no oil. The only drawback is you have to wait a little longer for the oil to drain. The important thing is to retain oil in the bearings and paths.

On KZ's the oil pressure light goes out quickly so it's harder to notice the difference, but I've noticed on cars where the oil light stays on for a noticeable time, the oil pressure light goes out much quicker on the initial start if I change the oil cold versus hot. Like between 1 second versus 10 to 15 seconds.

any thoughts?

Easy solution, loudhvx.....with the older KZ's use the kick starter vigorously (usually about 10 kicks or so) with the key "ON" and the kill switch turned to the "OFF" postion. You can watch for the oil pressure light to go out and not have to worry about the engine starting on you.
For the later models with no kickers, put the key "ON" and kill switch "OFF" as above and use a jumper wire to jump the starter solenoid to roll the engine over.
You could also use this method on the earlier kicker-equipped models.....but I don't like to wear my starter/starter clutch out if I don't have to....especially on the 650 where the starter clutch is so much fun to change.
I've used this method for years on my old SOHC Honda 750s and my Suzis as well.

This is a great practice after a rebuild as well. remove the spark plugs(just turns over easier) turn the motor over to charge to oil system ,before starting it.

I'm bumpstart only, so I guess I'll have to push it... no kicker, no starter, no battery, or rotate the wheel on centerstand. But no power for the oil light anyway.

But there is still compression (unless plugs removed) pushing the bearings to metal-on-metal contact until there is oil in the bearing. With a cold oil change, it starts out with more oil in there, regardless of the cranking method.

It's possible that it's a non-issue anyway, since like Ron, I think most wear is during higher speed running, (based on a few observations, but not any real investigation).

The ultimate solution is, of course, to switch to a full (or even partial) synthetic....after the next rebuild, of course. One of the many advantages of a synthetic is that it will leave a nice film clinging to all the bearing surfaces for quite awhile after stopping the engine.