Lets talk about Oil... What are KZ riders using?

Amsoil and Yamalube 20w50 m/c oils

Here's the Mobil-1 synthetic motorcycle oil I've been using for the past several years in my '77 KZ650C1 with great results. It is especially formulated for bikes with wet clutches. My bike actually seems to run smoother than before. It has the highest ZDDP level (1600PPM) of any I've found. Ed

Mobil 1 Racing 4T

Description

Amsoil 20w50 for me

I think the best with no regard for cost is Amsoil synthetic, but I don't run it. I currently run the valvoline max life mixed 50-50 with pure synthetic, and I am adding the ZDDPlus to get zinc protection because these oils are low in Zinc. As for weight, I usually run 5-30/10-40 mixed half and half in winter, and I run 10-40 and 20/50 mix in summer.

IMHO, you can run and decent quality dino oil that is on sale as long as you change it no later than 1500 miles, which is before the viscosity enhancers go away. The bonus for frequent changes is a very clean engine: clean oil is the best detergent out there. I add zinc because I don't trust the oil companies to tell the truth and say when they reduce it, and most current oils have too little zinc.

kzrider.com/media/kunena/attachments/leg...s/spectro_syn_bl.jpg [/img] been using it for years,i can remember the bottles being white close to 30 years ago if that says anything! :laugh:

had the wrong pic! :S

Didn't we go threw this a couple of weeks ago?
SuperTech 5w30 Pure Synthetic with Ryslone, Redline ZDDP, and Lucas added. SuperTech is Quaker State.

Ams Oil 20W50 in the air cooled bikes and 10W40 in the liquid cooled bikes.

Been using it for thirty years. Recently my source went out of business so I signed up as a dealer.

KZCSI

Plummen: I believe the chart you show (below) is out of date. It shows the ZDDP levels before the feds had the oil companies change their formulas for cars. As an example, if you read the answer to Question #2 on the Castrol Q&A site (see link) you will see that Castrol states "As current oils in market today were "improved" for current standards removal of certain additives, zinc among them, was required." Clearly, Castrol has removed ZDDP from their automotive oils, yet the chart you provided shows 800 - 1000 PPM. This is what the level was prior to the fed mandated changes for auto oil. I have looked at numerous oil company sites, and like Castrol they pretty much all say they have removed ZDDP from their auto formulations. Mobil-1 motorcycle oil has 1600PPM of ZDDP, and I believe some other motorcycle oils also still contain adequate ZDDP levels. This is no doubt because motorcycle & racing oils were not covered by the same federal mandates as regular auto oil. Ed


Castrol Q&A Site

THE CHART BELOW IS OUTDATED

PLUMMEN wrote:

I understood that the common automotive grades have had to reduce zinc levels because it poisons the catalytic converter. Hoever Castrol GTX 20w50 has ZDDP where as thier 10w40 does not. The accounts of mobile one loosing its viscosity in just a matter of hours is surprising. And apparently royal purple was sued because they so overstated the performance of thier oil. The fact is that the high reving high temperature environement of these engines destroys the long chain molecules that maintain velocity, and the oil degrades. So the two critera I am looking at are initial vs final viscosity and zinc/phosphorus levels. There is an awful lot of BS when it comes to engine oil... I was curious if anyone on this site did any viscosity tests? I may have to rig up a comparable test for before and after samples.

So how about Rotella? I have real a lot of people are using rotella with good results. Anyone here running diesel engine oil?