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What Oil for Your Motorbike

Part One

This week we are going to look at what oil does inside your motorbike bike and the aspects to consider when choosing which oil for your motorcycle\’s engine. Part two next week will help you when choosing between premium and non premium brands of engine oil.

We put oil in our engines to serve several purposes. First, obviously, oil acts as a lubricant. If your engine is operating correctly, there is almost no metal to metal contact – everything is riding on a thin film of oil. However, oil has several other important jobs to do. Oil circulates throughout your engine, and cools parts that cannot get near a water jacket. For example, it’s becoming common in sport bikes to spray oil on the underside of the piston to cool it. There are no water jackets at all in your transmission. Motorcycle transmissions are oil cooled.

Your piston rings do not do a perfect job of sealing. Some combustion by products will slip past the rings into the engine. This can be little particles of carbon. Remember, diamond is carbon that was combined under heat and pressure. These little carbon particles can be quite damaging to your engine. Another job of your oil is to hold these particles in suspension until the oil filter can grab them. Finally, your motorbike engine can get internal build ups of tars, waxes, and other gunk. Engine oil has solvents to try to dissolve and remove these build ups, and keep your engine clean.

Its well worth checking your bike’s oil is at optimum level. When you do so, your Bike will thank you! Not only does it help improve your engine’s performance, it also increases your motorbike’s life expectancy.

Remember to check your engine oil and make it a habit before every long journey. Also be sure to choose the right oil, as this is important for your engine’s resilience and performance. To help you with choosing the right oil, not only do we have this blog to give you the information you need, you ca use our handy Which Oil app to find out what oil you should be using.

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Considerations when Choosing the Right Oil for Your Motorcycle

There are a few special problem areas for motorcycle oil. Most motorcycles have wet clutches, which means the motor oil runs through the clutch. If the motor oil has too much molybdenum (a dark solid found lower performance oils) in it, there are fears that the clutch can start slipping. Avoid oils that are energy conserving. These oils contain friction modifier additives that could cause clutch slipping over time. Essentially all 0w-20 and 5w-30 oils are energy conserving, and should not be used in your motorcycle.

Some people use their motorcycles only sporadically. This means the oil can all drain completely into the sump, leaving no protective film on the bearings. The first start after a long period of non-use can be particularly hard on an engine. Film strength is very important if you\’re a sporadic rider. Synthetic Oils have much higher film strength than petroleum oils, so it takes a lot longer for the oil to drain completely off your bearings and into your sump.

There are several key advantages to using Synthetic Oils:

  • Synthetic oils have a higher viscosity index than mineral base oils.
  • Synthetics have better resistance to thinning at high temperatures and thickening at low temperatures.
  • Synthetics last longer in service without radical changes in viscosity.

Check back with us next week to see the difference when choosing between premium and non-premium brands. Don’t forget to leave a comment on our blogs to let us know of your experiences with lubricants.