Keeping your bike running on the cheap

[GNTurbo6]

This is an interesting article about a guy who had 440,000 miles on his Honda VFR.



To summarize:
Run a good oil filter but run car oil because it is cheaper than motorcycle specific (not in the article but do not run energy conserving oil as the friction modifiers can mess with the clutch)
RK Chain + Scott oiler for 80k miles on chain
Re-use tires; plugged tires are perfectly safe if done correctly

[jwm2k3]

Holy crap...he put 852,000 on a 1990 VFR750....2 motors, one at 412,000 and the other at 440,000

[ilikenapalm]

Damn. That's $64,000 in gas at today's prices, just on the VFR with 800,000 miles on it.

[TheIglu]

I've always run car oils in all my bikes. Never had an issue.

Mobile 1 Synthetic or traditional Pennzoil dino.

[markbvt]

Guy must be a motorcycle courier. They put on crazy miles.

If you're changing it often, car oil is fine as long as it's not energy-conserving. But for riders doing more typical mileage, I firmly believe in motorcycle-specific oil. I've tried car oil, and by 3000 miles the engine and transmission felt noticeably less smooth than with motorcycle-specific oil -- transmission gear mesh breaks down the car oil much more quickly (motorcycle oil has a lot more anti-shear additives in it).

I'm not surprised his engines are lasting so long -- regular mileage with frequent oil changes and regular maintenance is probably a lot better for the engine than low mileage and months between oil changes. But 80k miles out of a chain is damn impressive. I thought I was doing well with over 30k miles on my original V-Strom chain!

--mark

[DuncanMoto]

Car oil is fine if you're not letting the bike sit.
I would imagine most people on here do not ride at a frequency where they can give up the motocycle oil friction modifiers with no consequences.

[Rusty the Scoob]

Car oil is fine if you're not letting the bike sit.
I would imagine most people on here do not ride at a frequency where they can give up the motocycle oil friction modifiers with no consequences.

Hmm... would 2.5 hours, 5 days a week be enough?

[duganc1717]

I've always run car oils in all my bikes. Never had an issue.

Mobile 1 Synthetic.

Have run it for years with great results...

[Tunertype]

440,000mi that's impressive for a car!! And 3000mi a week is also very impressive. I used to deliver pizzas and I only put 1000mi a week on my car. hmm at an average of maybe 45mph that is 67 hours a week on the bike. Unless he was speeding down the highway the whole time.. could be going 65 and that would be 46hours a week.. That's still a ton of time on a bike..

I guess if you want your bike to last you have to ride it often...

[toocrazy2yoo]

It's for the gearbox the manufacturers still demand SJ oil. SJ is loaded with zinc (I think they call the add ZDDP) to the tune of 1200PPM which makes a difference to your gearbox, believe it or not. To save the fouling of catalytic converters, Automotive oils have gone down to around 600PPM of zinc or phosphorous (depending on which anti-wear additive a given oil uses) and a lot of them are using calcium as a detergent these days since the demise of SL and SM Havoline from Texaco. That stuff was loaded with moly, 400PPM. High zinc oils are really only necessary in cars that are 2-valves with pushrods and hot cams, heavy valve springs and old-style muscle car cranks and bearings. And motorcycles that share oil with a gearbox. A bike that does a lot of high rpm shifting in the lower gears really stresses and shears the oil pretty badly and the additives in SJ-grades save a lot of wear and tear. If you wipe second gear under warranty they're likely to want to see proof of purchase of SJ if that's what's specified.

To each their own.