Not an Oil Thread!

Hey Q. Any decent juice will do -change it when you get home. Don't forget the other consideration... Cooling. Low oil does exacerbate temp issues, so if the weather is cooking, keep the level up. 👍
 
Handling high heat, ambient and engine is the major advantage of Syinthic oil, sitting in traffic on a 40c plus day on an air-cooled bike is brutal on oil.
 
Hans Hendrik said:
Hello there, never use synthetic oil !!! ore your clutch will start slipping. Your Laverda is designed for a Mineral Multigrade oil like 20W40. See also the notes in the Green Laverda repair manual of Tim Parker. If you use Synthetic oil, not only do you need to replace the oil, but also clean each and every clutchplate. Believe me, I know from experience :)
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My 3C with bog-stock clutch has been running on synthetic since the Big Rebuild of 1991, no issues whatsoever.

Changing to different oils MAY induce clutch failures, but chances are the clutch was already compromised before the change. I've come across many bikes with wonky clutches the owners never recognised.

piet
 
arancia said:
That's a pretty bold claim!
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Stock SF are hard put to manage more than 48-50hp in healthy condition, most of those clapped-out "original, unrestored" examples fail to make 40. Brochures mainly stated 50-ish, with 47 claimed for the GT. Even the SF1,2,3 rarely came close to the often claimed 60-62hp, the italian DOT homologation sheets state 52.8-54, which is far closer to the truth.

Best I ever saw on a dyno was 84-85 from a very special '74 SFC, still at 750cc on pump fuel annd absolutely roadable. Reckon the 900cc SFQ might be able to surpass that. IIrc, Steve Battisons race SFC churned out 90+ from 917cc running on dope.

piet
 
Like everyone says, put olive, sewing machine, gear, fish or snake oil in it if it’s gunna get you home.

I was so desperate one day, and my old car was starting to clatter. I put brake fluid and water in on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, luckily I worked at a place I could dump and flush… but it got me to work when I was running late.
 
chrisk said:
Like everyone says, put olive, sewing machine, gear, fish or snake oil in it if it’s gunna get you home.

I was so desperate one day, and my old car was starting to clatter. I put brake fluid and water in on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, luckily I worked at a place I could dump and flush… but it got me to work when I was running late.
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I know a Farmers son who topped engine up from bulk farm tank- except it was hydraulic fluid ,in a Peugeot diesel estate. On the motorway the engine revs increased on their own, throttle having no effect. He clutched and pulled over , revving to atoms and couldn’t stop the engine with ignition switch. Hydraulic fluid was passingbores and self fuelling the motor- like when “ Herbie goes Bannanas”.
Motor blew up.
Guzzi shop in London, had bulk Rock oil in workshop, but had a wrongly labelled barrel ( I believe it was brake fluid🤔) and two customers bikes seized, huge payouts, not good.
 
arancia said:
That's a pretty bold claim!
Verified?
It would be interesting to know what modifications and tuning were needed to achieve that.
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Some serious mods. But I built a road motor, not a race motor. I’ve already posted dyno figures from when I was setting the main jet for the 39mm FCRs. I mentioned at the time that it produced 74rwhp on (in the words of the owner-operator) a very conservative dyno. Doesn’t sound much but a friend’s SF2 in fine fettle on the same dyno produced 41rwhp. The operator also builds Honda race engines (T-Rex) and std 70s Honda Fours and gets around 43rwhp out of fully rebuilt stock motors. He thinks I should fit larger id headers and get more power (I use smaller than std SF id headers) but the bike simply doesn’t need more power and the low and midrange I get with the way it’s set up makes the thing a pure joy to ride.

It’s not so much the outright power that’s important anyway - max torque and how much it produces across the rev range is what makes a ‘fast’ motor (= acceleration). There are a few on here who will attest that I have built a fast motor. Running 19-36 gearing with 520 chain it just feels right. Certainly not overgeared. Try that on a stock SF. When finances allow I want to run it on a more ‘conventional’ dyno and get actual graphs for power and torque. I’d also love to know what it would do for the standing 1/4. Might find a lonely stretch somewhere and get some buddies with phones and stop watches along for an impromptu drag session!

Back to the oil thread … with the oil safely on the bottom mark, I didn’t bother to top up, and rode the 350km home today. Hot day, 30-35C, cruising at 100-110 clicks 3500-3750rpm, including 100km of twisty hills. Absolutely effortless. 18k/L. And I was surprised how comfortable it was restricting myself to such low speeds (there were fuzz EVERYWHERE! It’s the Australia Day long weekend).

Oh!! And the clutch didn’t slip once!! So glad I must have missed that paragraph in the Green Book 😎
 
By far the 2 worst engine heat-affected rides. Marty and I went to a Cafe Racer Club event, ride to Wollongong on a stupidly hot day. It coincided with the annual 10,000 Pushbike Ride to the same place and resulted in Traffic from hell. I should have Bailed out but not stupid me. I ended up parked up under a tree when I thought I might melt something. The other ride, stop and go up the hill into Oran Park Race Cuirit with big crowds. It took hours at walking pace, with No shade and again scary hot. I really hate putting my Laverda through this kind of horror.
 
Motorbikes are not fun in hot weather unless you’re able to keep on the move at sufficient speed to keep the air moving around you.
City traffic in summer? I’d rather get around on my bicycle. Or the tin top, aircon on. My first two cars had no aircon and when I finally got a car that had it (Toyota Camry badged as a Holden Apollo) I discovered that the aircon was designed to stop when the car was idling. Brilliant piece of design. Fantastic in Australian summer city driving!!
 
over more than 250,000 klicks I have used virtually any oil that I can get hold of, I once spent several years running SAE30 which came in 25 litre drums and was for London buses, I think it was Esso. I always go for a diesel car type oil (never got rippled off yet for "motor cycle oil") and usually 20/50, not always. Changing oil brands can cause wooly fluff to gather around the sump strainer and will lead to seized cams, I have seen several motors thus affected and have heard (through this forum) of quite a few more, so......... IF CHANGING BRANDS, do only 80/120 miles and change again, looking for the fluff, if you see none, no worries, if you see ANY, change again at same mileage untill you dont, my dad always said "oil is cheaper than bearings" as is well known and very often quited here.

I have never had clutch slip due to the oil.

I have never seen an engine failure (any engine) due to the oil brand, short of oil yes, seen plenty, never seen a failure due to too much oil.

I have experineced the plates sticking together, which was fixed when that oil ran out (cant remember which one, may have been Shell Rotella)

I carry oil with me on long trips, because I wont pay roadside prices unless I have to, and then if a top up is needed, any engine oil will do,
on my long trip to the Danish clubs 40th and visiting my mum in France, I did abour 2,500 miles in five days, I used all of the 1 litre can that I was carrying, but then again the current motor was built out of used crap and has been running fne for decades. a proper new on e is on the way!
CLEM
 
Exmoor beast said:
I know a Farmers son who topped engine up from bulk farm tank- except it was hydraulic fluid ,in a Peugeot diesel estate. On the motorway the engine revs increased on their own, throttle having no effect. He clutched and pulled over , revving to atoms and couldn’t stop the engine with ignition switch. Hydraulic fluid was passingbores and self fuelling the motor- like when “ Herbie goes Bannanas”.
Motor blew up.
Guzzi shop in London, had bulk Rock oil in workshop, but had a wrongly labelled barrel ( I believe it was brake fluid🤔) and two customers bikes seized, huge payouts, not good.
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Must be a nuisance being blind with no sense of smell, working in a bike shop filling engines. Blind Freddy, pardon pun, could tell the difference between brake fluid and engine oil,
 
When my Mum was a Nursing Aid she worked on a very unpleasant admission in a Bush Hospital, an old bloke kept a bottle of Rum and a Bottle of Sheep dip under his bed at home. Guess who took a Midnight slug out of the wrong bottle. He didn't last the night.
 
chrisk said:
Must be a nuisance being blind with no sense of smell, working in a bike shop filling engines. Blind Freddy, pardon pun, could tell the difference between brake fluid and engine oil,
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We used to have bulk oil pumped from a hose the recoiled, with a gauge on the pump, just like filling at a petrol station so you wouldn’t actually see the oil if you filled direct to engine- I used to fill a litre jug and fill from that but only because our pump was in pints/gallons!
I’ve seen a Godden Vee twin ( grass track sidecar) that had Castrol R and Silkoline synthetic mixed and it went lumpy ( no fluff🤔…) and blew the motor. Who hasn’t put oil, petrol etc in a container that has something else written on it?
 
piranha-bro2 said:
Quick question. I’m running Mobil 1 V-twin 20/50. I’d like to top up before a 300km ride back to Melbourne on Saturday. Very little chance of finding that oil anywhere near where I am. Should I look for an alternative fully synth of any viscosity I can find or add some 20/50 mineral oil?
I don’t want to hear discussions about zinc, ‘you-can-only-use-straight-mineral-oil‘, the clutch will slip, fully synthetic oil is bad for old Laverdas and the like.
Just an answer from someone who might know a bit about oils. Thanks in advance.
Q
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The big problem you have is using V twin oil in a parallel twin motor. I am surprised the motor did not explode and kill you!

If you own a V twin bike, be careful of what type of V twin oil you use. Using 45 degree twin oil in a 90 degree motor will also cause big problems.

As for Vincent riders, they have even more problems as no one makes a 50 degree V twin oil.
 
1200ts said:
The big problem you have is using V twin oil in a parallel twin motor. I am surprised the motor did not explode and kill you!
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:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: It is a bit of a joke that they label it V-twin oil - obviously aimed at the hog brigade ... the SFQ being a 270 I reckon I can JUST sneak in as a V-Twin owner. It was the 20-50 I liked (apart from being Mobil 1)
 
Vince said:
When my Mum was a Nursing Aid she worked on a very unpleasant admission in a Bush Hospital, an old bloke kept a bottle of Rum and a Bottle of Sheep dip under his bed at home. Guess who took a Midnight slug out of the wrong bottle. He didn't last the night.
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Yes, Rum can do you in, just like that. If it's Bundaberg you are at risk of 'Carking it', right after you walk through the campfire!
 
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