Cheap Oil

[WildGoose]

Right, I havent done a bike oil change in at least a couple of years now, only cars, so i've gotten far too used to 5 litres of half decent comma oil only costing 10quid. Used to be quite happy to pay for Castrol GPS a few years ago, funny how your views can change.

Looking on wemoto for some bits and pieces, and I notice the cheapest stuff they do (rock oil, I remember it being a cheap oil when it first appeared) is nearly 6 quid a litre. Screw that.

I'd sooner pay a lot less, so does anyone have any recommendations for cheap motorbike stuff and where to get it.

If it yields nowt, car oil will likely be getting used.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Kickstart]

Hi

Most of the time I use car oil in the bike. 25 litre drum of semi synthetic rock oil is about £50 from the local distributor.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[The Artist]

I used rock oil but then my bike only takes 850ml of oil.

I don't think oil makes that much difference in road bikes not being highly tuned and raced.

Go for cheapest IMO, what bike is it?

[WildGoose]

Honda cb-1 and kwak KLE500, they are both probably due.

Neither are massively highly strung, i'd sooner put slightly better stuff in the cb-1 than the KLE though, but not by much.

Keith where would you go to order a 25 litre drum?
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Kickstart]

Hi

Local distributor, but there is bound to be one close to you. They don't do the bike oil (Rock Oil seem to distribute the bike oil seperatly).

Not exactly sure how much the last lot was. Came to about £120 for 25L of semi synthetic 10W40 car oil, 25L of antifreeze and 3 litres (6 bottles) of brake fluid.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[truslack]

I used Asda's 20w50 car oil in MT No.1 when it was burning loads, that costs £6 for a 5litre tub.

Mark
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Current: Suzuki RG 125 Gamma, Honda H100, Triumph Tiger 800XC, Suzuki SV650 (minitwin)

[Mr.Ormes]

you only get what you pay for bud, all my oil is 13 quid per litre
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DT 125 1995
Thumpstar 120
Suzuki ZR 50

[The Artist]

[Mr.Ormes]

[Mr.Ormes]

also i appreciate it was probably coincedence, however i think good oil is alot cheaper than having to fork out for the re-build, so i just dont take the risk, like i said its down to personal preferance.
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DT 125 1995
Thumpstar 120
Suzuki ZR 50

[Phoenix]

A Gilera GSM is a 2-stroke which has a completely seperate method of lubrication, this thread is about 4-stroke engine oil, it's a totally different ballgame.

I personally go with whatever happens to be cheapest in 4L tubs, usually Silkolene. I used to use Motul from Heine Gericke but there is definately a difference, the Blade never shifted right with motul in which I used over maybe 3 oil changes, soon as I switched to Silkolene it was fine.

As the bike oil changes are hardly frequent for me I don't mind spending £25 on 4l of oil, no more though, and even the cheap stuff is £20 for 5 so not a huge saving. For a cheap runabout i'd probably just use a basic car oil with as few additives as possible which can be got for £10 for 5litres round here (elf i'm told).

[iooi]

Supermarket cheepo stuff does fine.
Often found cheaper in the likes of Focus.

I find it funny that when synthetic oils were introduced years ago they were touted as super long lasting and money savers.... Now they are pretty much standard, have not got any cheaper and manufacture's are still quoting the same periods for oil changes.....
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[Coxyzxr]

[The Disapproving Brit]

I wait til someone's got an offer on and then buy whatever I need to get some free shit. Got a set of screwdrivers with my last 5l of Halfords own bike oil for about £24 IIRC. Screwdriver set alone was £20, so that seemed fair
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Current Bikes: 1983 Honda VF400FD / 2003 Honda VT750 Shadow
Bike Test Passed 18/03/09, Car Test Passed 14/05/13

[Mr.Ormes]

[beany_bot]

I dont know that much about bikes but I would say never by cheap oil. Its just not worth the saving in the long run, or maybe even short run.

If you needed a blood transfusion and the Dr said, well we can give you the cheap blood or the slightly more expensive blood which will make you live longer and healthier. I know which one your going to go for.

[truslack]

[beany_bot]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Doubt many people have ever had an engine failure from using cheap oil. Most bikes have pathetically low specified oil requirement. If you wanted to be picccy the biggest problem would be finding a cheap non bike oil that is of a low enough API rating.

There is the concern that some oils can affect the operation of wet clutches. From my experience it is a very limited number of oils (synthetic or not). As various cars specify normal engine oil for their gearboxes the issue with bike gearboxes sharing the oil seems irrelevant (especially given the very low change intervals on bikes compared to oils in car gearboxes).

While in theory synthetic oil is made from other items other than crude oil, the chances are that the oil has a fairly high percentage of mineral oil content, and that the base stock it was made from was actually mineral oil.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[beany_bot]

quite interesting - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil

[iooi]

[Coxyzxr]