Oil change

[SimJen]

Just use bike oil!
Who cares whether diesel oil is better, surely just using a standard off the shelf bike oil is easier than fucking around trying to be clever
Standard motul/castrol etc is cheap enough to not worry about it.

[F5 Dave]

Good at least you are thinking. I had tried a bike oil (won’t mention) & I did notice that it seemed to shift reeal smooth with it. So I tried a few bikes with it. Then they all seemed to exhibit slight clutch slip. Cleaned the plates up & changed back to Motul stopped slipping. None of the bikes were new though.

This is anecdotal evidence hence I didn’t put the brand name in, but had the same issue on four bikes, two 2 strokes gear oil, two 4 strokes. They make good 2 stroke oil, but I figure their gear & 4 stroke oil is a little too slippery.

[bumsex]

make sure your clutch is operating correctly too. Do you clutch for your gear changes or not?

[bumsex]

by that I meant make sure cable freeplay is adjusted correctly and that the cluch completely disengages engine power when it is actuated (read previous post: sounded a bit vague)

[mikey62]

by that I meant make sure cable freeplay is adjusted correctly and that the cluch completely disengages engine power when it is actuated (read previous post: sounded a bit vague)

Good idea, I'll check the freeplay of the cable. May have twisted it or something when giving it the hell clean you do when you get a new (second-hand) bike.

Cheers

[mikey62]

My suggestion is think left field first & check that your chain tension & chain condition (no tightspots) aren’t affecting the gear change first off. Cush rubbers in rear wheel can get sloppy esp in Kawis of that era, so chain tension can creep up & make it seem worse (cushdrives can be packed out to reduce the slop).[/QUOTE]

Hey Dave, what would I use to pack the cush drive out ?

Cheers

[F5 Dave]

ok well this sounds bodgy, but I use duct tape or if it is really bad rubber inner tube, but that is grippy so tends to peel off as you force it in.

originally the rubber is firm in the interference of the sprocket holder to the wheel, but gets compressed. I haven't done a Kawasaki road bike, but on most there are enough flat surfaces to wrap some thick duct tape around to make up the space. The worst that can happen is it doesn't stay in place. It isn't holding anything together. Have never had any come out though.

This takes the slop out & can make a bike less jerky.

[crazybigal]

I did, when I first got my RVF, could very occasionally get the clutch to slip if I really gave it some. After I changed the oil, for some semi-sythetic, it never happened again. Obviously, I don't know what type of oil was in it it before hand.

I've had someone assure to me that this simply cannot be the truth and that I was mistaken (Possible) and someone else recommend I put a semi in the RVF because a full sythetic made their clutch slip on their tricked up race RVF.

I figured it is an older bike and probably wasn't designed for a full sythetic, and simply does not need it.

Its all about the friction modifiers, cars dont have a wet clutch.
my brother put some car oil (not sure what it was) in his ATK650 at it slipped like a bitch.

[Mr. Peanut]

Aside from the fact the Mr Motu says it's ok (y'know, the guy that has years of experience pulling bikes apart...)

Ever seen the compression ratio of your average diesel? That's before the oil has to go through the turbo...

I think I can trust it to look after my bike.

[F5 Dave]

Slipped like a bitch? Would have thought a slippery bitch was right up your ally Crazy-Bi-Gal.

[edit] oh crap! not only has someone thought of it, it's in your damn signature. . . I will be funny one day. . sigh.

[FilthyLuka]

I use castrol GTX 20-50 in my thumper and that runs fine... no problems and clutch bites nicely. The oil aint that expensive either... at one point i saw a deal at the warehouse (shut up) where you could buy 4 litres of the stuff for $15...

well, i use the thick shit cause ive got an old thumper, dunno how well it would fare in a zzr400. my bro uses castrol 15-40 in his '92 fireblade, perhaps you should try some of that?

Just my two cents

Denis

[Morcs]

Use Motul, that stuff is magic!

My last lot of oil (dont know what it was) had done less than 2000km, changed to motul, the engine sings insteads of screams - its smoother and faster.

[twinkle]

note that it is heavy duty diesel oil to use in bikes, not just any old diesel oil. If shell says it's ok to use diesel oil i'd say you can use it


"Be careful choosing diesel oils. Not all of them are universal. In addition to the API Service Category CI-4 PLUS for diesels, look for API Service Category SL."

http://rotella.com/qa/answerresult.php?rowid=169

[mikey62]

Did the oil change as well as a filter. Used a Shell product the was fully synth. Thanks Motu, made sure it was rated for Alision.

[Motu]

Sometimes you just don't know what you are getting - the bulk cheap shit in my tanks is supplied to me by Pennzoil as a fleet oil at a discount price.So I just carry one oil in 2 grades - everything that comes into my workshop gets it, doesn't matter what it is...a Mitsi Mirage,a WRX turbo,a lawnmower,a diesel turbo 4x4, a heavy truck....or a motorcycle.Just the one oil,no choices.

It's called Longlife,and is a HDEO made for heavy trucks subjected to extended oil drain intervals - approved by nearly every manufacturer,even Allison.It has one of the best additive packages out there,it needs to be to handle extended drain intervals.Cheap shit bulk fleet oil,my customers have no idea what I'm putting in their vehicles.