zxr250a 1989 oil

[chris2]

Hi, apologies for taking a whole thread to ask this. I am brand new to motorbikes, I have a Kawasaki zxr250a and thought I would look at some maintenance on it. It appears to be low on oil. Is there some specific oil that I should use, or is the same old stuff that I use in the the car of similar age fine? I tried a search, but a good keyword is hard to find. Advice will be much appreciated, thanks.
Chris

[NinjaNanna]

Short answer, in a 1989 250cc motorcycle your car oil will be fine..

I'm sure others will be along soon to say "No I only use the best".

If you want to educate yourself a little bit on oils, look up "SAE" on wikipedia.

I think the real key is to change your oil often (and I'd doubt anybody will disagree with that), I'd recommend doing an oil change every 5000kms and oil filter every 10,000 kms. Will get expensive if you have a shop do it so learn to do it yourself, its the easiest thing you can do on your bike apart from oiling/lubing your chain.

Cheers

NN

[N4CR]

motul 5100 15w50 is the best for them that i've used. silkolene causes clutch slippage generally. change filter and oil eveyr 5k or whenever you think it shoudl.

[R6_kid:Me]

Short answer, in a 1989 250cc motorcycle your car oil will be fine..

I'm sure others will be along soon to say "No I only use the best".

wtf... do you want to help him clean/replace his clutch plates? DO NOT USE CAR OIL IN YOUR BIKE... listen to N4CR, grab some Motul 5100. If you ever find that you need oil and there is no bike oil available (out on a ride or something) then diesel oil is the next best thing.

Most (read nearly all) car oils have lubricant enhancers in them, but they dont run their clutches in with the rest of the engine, thats why they have clutch/transmission oil/fluid. These 'enhancers' usually cause motorcycle clutches to slip, and its a bit of a mission to sort it out once you've done the deed.

[chris2]

Thanks for that. The advice is much appreciated.