I think I will go with the 10w40 Amsoil for 4stroke motorcycles

 

I'm not real pleased with Amsoil's marketing strategy. If I were to run a PAO synthetic, it would be Mobil 1 which is easier to find.

 

Does Mobil 1 make motorcycle oil? I think I'll stick with Silkoline or Maxima, I would run Amsoil but the local shop does not carry it so its more difficult to get.

 

my local dealer doesn't even carry maxima extra or ultra. i am not sure what they cost but i am almost scared to find out

 

Like 6 bucks a quart which sounds bad but when you only need two it's not two bad.

 

if the ultra is only $6 a quart i would be surprised. i was expecting almost twice that.

 

Maximas web site has Ultra at around $12. You can usually find it for around $7-8. I get mine from
http://www.onoffroad.com/Merchant2/m...IMA-LUBRICANTS

 

is the ultra really made for atv's? just curious because it doesn't seem to come in the common weights. i was looking for 15-50 or so and the closest is 5-50.

 

With an ester synthetic you can violate all the rules you have ever learned about what weight you should run. Esters have way more "film strength" and "high temperature/high sheer" stability, so you can run a lighter weight than for any other oil, including other types of synthetics. When you run a lighter weight, you don't bog the crank down in a bunch of thick oil, yet that increased film strength still gives your bearings way more protection than any petrolium oil.

I run Ultra 5W40 in the cool months, and 5W50 in the summer. Ultra is in the lower range of viscosities for the various SAE "weights". For example, the SAE viscosity range for a 50 weight oil is 16.3 - 21.9 cSt @ 100 degrees. If you look at Maximas tech data for 5W50, Ultra gets 16.3, the lowest you can go and still be called a 50. (Actually you can call 5W50 a "very light 50", or a "very heavy 40". I guess for marketing purposes, they prefer to call it a 50. It is on the borderline, so it could go either way!) For 40 weight, the range is 12.5 - 16.3. Ultra 5W40 is 12.66, which just makes it a 40 weight. My point is, these oils are quite a bit lighter than other 40 or 50 weights.

Just for comparison, Mobil 1 40 weight comes in at 13.8, and 50 weight comes in at 17.7. As you can see, Mobil 1 is a bit thicker than Ultra, because it has to be to offer the same amount of protection. Go compare some petrolium oils to the synthetics, and you will see why it just doesn't make sense to run a petrolium oil.

Redline Oil is also ester based. You can go to their web site and get a great bunch of good technical info about ester oils. http://www.redlineoil.com/

 

The honda shop told me not to run any synthetics in my 400ex because it would cause the clutch to slip and eventually burn up. But that is what they told me.