| Author | Message | ||
     Bigbuellguy |
First off, I am a newbie member and a newbie to the Buell community. My 2003 XB9S is my first bike and so far I am enjoying it very much. The bike had 20,000 miles when I purchased it in November, and was in fair condition. The price was too good to pass up and as it turned out most of the bikes troubles were superficial and lack of basic maintenance. The former owner told me he had changed the oil recently (isn't that what they all say?) but I grew uncomfortable with that idea. So last week I drained the oil and added Royal Purple 20-50 (Southern Florida)to the swingarm. Holy cow, what a change. The bike vibrated more than I though it should at idle, and that improved dramatically. The idle was set at 1100 RPM's, and immediately dropped to 700, due to less engine load at idle. The big change was after I had warmed her up and went down the road. You see I am a big guy, 6'4" 300 pounds, and the bike would not come close to pulling the front wheel. The first full throttle blast popped the wheel up about 6 inches and nearly caught me off guard. I am running my first tank of fuel so I have not checked the mileage yet, but from what others have said I should see a big difference. Usually I would go about 100 miles before the fuel light would come on and if the weather warms up a bit I will know more later in the week . I wanted to thank you for the advice you shared with others(old postings.) So far you have been helpful in getting my bike in proper condition. Next to service is the tranny fluid and I will make a decision on that soon based on your open advice. Chris, the Big Buell Guy | ||
| Vecchio_lupo |
I recently switched from dead dinosaurs to RP 20/50 in both holes and it does seem to run a little smoother. My fear is that the RP is a car oil and all the manufacturers warn against this and some even make a V-twin specific. So at the risk of inciting another oil thread, please advise. | ||
| Blake |
No worries. Any W40 or higher grade automotive oil cannot be "energy conserving" by definition and so will not contain the additives that can cause issues with the wet clutch. There is no difference between "car oil" and "motorcycle oil". The mission and purpose is no different between the two. Multiple reports in the motorcycle tech media have confirmed this. | ||
| Xb9lover |
i run the amsoil and let me tell ya. i had a little tick in the motor and it's completely gone now. i was ashamed to say this but my dad wooped all over me with his 09' street glide last year. But not this year. i smoked him today and he asked me what i did to my bike!! haha. that AmsOil is awsome stuff. 20w50 and it works for wet clutches and transmissions, and specialized for motorcycles. it even says on the back that its highly recommended for buells!! rock on amsoil. | ||
| Dwardo |
I ran my Road King out to Sturgis last year on Royal Purple. It was 4500 miles total, most of it very fast and very hot. It used maybe a pint, at the most. I don't know if that says more for the oil or more for the bike, but it is apparently OK stuff. Having said that, I don't think it's any better than Mobil-1 or Amsoil but it was the only synthetic available near me in 20W-50. | ||
| Fast507 |
Since switching to AmsOil in all of the race bikes and quads my shop builds for guys in the GNCC and MX series, we have not had a lubricated component failure. I am talking about 450cc quad motors pushing 60 crank horsepower and even one kid who runs one of my Raptor 250 motors making over 35 horsepower in the GNCC's. It''s nearly double our TTR's (time till re-ring) and TTO's (time till Overhaul) in every case where the customer stay with it. I install an hour meter on everyone of my race motors. I tell customers to keep track of their hours between oil changes. This year I'm gonna try going to an 8 race hour change cycle on one of my quads just to see what happens. That's double my recommended race motor oil change schedule for customer motors. Clutch problems have dropped to nil as well. Previously, we were running Maxima 20-50 (warm weather) or 05-20 (cool weather) Syn-Blend on everything, but the switch to AmsOil has been worth it, even though it's costing me work in the end. There's my report on AmsOil from the extreme edge of the power sports universe. The slightly more mundane civil environment and of a street bike should be a perfect application for an oil that keeps my 112 octane, 11,000 rpm fire breathers alive in the dirt and mud every weekend. |
