use a full synthetic oil or not ???

[Belzybob]

Oh, and for the record I like rubber tyres and slippery chain lube.

Chain lube? I do hope you use WD40! ;-)

[Dale]

The great oil debate, it's like the great tyre or chain lube debate!

The chain lube debate was settled by Bikerboy ..

The winner was ..... the pickle

[labow]

I use Motul 7100 full synthetic and it does make a noticeable improvement to the slickness of the gear changes. Whether or not it is the 'best oil', I really have no idea, but I really like it in my 2012 Busa.

[YBUSA]

Hi Harry, I sell oil for a living and you are welcome to call me at work during the week 03 9555 7510 all these bikes must run a synthetic, but it must also be suitable for a bike, that is the catch. Bike oils have no friction modifiers or the clutch will slip. Anybody who tells you not to run synthetic oil knows nothing about oils.
[/quote]


Firstly there are plenty of synthetic oils without friction modifiers so there are no any catches and second, your statement -"must run a synthetic" is a complete rubbish coming from an oil salesman. Any oil meeting SF-SJ with MA in JASO specs is absolutely fine. Most of the riders here use semi-synthetic Motul oils and few mineral oil as well and we haven't hear yet an engine failure from using a non synthetic oil on this forum. Looks to me like it is you who knows nothing about oils which is surprising for someone who sells it for a living
[/quote]

FYI The word SYNTHETIC comes from the Latin origin Synthesis which means TO CHANGE.

1. the process of combining objects or ideas into a complex whole Compare analysis
2. the combination or whole produced by such a process
3. (Chemistry) the process of producing a compound by a chemical reaction or series of reactions, usually from simpler or commonly available starting material

When oil comes out of the ground it needs to be filtered to remove clay and other impurities to be even usuable. Additives are then mixed with this base oil. First step in changing
General rule is when up to 10% additives are mixed it is called a mineral oil. This makes this product suitable for each catergory eg. engine, hydraulic, atf etc. Again these are referred to generally as a mineral oils.

When more additive packs are enlisted for to enhance performance characteristics such as detergents, friction modifiers, anti foaming etc in the range between 10% to aprox 25% they are called a semi synthetic, above 25% they are referred to as a full synthetic. This is a generalised industry standard for this type of product. There are other oils again which come from a higher base stock which means they are more refined and of a higher quality to start with ( again changed ) then additives specific to the end use blended. This is not the case for products like Redline which is man made so is 99% synthetic as it has 1% plastic in it which derives from mineral oil.

The prefix S means it is a petrol engine oil the second letter is the additive pack mixed to the base stock. Alphabetically the higher the second letter the higher the quality or later spec.

What is important is that the correct minimum standard is used.
This will ensure the correct viscosity for both cold and hot temperature ranges and will ensure the additives are suitable for the requirements such as wet clutches, multi valves, close tolerances and gearbox loads.

Mobil spent millions of dollars in court trying to copywrite the title Synthetic, they lost based on the above conclusion that all oils are changed or synthisised.

[Shifu]

So you can Google. But you have entirely missed the topic of this discussion.
By the way and for your information - SYNTHESIS means to COMBINE not to CHANGE and the origin of the word is Greek not Latin. Back to school!

[bazman]

Good on ya's....

Now you've got me all confoozled and discombobulated again......so it's back to the Californian Poppy Oil for me, or I might even give the Baby Oil a try, if I can get past the inhumane way they extract this shit from new-born babies!?! lol

[Aussie Steve]

I understood the word synthetic, in this context, meant man made.. ie made up of oils other than Dino oil...(and filtered through micromesh made from unobtanium).

[Shifu]

I understood the word synthetic, in this context, meant man made.. ie made up of oils other than Dino oil...(and filtered through micromesh made from unobtanium).

You are right Steve. In English the word "synthetic" means also artificial or "man made" as oppose to sometihing made by mother nature. We were discussing the word "synthesis" however, which means "to combine". Most of the man made materials are made by combining atoms or molecules into new compounds hence the result of this process is a synthetic material which means a result of "synthesis" or combining different things.
Andto refine them they use hardtogetium as it is a cheaper alternative

[Belzybob]

He was still more correct than the snake oil salesman with his 'must run a synthetic' crap line.