Engine oil

[Slaninar]

1. When you get your bike serviced they take oil out of a big drum. I assume that this is nothing special, just the minimum spec oil without the car additives.

2. When people say a motorbike engine creates more shear etc and therefore needs a thicker oil, how do you know that the motorbike oil that is sold is any 'thicker' (or fuller, etc) than car oil, except that it is described as motorcycle oil? Is the oil in (1) suitable for motorcycles?

Not necesserily thicker oil. Just more durable - not loosing viscousity as quickly.

3. What's to stop someone arranging a supply of ASDA car oil (without the agents) then bottling it up with a picture of a motorcycle on it? Would make a tidy profit! Is there a trading standard that states a motorcycle oil must have certain standards to differentiate it from car oil?

There is a JASO, Japanese standard, made just for that reason - to make sure oil is good for motorcycle engine AND clutch. Japanese big four made that standard to protect themselves - something along the line of: if you pour JASO approved oil and engine/clutch still make problems, then you can blame the producer.


There are good and bad car, as well as motorcycle oils.  The thing gets more complicated when you consider false packages (very common where I live - people copy the original package and sell cheap oil).


Motorcycle will run on any API SG oil (without the "fuel economy"  additives that ruin the clutch). But the engine run on good, full synth oil will work better and last longer with the same use.


The most important thing is to change oil regularly and to warm the engine up before riding hard.