[bigal51]

I love to read these oil discussions-I really don't think Harly tests anything but their oils and -That said, if Syn 3 works just fine, think how much better Red line and amsoil will work in your Bike. I have also wondered why Amsoil wouldn't test their oil against Red line and went to the source-The amsoil tech line- They told me that Redline was a good oil, BUT they didn't see any reason to test against them because they were such a small company. I use Amsoil racing 20w50 in the engine, 10w40 in the primary,%[email protected] and severe gear in the tranny and change them every 5000 miles-I 'm sure Red line oil would work just as well-Al

 

[chapds]

With the summer weather here in Socal, i'm gonna go with the 20/50 in engine & primary, & the severe gear 75/90 in the tranny. The most miles i'll put on in the summer might be 1500, so I think i'll be ok. You guys think so ??

Thanx
Chap

 

[bigal51]

That's what I run here in Fla-last 5 years-Al:cheers:

 

[wkohn]

With the summer weather here in Socal, i'm gonna go with the 20/50 in engine & primary, & the severe gear 75/90 in the tranny. The most miles i'll put on in the summer might be 1500, so I think i'll be ok. You guys think so ??

Thanx
Chap

Yep you don't run very many miles to have to worry.

 

[jrrhdmust]

I have been running Amsoil for over 5 years now. I have had great results.

Here is my take. I have run multiple oils over the 10 years I have owned my bike. Redline and Mobil included. I think that they are great oils. However, with those two oils, as well as all the others, my magnetic pick up still had material on it. When I started running Amsoil, I quit having to clean material off the magnetic pick up. My theory being that it must be providing better protection and less wear. I believe in it so much, I started selling it.

My .02

 

[wkohn]

I have been running Amsoil for over 5 years now. I have had great results.

Here is my take. I have run multiple oils over the 10 years I have owned my bike. Redline and Mobil included. I think that they are great oils. However, with those two oils, as well as all the others, my magnetic pick up still had material on it. When I started running Amsoil, I quit having to clean material off the magnetic pick up. My theory being that it must be providing better protection and less wear. I believe in it so much, I started selling it.

My .02

Same here. Just not as long. :clap:

 

[chapds]

Yeah, i've ran amsoil in all my bikes as well, my car too. I was just confused about the primary & tranny thing. I know it's ok to use the 20/50 in the tranny, but i'm going to use the gear oil instead. It's only 2 bucks more for peace of mind. Ordered my stuff up today for first oil change as well as a case of oil for my car. $140 ( after shipping ) is a small price to pay. I also got the 6 month preferred membership which saved a ton in overall cost. Thanx for all your help guys, much appreciated...

Later,
Chap

 

[jrrhdmust]

I am an engineer by profession. Although, technology is getting better all the time, I still think that gear oil for gears is better than an engine oil with all of the detergents in it. Yes I could run it, however what is best???

 

[wkohn]

I am an engineer by profession. Although, technology is getting better all the time, I still think that gear oil for gears is better than an engine oil with all of the detergents in it. Yes I could run it, however what is best???

For me. Gear oil is best in the transmission. But that is just me -2$en#e-

 

[wkohn]

A Study of Motorcycle Oils

This is a good paper.

 

[Sheriff]

This is a good paper.

I agree...this is an excellent study. It is one of the reasons (blind faith??) that I am giving the Amsoil products a try.

HOWEVER, the only issue I have with this study is that there is no indication (that I could find) that this was an independent test evaluation. This kind of marketing document would carry MUCH MORE weight if it had actually been performed by someone other than Amsoil. Stressing the testing was performed in "accordance w/ ASTM test methods" doesn't mean that the data couldn't have been manipulated along the way! I have worked in industry long enough to know that you can always get the results you want even when performing testing to standard testing methods!! Being the skeptic that I am, I did not base my decision to use Amsoil completely on the information provided in this document. Actually, I am "jumping on the bandwagon" because there are a lot of actual user testimonies that I have read that convinced me to give the product a try.

BTW, thanks for posting the file! I will keep it filed for future reference!!

 

[wkohn]

I agree...this is an excellent study. It is one of the reasons (blind faith??) that I am giving the Amsoil products a try.

HOWEVER, the only issue I have with this study is that there is no indication (that I could find) that this was an independent test evaluation. This kind of marketing document would carry MUCH MORE weight if it had actually been performed by someone other than Amsoil. Stressing the testing was performed in "accordance w/ ASTM test methods" doesn't mean that the data couldn't have been manipulated along the way! I have worked in industry long enough to know that you can always get the results you want even when performing testing to standard testing methods!! Being the skeptic that I am, I did not base my decision to use Amsoil completely on the information provided in this document. Actually, I am "jumping on the bandwagon" because there are a lot of actual user testimonies that I have read that convinced me to give the product a try.

BTW, thanks for posting the file! I will keep it filed for future reference!!

There is a reason why you never see an independant lab run these tests. They all do work or are trying to get work from the different oil manufacturers/distributors and don't want to upset any of them by pointing out how bad their oils really are. Amsoil has to much to lose by printing bad information or test data. A good name is hard to get and a bad name is very hard to lose.

I myself after mixing my own oils for a few years. EPA made it impossible. Decided to sell Amsoil which happens to be the best I could find.

 

[pws]

Redline Shockproof Heavy for Trans and MTL in the primary. In those temps I would be using Redline 20W60 in the engine.

Exactly what I use in my 05 FXDL and VERY pleased.

I'm sure I'll be reading a reply post shortly from wkohn still asking me why doesn't Redline compare there oils to Amsoil, but I'm sure you can do the research through this Forum as well as the various online resources and form your own educated conclusion.

My response to that question is "They don't have to - their stuff is great!!"...

 

[Sheriff]

There is a reason why you never see an independant lab run these tests. They all do work or are trying to get work from the different oil manufacturers/distributors and don't want to upset any of them by pointing out how bad their oils really are. Amsoil has to much to lose by printing bad information or test data. A good name is hard to get and a bad name is very hard to lose.

I actually believe that Amsoil produces a very good product! I also don't doubt that the report is fairly accurate. My point was that it would be much more believable to the general public if it were an independent lab that did the testing. I worked for years doing product development in the technical fabrics industry. We made fabrics for surgical applications, personal hygeine, fitration, outdoor protection (car cover), fire retardants, as well as many other critical use applications. I used several independent laboratories for testing to be used in sales/marketing literature. There are many labs in ALL industries that will provide standardized testing services that have no problem reporting unbiased test results. I currently work in the racing industry. One of my responsibilities is to manage the distribution and use of our racing oils. I know for a fact that there are independent test facilities that can evaluate oils. I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't provide a report that could be used in a company's marketing literature!

I don't mean to argue with you! But in my research on motorcycle lubricants, one of the most frequent complaints I've read against Amsoil is the fact that their sales and marketing pitch is mostly "smoke and mirrors" advertising. I just think Amsoil would be better served using an outside lab and this would really shut-up the naysayers.

 

[wkohn]

Exactly what I use in my 05 FXDL and VERY pleased.



My response to that question is "They don't have to - their stuff is great!!"...

Clorox Bleach is also a great lubricant. You might want to try that. Only problem is that after combustion it will turn into Hydrocloric Acid.

Looks like I will have to buy some Redline and send it in for chemical analyst. Would still like to see from Redline the Four Ball Wear Test (ASTM D-4172 @ 40 kgf, 150°C, 1800 rpm, 1 hour), Scar in mm. Amsoil isn't afraid to post theirs. Why is Redline afraid to post one of the most standard tests?

For a bunch of guys you sure get emotionally attached to good marketing instead of looking at facts. %[email protected]

 

[Ed Y]

Maybe George Douglas, one of the site sponsor's, will jump in here with some info. It was my understanding that an independent lab did do the testing in the document posted above.

 

[TomB]

Sigh ...

Any oil is better than no oil. Any synthetic is better than crude-base. All else is marketing, superstition and distinctions without a difference. My personal superstition is to use Mobil 1 15-50 (yes, car oil, I'm a cheap basturd ...) in the crankcase, Redline MTL in the primary and Redline Heavy-Duty Shockproof in the tranny. I like the way it runs and have had no problems in almost 40k miles.

As for Amsoil, it may very well be the best lubricant on the planet ... I just can't get past the cult-like feel of the marketing and the Amway-like distribution methods ...

As for the 4-ball wear tests and all that ... no, I can't get results for anything other than what Amsoil publishes, because apparantly only Amsoil uses those tests as a marketing tool .... :hmmm: ....

 

[wkohn]

As for the 4-ball wear tests and all that ... no, I can't get results for anything other than what Amsoil publishes, because apparantly only Amsoil uses those tests as a marketing tool .... :hmmm: ....

Doing a quick search on the web I came up with a few companies that use that test;

Mobil
Amsoil
Shell (but they don't like it)
Sunoco
Schaeffer Oil
Lubrication Engineers
Chevron

and bunches of others.

Maybe Amsoil uses it as a "marketing tool" because they have something to crow about. NAH

 

[TomB]

Doing a quick search on the web I came up with a few companies that use that test;

I just Googled "Mobil 1 four ball wear test scar" and (of course...) got about 70,700 hits ... The first 2 pages were ALL links to different Amsoil distributor sites (most with EXACTLY the same data repeated over and over again ...) with names like 'syntheticoildealer.com', 'bestsynthetics.com', 'eastcoastsynthetics.com', and even 'amsoil.com' ... after 2 pages of this my eyes rolled up into my head and I believe I suffered a mild stroke. After regaining consciousness, I decided that if there is ANY real, independent data out there, I ain't gonna find it on an internet search, because Amsoil has all the search engines stacked.

Marketing and hype, superstition and distinctions without difference ... .

 

[wkohn]

I just Googled "Mobil 1 four ball wear test scar" and (of course...) got about 70,700 hits ... The first 2 pages were ALL links to different Amsoil distributor sites (most with EXACTLY the same data repeated over and over again ...) with names like 'syntheticoildealer.com', 'bestsynthetics.com', 'eastcoastsynthetics.com', and even 'amsoil.com' ... after 2 pages of this my eyes rolled up into my head and I believe I suffered a mild stroke. After regaining consciousness, I decided that if there is ANY real, independent data out there, I ain't gonna find it on an internet search, because Amsoil has all the search engines stacked.

Marketing and hype, superstition and distinctions without difference ... .

I did my search using the test # in quotation marks and then started adding oil company names. Comes up with far less Amsoil web sites. If all else fails. Go to the major oil companies sites.