What is the most basic thing I need to know to choose my oil?
1–Oil viscosity.
You’ll find this in your owner’s manual or sometimes on a sticker on the bike. If you don’t know the specification, give us a call on +34 918 484 160 and we’ll tell you exactly what you need.
Viscosity is expressed with two numbers. The first value, accompanied by a W (Winter), refers to cold viscosity, and the second value is commonly known as hot viscosity. These two figures represent the SAE index.
It is extremely important not to make a mistake here. If you choose a lower hot viscosity, you will be reducing engine protection. If, on the other hand, you go too high with hot viscosity, you will be forcing an excessively thick oil through the calibrated passages of the engine, increasing internal resistance and tolerances.
2–How much oil does my motorcycle take?
Once again, refer to the owner’s manual. But if you’ve lost it, we can get the information for you. Sometimes the oil capacity is engraved on the crankcase; to this you must add what the oil filter holds (usually between 250 and 350 ml).
3–Is the oil standard important? What if I use car oil, will I mess things up?
On most motorcycles, the clutch runs in oil, which means the anti-friction additives must not damage the clutch. This is why the JASO standard was created. Currently, we are on the JASO MA2 standard.
There are motorcycles with dry clutches. However, motorcycle engines generally reach higher RPM than cars and have their own specific requirements, so even if you have a dry clutch, always use motorcycle-specific oils.
4–Fully synthetic, semi-synthetic or mineral? Which one suits me best?
The range of oils available is simply overwhelming. In our shop we stock everything from competition-grade synthetic oils to mineral oils.
We don’t want to go into excessive detail on this topic in this article. We’ll just skim over it and focus on recommending the oil that suits you.
Essentially, all oils are a blend of base oils and additives. When you read that an oil is synthetic, it actually contains a mixture of base oils, with one or more of the groups shown above predominating.
Reducing all this to what really matters: the higher the proportion of synthetic base oils, the better the oil’s physical properties (freezing point, flash point, acid neutralisation capacity, longevity, detergency, etc.).
So, which one should I use?
We’ll make it easy for you with a few examples.
Fully synthetic oil. Competition use.
Motul 300V Factory Line
Maxima Extra 4
Synthetic oil. Sporty track use and fast road riding.
Motul 300V Oil
Liqui Moly 10W50 Street Race
Synthetic oil. Sporty road use, touring and city riding.
Motul 7100 10W50
Semi-synthetic oil. Road use, touring and city riding.
Motul 5100
If you’re unsure about viscosity and want to make the right choice, give us a call.
*Remember to order the oil filter and the crush washer with every oil change.
5–More is not better.
There’s no point using a top-quality oil if you don’t change it when you should. Likewise, it’s not very useful to use a sport-oriented oil for very gentle riding.
So we’ll finish with a few tips to help you spend only what’s necessary.
-Change the oil at the mileage specified by the manufacturer or once a year, whichever comes first.
-If you use the oil very hard (track days or aggressive road riding), shorten the oil change interval.
-If your bike has a small oil capacity, for example 1 litre or 1.5 litres, check the oil level frequently, as oil consumption can have fatal consequences.
-Change the oil filter at every oil change. No exceptions.
-Change the crush washer on the drain plug at every oil change.
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