This looks like a good place to post my experimental oil data. Certainly don't want to start an oil war but here goes.

Two bikes. 2008 SG and 2009 SG. Both Used Mobil 1 from 5k til the 25k change. Both bikes had oil temp sender in the pan, both installed at the 5k change. Oil temps were always predictable.

70's 200 or less 65-70 mph runs over 30 minutes
80's 210-220 65-70 mph runs over 30 minutes
90's 230-240 65-70 mph runs over 30 minutes
Once bikes reached peak temp, they stayed there until shutdown.
5k VOA on 2008 shows good wear and mid/heavy 60 wt.
Both Bikes Carried 32psi+ at 2k

At 25k the 2008 got Valvoline VR1. (Easy to find, and Cheap)

90's 210-220 65-70 mph runs over 30 minutes.
Will see 230 when in town stop and go. Once moving, temp drops back to 210-220.
(This bike got caught in a 45 minute Eitms Hell. Oil temps 290-300)
2.5k UOA showed single digit wear and the oil held in at 50wt. Waiting for 5k UOA to return to finalize data.

At 25k the 2009 got Brad Penn 20/50 Non MC oil. (10.6 TBN and reasonably priced)

90's 210-220 65-70 mph runs over 30 minutes.
Will see 230 when in town stop and go. Once moving, temp drops back to 210-220.
Waiting to collect 2.5k sample for UOA

Each Bike carries a bit lower oil pressure at 2k. (26-28psi)

As far as I can tell my data is 180 degrees out of phase. Both of these bikes should have been measurabley hotter. The non syn cheap oil should have cooked at 300 degrees. Yet, it didn't and both non syn oils are measureabley cooler on the guage.

 

You can not run these kind of test with a simple gauge wasting your time

 

Unless your tests show that synthetic oil cools your motor by 20-50 degrees nobody will want to hear it.

 

OH. Well simple guages is all I got. I just assumed they were a wee bit more accurate than stating how I felt about each brand..

I agree this could be just a big waste of time. But 2 of the 3 steps required to collect this data are going to happen irregardless. I need to use oil and I will be riding...... So the observing part is just a hobby so to speak.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll stick with my 20W/50 Castrol GTX with one quart of Lucas oil stabilizer added. 2002 RKC with 44K miles. Really quiets down my engine - also I have replaced tensioners with gear drive.

 

The Brad Penn has a very high HTHS ratio (a 6 I believe) so it is a very robust oil and will no doubt perform as well as a synthetic. Synthetic oils are not magic in a bottle. But they do simply have a higher oxidation temperature. You would not be able to really tell if your dino oils are oxidizing at 300F unless you used them for a long period of time and disassembled your engine to see what deposits were left behind. They don't really "cook off" but form sludge deposits that stick to engine internal passages and coat internal parts with a dark brown film.

 

I thought through reading that oxidation would show high insolubles on a Blackstone report. Is that not so?

If correct, and these oils ring in with low insolubles counts, is there not some basis to draw the conclusion that the oil stood up?

Given the results from my observations and both bikes experiencing the same long EITMS run where Vr1 took longer than Mobil 1 to heat up and vr1 cooled off faster, I am inclined to think that Mobil 1 is providing no measureable benefit over lesser oils. Is that a fair conclusion?

 

Sounds good to me. But then, I am a Castrol GTX 20-50 user also. I run a little Prolong instead of the Lucas, but might try that also.

 

Is there any real world proof (not in a lab) that a synthetic oil will hold up to high heat better than a dino and provide better protection for your engine? I have yet to find any! There are plenty of advertisements bragging this and that but no real proof that it does what they claim. After years of hearing over and over how great synthetics are i think people are starting to beleive what they hear and get a warm fuzzy feeling when they spend $10+ bucks on a qt of oil thinking that there engine will now last forever because the oil company's have said so and they laugh all the way to the bank. I have read many UOA's on both oil's and there just isnt any evidence that a synthetic oil is any better than dino. I too have tried the super duper Amsoil and all I got was a louder top end out of the deal and less $ in my pocket.

 

Yes, but most of it is in automotive engines. Especially turbocharged automotive engines which beat oil much the same way a TC engine does.