Oil change

Everyone and their dog has an opinion about which is the best brand of oil to use in their car, motorcycle, or sewing machine. Like everyone else, I've got my opinion, too. And, while we're on the topic of oil, is it worth spending the extra cash for synthetic oil? Or is good old dino oil good enough?

To start, I'm a believer in changing the oil frequently. And if I'm going to change the oil, I always change the filter. Always. How often? Well, I try not to exceed 3,000 Km between oil changes on my bike. While that's not a lot, consider that most of my riding is a short commute across the city, 6 Km each way to the office and back. And I don't often baby it during the ride. I did the very first oil change part way through the engine break-in, when there was barely 250 Km on the bike, and I just used plain old Castrol 10W40 motorcycle oil for that along with an OEM oil filter. When the odo rolled its first 1,000 Km, I changed it again, using Rotella T dino 15W40. By then, I had picked up a couple of K&N filters. Since then, I've continued with Rotella, averaging ~2,000 Km between changes, give or take.

Rotella T is used in heavy equipment (big diesel engines) but it's a terrific choice for modern motorcycle engines. It's cheaper than most motorcycle-specific oils, and it's desiged to perform in the extreme conditions under which big diesel engines are often operated. Now I ain't no expert as you know, but because of the SV's wet clutch, Suzuki recommends using an oil without friction modifiers, whatever those are. Most engine oils for cars have that "energy conserving" stamp on the back of the bottle where the API and SAE label stamp goes. All I know is that if you look at the stamp, and if it says "energy conserving" then it means it contains friction modifiers and this might cause a wet clutch to slip. You don't want that in a motorcycle because the clutch plates are swimming in the same oil that lubicates the engine crankcase. Rotella T (and most engine oils designed for diesels) do not have the energy conserving label.

This is good for motorcycles

This is good for cars

Anyway --for no particular reason-- this week I decided to pick up 3 litres of Royal Purple 15w40 synthetic. The advantage of synthetic oils, in my poorly-formed opinion, is that it they are able to withstand extreme temperatures better than the old dino oils, whether those extreme temps be severe cold (like -30 degrees celcius in the winter, or +30 degrees celcius in the summer). Since my bike will spend many hours idling in heavy urban traffic during the hottest days of the summer, I figure I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks for an oil in which I might place more confidence with regard to its ability to withstand heat. If I didn't ride in downtown traffic so much, then I'd probably never think about using synthetic oil.

And to answer the question of whether synthetic oil lasts longer between oil changes: no. Well, yes, probably... because synthetics don't break down as easily as dino oils, but to be safe you should change it just as often.

Royal Purple synthetic.
Yes, the oil inside the bottle really is purple !!!

PartSource had Royal Purple on sale for $10 / bottle this week so it wasn't terribly expensive. In case you're wondering about which oil filters I use, I bought a box of 8 Hi-Flo Filtro filters that I picked up at a local dealer. They're about $8 each, compared to the $13 Suzuki wants for an OEM filter. From what I've heard, Hi-Flo makes a very reasonable quality filter that is about equal to an OEM filter, but they're cheaper. On my SV, I've used OEM filters once or twice, K&N once or twice, and I think I'm on my 2nd Hi-Flo. Like fighting over brand names of oil, I avoid getting caught up in all those silly arguments about which brand of filter is better. As long as you change the oil and filter often enough, it probably doesn't matter much anyway. Surely even the cheapest crappy oils today are better than the premium oils from 20 years ago.

Similar to OEM filter in terms of quality, but costs less.

Doing an oil and filter change yourself is probably one of the easiest maintenance projects you can do. Takes me about 15 minutes from start to finish. I've heard that a dealer charges about $80 to do an oil and filter change on most motorcycles, and that's with regular oil, not synthetic! I'd never bend over to get screwed like that. The cost of my synthetic oil and filter change this week was 1/2 of what a dealer would have charged me for a dino oil change. Gheez. I've got enough left over cash for a two-four of beer.