Another oil Question .. I live in a place that makes hell look cool

[Guest]

I live in Mesa Arizona. It gets HOT
When I started in on getting my bike road worthy I changed the oil and filter. I loaded it up with Mobil 1 Racing 4t. I was out yesterday for about 1.5 hours and it was about 100 degrees out since it was early. After a while and admittedly some throttle tweaking the bike was running about midway between 210 and 320 on the gauge. If I came to a light and idled the temp dropped pretty quickly to just above 210.

I rode my air cooled Bonneville through mid day summer heat on all day adventures and back and forth to work and meetings and it never had a problem but it didnt have a damn gauge that I could obsess over. I just rode it. I ran 10w40 Amsoil in that. Good normal summer temp in the phoenix area is about 106F but it goes to 111 and better on occasion.

So question is .. for this bike Should I look to move up to a 20w50 for summer or leave the 50 bucks of oil I already put in there alone.
Alex

[Nessism]

I'd leave it alone. For your next change consider 20W-50 synthetic though.

[Boriqua]

Next week all 110F and better .. Maybe I will chalk up the first oil change and subsequent 300 miles to cleaning out any sludge that may have developed after sitting for 2 years and just switch now ... ugh ... 50 bucks more. I have an extra filter and I seem to have gotten most of the bugs cleared and I am trusting the bike so I want to ride it more. It doesnt get cooler around here until about Halloween. It stays 100+ through September.

[AMK]

I'd move to a cooler climate, not for the bike but for me. I don't deal with heat very well.

[posplayr]

I live in Mesa Arizona. It gets HOT
When I started in on getting my bike road worthy I changed the oil and filter. I loaded it up with Mobil 1 Racing 4t. I was out yesterday for about 1.5 hours and it was about 100 degrees out since it was early. After a while and admittedly some throttle tweaking the bike was running about midway between 210 and 320 on the gauge. If I came to a light and idled the temp dropped pretty quickly to just above 210.

I rode my air cooled Bonneville through mid day summer heat on all day adventures and back and forth to work and meetings and it never had a problem but it didnt have a damn gauge that I could obsess over. I just rode it. I ran 10w40 Amsoil in that. Good normal summer temp in the phoenix area is about 106F but it goes to 111 and better on occasion.

So question is .. for this bike Should I look to move up to a 20w50 for summer or leave the 50 bucks of oil I already put in there alone.
Alex

Switch to a Series R/R; A member in Sunnyvale with same model noticed a big drop in temp after going to a Compufire R/R

[Nessism]

Did you do the oil relief spring mod on your bike? The 2nd gen 750's are known to have issues with their oiling system and that mod is the best thing you can do to hedge your bet.

If you do decide to change the oil there is no reason to change the filter too. Personally, no way I'd change out $50 worth of oil just to move up a weight range.

[Boriqua]

Damnit Ed i thought i hit all the mods!Lol so where do I find the oil spring relief mod. Since I am going to be digging around anyway.
Alex

[mmattockx]

So question is .. for this bike Should I look to move up to a 20w50 for summer or leave the 50 bucks of oil I already put in there alone.
Alex

Mobil1 makes a 5W50 synthetic (or at least they did) and there are numerous 15W40 synthetic or conventional diesel oils, all non-energy saving so they don't screw up your clutch.

If you do decide to change the oil there is no reason to change the filter too. Personally, no way I'd change out $50 worth of oil just to move up a weight range.

Sound advice. I used to change oil every 5 hours on my MX bike (RMZ450) and only changed the filter every second or third change. There is no reason to change the filter as well on a very short interval.


Mark

[JTGS850GL]

Shell Rotella T6 comes in 5w-40, is full synthetic and is much cheaper than Mobile 1.

[Boriqua]

alright I used google to search the forums and found the info on the oil relief mod .. Sigh .. I thought I was done. I have a little bit of a leak at my oil pan so guess I will order a gasket and see if the mod was done by one of the previous owners.

[Boriqua]

Personally, no way I'd change out $50 worth of oil just to move up a weight range.

I dig it and I am retired and without fat paychecks so $50 bucks is real money but ... Without sounding to dramatic .. you can frigin die out here in the summer. We lose almost a dozen people a year to heat when they decide to go out hiking. I ride in places that triple A wont come for you and getting a tow would be near impossible. Car service ... none. Anything I can do to help the bike be a touch more reliable before me and the wife head off on an adventure is fine with me.

Mechanical break downs can still happen but I want to hedge my bets. One of the things I didnt do on some of our previous adventures was bring water. I am going to be sure to remedy that the next time we go out.

If you live in a congested city .. I am originally from NY .. then you always have a life line. Out here .. its pretty easy to make a right and be on a 16 mile hard pack with nothing but bees, cactus and the odd coyote. Dont even get me started about running into javalina.

[GS1150Pilot]

Unless you head out to Tortilla Flat or some place out of town, it's pretty much like any big city, but with a little more elbow room. This time of year, I ride less, but when I do, I head up north (right now the fires are a bit of a downer) or down to Bisbee. That, or over to San Diego or L.A.

[Boriqua]

Oh .... so not true. Whenever you see in my posts that I reference "Adventures" its because the wife and I set out in a direction with a gps mounted on our handlebars and just went about tripping. Its how we enjoy motorcycling. We have a very loose idea of direction and just head out. We have done this for some 20 years.

So early on I lived in Laveen a half step from the gila reservation after spending a couple of years in Scottsdale. Maybe 10 or 12 years ago. We got on the bike and headed west. We had no destination in mind and truth be told it was supposed to be " lets just go out for a couple hours on the bike." I thought we would be back by breakfast since we started at 6am. It turned into a full day on the bike ... some 8-12 hours.

Dont know exactly how it it happened but we landed up on vulture mine road. It was an awesome ride but it was hard pack and reminded me why I like mid weight bikes because we were on a Triumph Bonneville and there were spots where you got up on the balls of your feet on the pegs to get along. We discovered when we finally exited Vulture mine road that it dumped out at Wickenburg. Had never heard of wickenburg before then. From there it was smooth sailing back to laveen but vulture mine road was about 16 miles or so in no where.

Some where along the way we decided to stop and rest along vulture mine and Drove the bike with wife on back over a high loose berm and we sat under a tree. It was HOT! Suddenly when I got my senses back I realized it felt like I was sitting next to an electrical transformer. In my youth I worked as an electrical mechanic and was around some very old factory transformers in NYC. It sounded the same. It felt the same .. like a low vibration under your skin. Suddenly I realized we were under a huge bee installation.The air vibrated! I carefully pushed the bike down on to the gravel rode and instructed my wife to walk slowly to me and we fired up that triumph and got the hell out of there. Those are the rides we appreciate most and one of the reasons I like mid weight bikes. Big enough for the highway but small enough to muscle around standing on the pegs.

Tortilla Flat is a breeze as its a fairly well traveled ride by cars and bikes even though its only hard pack. Geez even Harley newbies travel that route. Someone will be along if you break down.

Places like Vulture mine road are really all alone. We didnt see another car or bike the whole way. Got a flat with no spare in a car south of crown king and AAA said they dont go there.... sorry. I drove 80 miles on a donut.



I have also been out to some remote areas in Crown King and South of Rainbow valley on Motorcycle, have gone through a couple of reservations that seemed all alone.

If you want a little adventure it can be had in AZ but it comes with a little risk if you choose.

[GS1150Pilot]

I used to live in Buckeye. I know Vulture Mine Road-and Wickenburg-very well. I think what you are suggesting about Phoenix applies to about every western state, though few with the heat quite at this level. Still, I hike every weekend locally unless I'm out of town hiking elsewhere. The people who die are generally Darwin Winners. Sure, accidents happen, but then, how many people die in their own home, with neighbors yards away?

I've ridden just about every road in this state since I started riding back in the 80's. Any road can kill you, and I'll take the remote ones every time over soccer moms in SUVs down Scottsdale Rd.

Have you done the 191? That is hands down the best road in this state, and at 6-9,000 at its best, nothing else comes close in Arizona.

[GS1150Pilot]

Back to your concern regarding oil. Here is a great read by one of my favorite gearheads:

http://vintagebikemagazine.com/technical-articles/engines-and-heat-by-kevin-cameron/