"Oils a'int Oils Sol"
A maxim used by castrol here downunder, and its good to have you guys come up with some ideas on what oils to use. I think the Aussie market is a little different. I have just done my first engine oil change on my R3 with 1500Km on the clock.
The best gear is Motul SAE 20W-50 it is 4T API SG CCMC MA rated, made in France. Sells at all the bike shops at about AUD$49 for 4Lts or 1.05U.S. Gallons.
However I used Shell Advance SX, which says it is "synthetic fortified"
The Spec says API Performance, SG What "Synthetic Fortified" means is anyones guess but it does not convince me that it is a synthetic oil. I have used both for some time, the Shell stuff is good, used it in my sports bikes for zonks but it is cheaper than Motul. It says it exceeds all Euro and US specs quoting Harley BMW and Aprilla, but it does not say Triumph. The bike shop, not a Triumph one, says "yes it meets Triumph specification". Mmmm. In the past I get to 5000Km and I change oil, it comes out real nice on other bikes, filter is relatively clean. The R3 book says 10,000 miles (16,000Km), I would never go that long, probably 3,125 miles or (5000Km) is a little overkill with oil changes but my last cicle (An XJR 1300Yammy) only did 22,500Km (14,000miles) in 5 years, when it traded on the R3.
A lot of discussion about the rear drive oil. Book says 20K miles or 32K Klms. Seems that you guys may be changing it out quicker. Any reason for that? As for comments about the heavy vehicles changing diff/box oils for full synthetic, I have no evidence that the mineral oils dont work as well but could this be oil co hype to extract more dollars. I still have a Euro Heavy vehicle (Scania) with an auto changer on a manual box. I had to go to a lighter grade that 90 - 140 for the auto changer to work when the oil was cold, this from Scania. We have high ambients here in Summer with cold but not severe winters for most of the country. The lower viscosity , 90 - 95 suited the box well. My opinion is that we are dealing with a standard type final drive and any good quality final drive oil should fit the bill.
That notwithstanding, I am not waiting until 32,000Km to do my final drive on the R3, It might get to 20,000Km if lucky, then we has a look at the oil.
I may mention that doing the first oil change, I had to drain it again as the "O" ring on the plug came out in bits, I was not sure what type of "O" ring to fit but the one from my kit has stopped the oil draining into the pan. The interesting part was all the crap that came out in that "oil flush" it was just lots of dirt or carbon particles that made me renew the oil. So I would be keen to hear if anyone else has had the same experience. The dealer said, We do the first change, yeh right, $250 later, i did a mechanical apprentiship as a kid and have been servicing turbine aircraft engines down to heavy machinery all my life, I do it myself thanks.
