Ducati Monster Forum

I spoked with chris at ca-cycleworks some months back regarding oil. He told me a story (not 100% sure about the exact details but it went something like this...) about a race bike that blew its oil pump but continued to race. The bike was running royal purple car oil, and even though the entire bike was starved of oil, the bike showed no signs of wear.

today, i found this vieo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqvhRi7-iMA&feature=related

I think i may try some of Royal Purples products on my next oil change (im at 6600 miles right now), ive only heard of it in the drag racing realm, where people praise it, but after watching that video, well gosh darn!

(That "other leading brand" looks like a bottle of Mobil 1, any one care to agree/disagree?)

If something sounds too good to be true it usually is. Be careful. I don't know enough about this oil to say it's good or bad. I do remember when I was roadracing and some people put this in their race bikes they had to turn the idle down. At that time there weren't any ratings on the bottle like SJ etc.

Wonder how Amsoil would hold up under that test... 

http://www.synthetic-oil-tech.com/MC%20White%20paper-g2156.pdf

Remember that any test done by the manufacturer on their own product has to be taken with a grain of salt.

The Royal Purple I seen was gawd awful expensive. Like $80 bucks a gallon or some pbscene number like that.

I wonder if they make it in 20w50 ?

They do...looks like the going rate is around $11.00 a quart.  http://tinyurl.com/4x65eb (http://tinyurl.com/4x65eb)  (No idea on that store, but that was the best link I found)

You have to turn the idle down because the bike is now running with less friction - meaning is running better and more efficiently
From what Ive heard its good stuff - but yes, expensive. Too much for me to spend

Yes I know that. If it was really that much better the motorcycle manufacturers would use it.

I wouldn't hesitate to use it.  I have no experience with Royal Purple in motorcycles, but have been involved with it from time to time in engineering applications.  My company once assisted with the application of a gearbox driven by a 600hp engine.  We were ale to drop the operating temperature of said gearbox by 50 degrees by changing to Royal Purple.  No other changes were made.  Shortly afterward, all comparable equipment was changed to RP with the same results.

Me personally, I wouldn't but to each his own.

FWIW, it was Michael Cox's "White tip motorsports" race team in the AMA and the bike was a SBK prepped GSXR-750. Crap that I forgot the rider's name, but they got top 10s. Mechanic's name was Greg Hlad or somethin like that. There was a trick that needed to be done when assembling the engine to make sure the oil pump was engaged. It was a few races in before they learned it. Post race tear downs showed nothing unusual.

The oil was either 0w 00w or 000w. When you got it on your hands, it never really fully washed off. You'd need to wear it off. Kinda like silicon lube...  :o

Also, keep in mind that many race teams are sponsored by certain brands, so when using off-brand materials, they need to take measures to keep up appearances. Like when the post Vance&Hines AMA Ducati team open up a box of Termis, peeled the stickers, and put kerker stickers on.

:) Chris

What?

Wow this was a read and a half. Sure gives alot of information thought that supports the information
we discussed with George in TOB.

I'm a chemical engineer and have worked in refining for 10 years.  We used royal purple extensively for the lube applications on pumps.  I'm not sure how it would work out for a bike.  Most pumps used in refining run at constant RPM's (approx 5k) for weeks or months or even years at a time and have pretty detailed warm-up procedures for bringing them online when they are cold.  My understanding is that the warm-up period is mostly to give the pump metallurgy a chance to heat up evenly, but who knows maybe the lube oil is designed to warm up slowly as well.

Count Desmo, what kind of oil were they using before the switch?  A 50 degree reduction in operating temperature seems like a lot.
 

Mike, that was nearly 10 years ago.  I don't remember which oil was used previously...or even if it was sythetic.  I remember that the temperature change was in fact 50 degrees, because I had the same reaction you did.  The gearboxes in question were aluminum-bodied 2 speed boxes rated at 800hp.  Can't remember much more than that.

Desmo,

That's cool.  I can barely remember sh*t from last month, much less something obscure from 10 years ago!

Back to using Royal Purple in bikes - here's a question:

If the stuff cost's twice as much, wouldn't you be better off just changing your oil twice as often?  Is there a benefit to having an oil that's such low viscosity that your engine idle has to be turned down?  Would you see that as in increase in output (at the wheel) since the engine isn't having to work so hard to sheer a "tough" oil film as it fires?

My amsoil is like 10 bucks/qt and I trust it.