Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Does anyone else find that the 5100 goes a horrid black colour after about 500km?
My bike does run a bit rich, but this is crazy! Every other oil I've used in the past has stayed clean looking for at least 3000km...
Even the Motul 4100 I put in the STI goes black almost immediately.
Should I disregard the colour of the oil and just hope it's still working well?

Daz.

I use this in my Kawasaki truck:

It's the shit, give it a go.

Regards, Andrew.

"....the oil that protects all kinds of diesel engines..."



Just to add my bit on oils, I'm using 5100 on the 10 because that's what it had at it's scheduled services and I didn't want to change it. I use the Castrol bike stuff from Supercheap on the z650 and used to use it on the 9...when I split the cases on the 9 the oil appeared to have been doing a good job as everything looked nice, well lubed and clean (well apart from the gearbox but that was a design issue )


As long as it's getting changed fairly regularly I can't see it making much difference what type you use given the quality of oils these days.

aah, the old 'friction-modified' wives tale pops up yet again.

Wives tale maybe, but after changing many many clutches after working in Yam and Kaw dealerships, you get sick of seeing people try to save $10 on oil and then have to spend up to $700-$800 (particularly in ATV's where you have to change the whole centrifical clutch and hub assy as well). In rural areas you see a pattern when a local distributor starts flogging an oil not stated as suitable for motorcycles, only to have a run of clutches in the following months. Rimula X, RX super, Delo400 and similar diesel oils are ok as the are also designed as a multi-purpose oil for some transaulic applications in rural machinery, where the engine, trans and hydraulics run the same oil, and some of these trans have a wet clutch arrangement for the hi-lo or powershift. "Friction modifiers" may be an old term, but the additives (or similar) are still out there and used in some oils. Unless it states suitable for motrcycles, why use it? Also remember that some companies sell to likes of Kmart etc, and although the oil might be called the same, the product in the bottle looks completely different. Maybe the same spec, but enough to think, things that make you mmmmmmmmmmm. A lot of product at supercheap is fine, but check first

hills110673 wrote:..... A lot of product at supercheap is fine, but check first....

agree 100%. The 'old wives tale' - it was a reality with Castrol GTX, plenty of wet-clutch bikes did have issues with clutch slippage.

Next time I go down to Supercheap (not for oil ), I will have a look at all the oils they sell, and do a list of what is and isn't suitable for use in bike motors. This could be handy for new punters on old bikes, who may think they need to spend a motza on oil, when they probably don't have to. Absolutely, spend good money on good oil on any sports bike up to 10 or even 15 years old, but why spend $60 for 4 litres of Motul 5100 in a 17 or 20 year-old clunker, when $30 Valvoline XLD Premium will do a pefectly good job at half the price ?

Supa Cheap DO have a range of bike specific oils.. Mainly Silkolene and Castrol.
The Castrol range is there cheap dino oil, GPS semi synth and R4 full synth.. (both the same price for some reason so go the r4).

They also sell Vesrah bike oil filters and brake pads and other bits and pieces of bike specific stuff like batteries, chain lube etc...

Nothing wrong with Fuchs Silkolene either... Far better than 'Rock (ape) oil!!