VisionTex - 2009-04-18 9:20 AM Do's or Don't, we love our oil threads!!!!

Woooo Hoooo! That's what I'm talkin' about.

I got to go and fix my water pump, but my waterheater is doing fine. What does that have to do with motorcycling or the Vision? EVERYTHING! I can't ride them until I get it FIXED!

Hey, when are we going to start the air thread again? I use Vision-aire in my tires!

In they Army they taught us that we could put anything slick in there if it was critical to getting somewhere and regular oil couldn't be found.

The only thing that I've heard from a negative stand point on oil is using QuakerState in the old days when it was parafin based and then using a detergent oil. It would breakup the parafin and clog the passages which would certainly cause a problem.

I also recall a friend who had 440 police interceptor plymouth fury. He throw a rod and knocked a hole in the block one night and drove it over 50 miles home. It still started up the next day and ran. It made a racket, but it was still running. Point: just run something in your engine that is made for it. I respect the wrenches and opinions, but unless you are doing everything yourself and know expicity the habit of your customer, it is hard to say that a failure was caused specifically because of an oil that was used. It could be a number of things that contributed and then they happen to use a specific oil, bluey, there goes the engine and XBrand was the cause.

I drove my GL1200 over 300 miles or more with a blown headgasket and just kept putting water in it. When if finally went good, I rode it over 30 miles nursing it home. Ride 4 or 5 miles, stop, put in water and let it cool a little. I though the engine was history. I had the headgasket replaced and I asked the wrench how the engine looked, especially after overheating so many times, and he said it looked fine.

I could tell couple more stories, but they relate to cars, but you'd be amazed at the abuse I've put things through and they just kept right on running.

But folks, just make sure you do the right thing and your decision is not blind, but has credence. (not the clearwater revival....I went down Virginia seeking shelter from the storm...oh never mind...)

Kevin I can't say I am specifically talking about you as I don't know you personally at this time. However, I know you are highly respected in the work that you do and do value any and all input. I would like to meet you and learn more of the Victory motor and V-twins in general. I know the dynamics are slightly different on a air cooled v-twin than on a 4, 6 or 8 cyclinder though the principals are the same. I'm looking at having over a 100K in just 4 years or less and want it to last on until I wear everything out. I'm not in to waiting for my bike to be in and out of the shop so I hope it will be as dependable as I believe it will be even with miles and age.

I'm not a motorcycle wrench, you are, and sometimes my comments are pointed to stir the pot for good input. In the big picture of things I find that one group will say never, never, never, never, never, use full synthetic. Then another group will swear by it saying they have zillions of miles on it with zero problem. So who is right, the group that has put on the zillion miles and no problems, or they group that had one, two, or twenty incidents out of thousand who did have a problem? It always gets confusing, thus the beloved and trusted oil thread that will sprout up, blossom, and then die away for another day.

If 99 people out of a 100 that used a full synthetic came back and said, don't use such and such, you bet it would never sell. But when 99 out of a hundred uses the full synthetic and says there bike runs better, smoother, shifts cleaner and so on, then I think there is some credence. I use a full synthetic and when I have, my bike runs quieter, shifts smoother and runs more miles before the top end starts to rattle than on the recommended brand oil.

I ride hard and long when I go out and ride and have 39K on the clock. I've used the full synthetic and the victory blend and I just know what the difference is in my bike, I can't speak for anyone else. For me, really the jury is still out as I have switched back and forth, with the full syn winning out most of the time so far.

So in response to your comment back, why does one bike experience the clutch slippage you speak of and works fine when it goes back to the recommended oil, and yet others, to include mine perform better when using the full syn?