Royal Purple Max Cycle oil

[Ross]

Has anyone used this in the airhead? If so would you recommend it? What are its advantages over other oils?

[dwire]

Here is my opinionated "take" on the matter. I know the spec sheet which says virtually nothing about the oil other than ASTM tests for viscosity, D-445 (kinematic viscosity [THAT IS STRAIGHT UP VISCOSITY]) and D-2270 (accepted measure of the variation in kinematic viscosity due to changes in the temperature of a petroleum product between 40 and 100°C.) - both of these specs are public and as mentioned prior are viscosity tests, while "part of the picture" of an oil, they mean little to nothing about the oil itself other than its viscosity range(s) at certain temps
QUOTE FROM MSDS SHEET:

Components:
[*] Base Oil (synthetic) [*] Synthetic additives with iso-paraffinic diluents.
[*] The precise composition of this oil is proprietary. A more complete disclosure will be provided to a physician or
nurse in the event of a medical emergency.

The effectiveness one might want from any oil when the manufacturer keeps the core metrics and contents secret are a crap shoot. Second, you'll likely not want to do any testing (due to costs) to know and tell everyone all about it unless you work for them, BMW, or race these bikes.

Good luck. Real World BMW motorcycle users will likely chime in for you. My guess is most that do will endorse the product - don't ask me why I say this; they'll all (or hopefully) be well intentioned though, regardless of the oil's effectiveness in a boxer engine.

Or, one could always buy a quart and drink it, then call Royal Purple and the Poison Control Center and let us all know what they're selling... LOL (Really, don't try this...)

[SteveD]

There's a thread on Advrider from a poor fellow that used a 0W20 RP oil in his airhead. Of course the viscosity was his problem, not the brand.

The discussion mentions the pros and cons of synth v dino and the importance of the ZDDP content for our bikes.

Then someone noticed the viscosity numbers. Now the thread is talking about the serious damage to his engine, which is sounding like toast.

For the expense, and I believe the RP oil is expensive, even in the correct viscosity, opinion seems to lean more to dino with zddp, eg SG rated oils. Golden Spectro gets the usual mention.

But it's an oil thread, and opinions are as varied as the available oils. Always have been, always will be I expect.

edit: the advrider fellow had a lacerated o-ring, the one that cost $2000, poor bloke.

[Major Softie]

Pretty much everyone keeps that kind of proprietary info a secret. The documents of ZDDP content and other common oil ingredients usually come from a lab doing a comparison test of different oils, not from the oil companies telling us. And, such testing is only good at the time of testing, since, as has been mentioned earlier, all the formulas keep changing as the rules change. In addition, companies can change their formulas just because ingredient prices change, and, since they don't list the ingredients in the first place, they don't have to tell us when they make a change.

It's become something of a crap-shoot. You go with a company and product you "trust," and then hope your trust has not been misplaced.

[mattcfish]

I'm going with Valvoline VR1 Racing oil. Two reasons, it's readily available at most of the big auto parts stores, and they actually give you information about the ZDDP content on the bottle and on their website FAQ section.
Their Synthetic oil named "Not Street Legal" is also an option, but is less available and spendy $$$.
If you call an oil "racingoil" it is exempt (for the time being) from EPA standards regarding zinc and phosphorous. The reason they are requireing the oil companies to remove ZDDP (essensial for flat tappet engines like ours) is because it damages catalitic converters. Of course a catalitic converter is a lot easier to replace than a trashed cam and lifters, so a lot of vintage car and bike owners are a bit distressed by this.

"Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil contains .13% of Zinc and .12% of Phosphorus compared to the Valvoline "Not Street Legal" Racing Oil which contains .14% of Zinc and .13% of Phosphorus."

I think .12% is the amount that is being agreed upon as the correct level of ZDDP. If this is the case Valvoline VR1 should be OK to use.

[macdaddy]

'bout 10 years ago,at a ducati school, the instructor held up a bottle of RP and said "do NOT use this in any ducati!"
If you change your oil every 3K, I like good 'ol bmw dino oil. that said I run Shell Rotella in my /2...go figure?

[Major Softie]

'bout 10 years ago,at a ducati school, the instructor held up a bottle of RP and said "do NOT use this in any ducati!"
If you change your oil every 3K, I like good 'ol bmw dino oil. that said I run Shell Rotella in my /2...go figure?

Yeah, but they've reduced the ZDDP in Rotella recently too...

[dwire]

Yeah, but they've reduced the ZDDP in Rotella recently too...

That's too bad as it certainly seemed affordable. I was considering when the day finally comes that I have no more oil for BMW oil changes, Rotella used to look affordable and adequate. So it is not adequate - (ZDDP-wise) anymore???