The Ninja On Rotella T6

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So after all the fanfare i started running Rotella in my Polaris Ranger, seems to be doing well so the Ninja was next. A few weeks ago i dumped the 2,400 mile Motul 300v that to my left toe was starting to get a tad notchy. For the first 200 miles or so i was very impressed with the T6 but my opinion is slowly changing. The past couple of days its very obvious that the shift quality is deffinately not on par with what i just dumped out of the bike. I have no doubts that the oil is doing its job and its protecting the engine but shifts on the 2004 Ninja EX250R are obviously more clunky and the force needed/applied to the shifter is more (not extreme but i can tell). Im going to run this oil out for awhile but the shift quality alone has me re-thinking this budget oil in this motorbike. If your not picky im sure this would be a non issue, but this is a fair weather DD and i can see harder/clunkier shifts becoming annoying. With miliage i will post back on this thread and more thoughts.
 
If you don't drive when its below, say, 40 degrees F, try Rotella 15w40. It does not shear as much as the 5w40.
 
Originally Posted By: ABerns
If you don't drive when its below, say, 40 degrees F, try Rotella 15w40. It does not shear as much as the 5w40.


No, bike never sees the road under 40 degrees F so i will keep your tip in mind, its odd to me, the first 200 miles seemed Ok, NOT Great but OK, but the more miles im racking up the more obvious it is that the T6 in this application simply is not as smooth as others, AS a matter of fact ive tried MANY oils in the ninja and the T6 in my honest opinion is the hardest shifting ive found to date. Although everthing else ive run in this bike has been $10.00 a quart high end stuff..
 
We have used Rotella T6 in our NINJA 250 for the last 4 or 5 years. OCI has been yearly/2000miles. Never noticed a bit of change in the shift effort as the oil aged. We have used several oils in the NINJA and honestly I have never noticed any changes in shift quality.

Maybe I am easy to please? I do have my mother's legs (short and strong)
 
Not to change the subject but I'm using Amsoil motorcycle 10w40 in a Yamaha Super Tenere. Finding it great but very expensive, $20.00(can) a liter or quart (I'm not sure of the size)...
 
Originally Posted By: ammolab
We have used Rotella T6 in our NINJA 250 for the last 4 or 5 years. OCI has been yearly/2000miles. Never noticed a bit of change in the shift effort as the oil aged. We have used several oils in the NINJA and honestly I have never noticed any changes in shift quality.

Maybe I am easy to please? I do have my mother's legs (short and strong)


LOL, Dont get me wrong, its not bad.. Its just not GOOD.. the 2,400 mile oil i dumped was easily smoother shifting than this 240 mile T6. now mind you im paying close attention to everything. Its not dissapointing enuff that im planning to dump it, but i may reconsider using it again in this bike.

So far im still very pleased with the T6 in my 700cc Polaris Ranger.
 
Originally Posted By: newfiecharger
Not to change the subject but I'm using Amsoil motorcycle 10w40 in a Yamaha Super Tenere. Finding it great but very expensive, $20.00(can) a liter or quart (I'm not sure of the size)...


what do you think of that Yamaha Tenere so far ?
 
Originally Posted By: OtisBlkR1


LOL, Dont get me wrong, its not bad.. Its just not GOOD.. the 2,400 mile oil i dumped was easily smoother shifting than this 240 mile T6. now mind you im paying close attention to everything. Its not dissapointing enuff that im planning to dump it, but i may reconsider using it again in this bike.


The sad part is a lot of people recommend Rotella based on cost and also their grandpa riding style on their Goldwings. The reality is people who ride and race motorcycles for a living know the difference and is willing to pay the extra cost. Rotella has never won a professional motorcycle race in their history because their oil won't cut it. Ask any professional engine builders, bike manufacturers, or career racers and they will tell you it is extremely hard if not impossible to beat the 300V in any performance criteria.
 
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Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
Originally Posted By: OtisBlkR1


LOL, Dont get me wrong, its not bad.. Its just not GOOD.. the 2,400 mile oil i dumped was easily smoother shifting than this 240 mile T6. now mind you im paying close attention to everything. Its not dissapointing enuff that im planning to dump it, but i may reconsider using it again in this bike.


The sad part is a lot of people recommend Rotella based on cost and also their grandpa riding style on their Goldwings. The reality is people who ride and race motorcycles for a living know the difference and is willing to pay the extra cost. Rotella has never won a professional motorcycle race in their history because their oil won't cut it. Ask any professional engine builders, bike manufacturers, or career racers and they will tell you it is extremely hard if not impossible to beat the 300V in any performance criteria.


That is also because Rotella does not sponsor any teams or make a bike specific oil. It is however JASO MA rated, which means it does pass certain specs. Again...racing and real world applications are not the same. If you run many racing oils in your daily driver it wont live as long because its not formulated for the task as it may be loaded with anti wear and anti foaming additives but not enough detergents. But yes, T6 does not resist shear nearly as well at T3 Rotella. However, I just dumped some Castrol RS 20w50 because over 1k miles it sheared to beat hades and my shifting got really notchy on my Triumph. So even bike specific oils don't always hold up well.
 
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Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Again...racing and real world applications are not the same. If you run many racing oils in your daily driver it wont live as long because its not formulated for the task as it may be loaded with anti wear and anti foaming additives but not enough detergents.


I don't run many racing oils in my daily ride, only the best race oils from Bel-Ray, Motul, Maxima, ELF, etc. If you don't know what you are doing then there is no oil in the world that can cure your problem.
 
Valvoline VR-1 oil is labeled as a "racing oil", and it seems to hold up fine on the street. No damage or lack of detergents noted in uoa's posted in that section.
 
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Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
Originally Posted By: OtisBlkR1


LOL, Dont get me wrong, its not bad.. Its just not GOOD.. the 2,400 mile oil i dumped was easily smoother shifting than this 240 mile T6. now mind you im paying close attention to everything. Its not dissapointing enuff that im planning to dump it, but i may reconsider using it again in this bike.


The sad part is a lot of people recommend Rotella based on cost and also their grandpa riding style on their Goldwings. The reality is people who ride and race motorcycles for a living know the difference and is willing to pay the extra cost. Rotella has never won a professional motorcycle race in their history because their oil won't cut it. Ask any professional engine builders, bike manufacturers, or career racers and they will tell you it is extremely hard if not impossible to beat the 300V in any performance criteria.


I could not disagree more here. I have tried many boutique oils and even the cheaper stuff. I have a turbo on a very stoud street/track bike and the Rotella T holds up pretty fine. I don't do many miles per change because I don't rack up miles on it, but the oil is solid and cost effective for as often as I change it. I also personally do not do UOAs, I rather just have things torn down every year or two and see what is really going on. I can also tell you in the drag racing world of what is considered street bikes, there are some of the fastest guys out there using the simple old Rotella T.
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Valvoline VR-1 oil is labeled as a "racing oil", and it seems to hold up fine on the street. No damage or lack of detergents noted in uoa's posted in that section.



Yes that and Kendall GT1 are some of the streetable oils. However, Valvoline does make a racing oil that has low detergency that is not recommended for street use.

Mobil also has several racing oils available that are not for use on the street.
 
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic

The reality is people who ride and race motorcycles for a living know the difference and is willing to pay the extra cost. Rotella has never won a professional motorcycle race in their history because their oil won't cut it. .


The people who ride and race motorcycles for a living run about 50 miles on their oil and replace bearings, pistons and cams like I change underpants. I am not sure just what oil they pick is of any interest to most of us. I have 27years and 140,000 miles on my old K bike...still with spec compression and cams that look like new. Rotella T has worked good for me so far. What more could I ask for? Will "race oil" get me a Super Model Pit Girl with an umbrella? Not going to happen!
 
Again guys im just sharing my opinion of this oil in this bike.. Im not bashing Rotella, It's doing the Job and its inexpensive, but i too have 100,000 miles under my belt on two wheels and many bikes and alot of oil and i trust my left foot. Im passing along my personal opinion of the shift quality of this oil in THIS particular bike. I may just decide that in this particular application that Rotella T6 is not for me.. I still like it in my Side by side UTV, and i havent tried it in my R1 yet, the big bike may like it.. who knows.
 
I don't think anyone thinks you are bashing T6 -- in fact, I think you'll hear from the more knowledgeable folks on the board that T6 shears easily.

What you'll also hear from those in the know is that you should try Rotella T (the 15w40). Check out some other posts and UOAs. I do recommend giving it a shot and let us know how it goes.

If you're searching for posts, may I recommend anything by sunruh, the "motorcycle oil myth buster" :)
 
Originally Posted By: ABerns
I don't think anyone thinks you are bashing T6 -- in fact, I think you'll hear from the more knowledgeable folks on the board that T6 shears easily.

What you'll also hear from those in the know is that you should try Rotella T (the 15w40). Check out some other posts and UOAs. I do recommend giving it a shot and let us know how it goes.

If you're searching for posts, may I recommend anything by sunruh, the "motorcycle oil myth buster" :)


I trust what ive read from Sunruh.. & sure i will give it a try, what was the 10-40wt Rotella i read about at tractor suppy on sale in another thread ? that looked like it might be worth a try.
 
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I have run rotella 15w-40 in a Ninja 650, Ninja ZX6R 636, a V-Star and when it comes out of warranty I will run it in the BMW in my sig. I have never had an issue at anything from cruising-commuting to 15K RPM thrashing. Never done a UOA on it, but it seemed to do the job. For what its worth.
 
I also know some Iron Butt guys that use Rotella T3 and well those guys have some pretty high mileage bikes that seem to be living A...O....K on a steady diet of cheap HDEO. And some of them have bikes coming up on 100k. Those 4 corner, 48 state rides tend to rack up the miles.
 
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