<SMACK!!!!!> That's the sound of thousands of oil engineers banging their heads on their desks in disbelief.

It's called poor quality control - the basis for lots of junk science. Then again, maybe Fox is doing a science segment?

I thought about it - for 1/2 second. People who believe that would believe putting an STP sticker on their car will make it go faster. I mean think about it - when you buy new oil, the additives that improve the oil are at their peak. does anyone actually believe oil gets better with use?

 

Oh wait, it's the oil engineers that came up with this theory. From what I have read oil does do a better job after a couple of thousand mile on it unless there is a lot of blow by contamination in it.

 

It sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? Maybe you'll devote another 1/2 second or so to thinking about it?

Apparently, here's why there is a "wear spike" after an oil change:

High detergent levels, and fresh detergents interfere with the proper function of some of the high-pressure wear preventing additives. These anti-wear additives work by depositing in a very thin layer on high-wear parts. The fresh detergents in fresh oil can prevent these additives from depositing properly, or even strip the existing deposits. In other words, they can have a similar effect on deposits we want, as they can have on deposits we don't want.

That raises an obvious question:
Why don't the oil manufacturers just start out with less detergent, or weaker detergents?
Because the oil is formulated to do the best job overall at normal, manufacturer-recommended oil change intervals. If they started out with less detergent, detergent levels would fall too low before the next oil change comes around.

So it's a balancing act, formulated around a certain expected oil change interval, and wear rates can increase either from replacing the oil too late, or too soon.

 

Plain and simple, heat is your motor's bigtime enemy. Oil is that same motor's lifeblood. Not only does it lubricate but it also carries heat with it and helps keep your motor cooler. Iirc, in hot environments these air cooled motors can reach temps far higher than the 240 you mention or the 270 mentioned as a rule of thumb. The way I understand it, when choosing an oil, its 'flashpoint' is what I would consider highly. 'Flashpoint' is the temp at which that oil breaks down. And yes, any oil will breakdown. While dino oils have been around a long time, and they do lube and do help circulate and cool down the oil, it has been proven that synthetics just plain do a better job of it all. Not that you have to have a synthetic oil, but oil, oil filters and oil changes are cheap insurance for these ultra expensive motors, imho. And full synthetic oil does a better job than semi synthetics. I'm not going into a long thing about it.....many are going to argue the fact. But the info is out there if you want to do some digging. What I have found is SE Syn3 is a semi synthetic. Ever notice how they recommend you leave it at least a 1/2 qt low when you do an oil change? Thats because SE S3 foams up, so it 'grows' by nearly 1/2 a qt. Then when you let it cool down the foam clears out. But when you do an oil change with Mobil 1 or Amsoil, the level at which you change the oil to is where it stays because their oil does not foam up. The SE S3 also does not have as high a 'flashpoint' as most of the full Syns.....I mentioned Mobil 1 and Amsoil only because I have experience with them. They each have flashpoints in the +500 degree range. Redline is another that is supposed to be up there as well, I just have never used it.

Even using a full syn I still change the oil between 4k and 5k miles depending on where and how I have been riding.

If I were living in Tx and running a dino oil, I would definitely change it every 3k miles and would probably run a heavier oil (60w) in the hot months. But I prefer running on the safe side and would use a full syn, either Mobil 1 VTwin, or Amsoil, or Redline, 20/50 weight, and change it around 4k miles depending on how it looked or tested out.

 

The scary part is that in US syns don't have to be syns, they can be extra refined and labled as sysns.

 

Below is a link to a Society of Automotive Engineers paper, and I think this is the study (published in 2003) which first started bringing attention to the matter of increased wear rates when oil is new, versus used oil. Some other less formal tests followed, some of these based on lab analysis of when "wear metals" accumulated fastest in the oil, after an oil change.
Unfortunately, the SAE paper needs to be purchased in order to read it, but the link has a brief descriptive paragraph.

http://papers.sae.org/2003-01-3119/

 

flashpoint is just the temp oil will vaporize to form a combustible mixture...it has nothing to do with performance

 

Better stated, yes. It is still a performance issue to lose oil which is what happens when it burns. And the point at which it burns is also a good indicator of the peak temperature limit of the oil.

HD motors have been tested and found that cyl head temps shoot up to around 325 or more as the motor idles. An extended period of idling (10 minutes) could easily produce a measured temp of 375 in the heads and 400 degrees at the plugs. And don't be surprised to see those temps stay up over 300 up to around 40 mph.

 

What !

 

OK, so I've given it another 1/2 second - well, maybe more because it took me longer than that to read your reply.

Thank you, I stand corrected. For my penance I'll go to the Victory dealer and walk around the showroom - Arrrrgggg! Anything but that!