BajaRon - I live in Southwest Nevada. I have seen temps as high as 116 on Interstate 15 from Barstow to Las Vegas. Even a wet vest didn't help. I finally found a motel and stayed until the next morning. I walked out to ride, and the air temp was 102 at 4 AM.
I drank almost a gallon of H2O between Baker, CA and LV. Oil temp wasn't a major concern except that if I had an engine failure out in the Mojave Desert, I'd be in deep buzzard droppings. I later talked to a dude at the MC shop who said his oil temp gauge showed a tad over 265 degrees at three in the afternoon. Oil viscosity isn't as important at these temps, but oil quality certainly is!
BajaRon - I live in Southwest Nevada. I have seen temps as high as 116 on Interstate 15 from Barstow to Las Vegas. Even a wet vest didn't help. I finally found a motel and stayed until the next morning. I walked out to ride, and the air temp was 102 at 4 AM.
I drank almost a gallon of H2O between Baker, CA and LV. Oil temp wasn't a major concern except that if I had an engine failure out in the Mojave Desert, I'd be in deep buzzard droppings. I later talked to a dude at the MC shop who said his oil temp gauge showed a tad over 265 degrees at three in the afternoon. Oil viscosity isn't as important at these temps, but oil quality certainly is!
20/50 is most often recommended for air cooled engines. Head and top of cylinder temperatures can get extremely hot in an air cooled engine and heavier weight oil can resist thinning in these conditions. But this is not the case with a liquid cooled engine and the heavier weight oil does not dissipate heat as well as a thinner oil. Which, in an liquid cooled engine, is more important than viscosity.
There are those who will tell you that oil is oil and it doesn't matter. And this may sound good until you start analyzing the results. If you do this, you can discover a good bit of difference in quality from one brand to another. That Barstow to Vegas run can be blistering. I've done it myself a few times. Running 80 or better in that kind of weather can really test your components. Drinking water is key for riders. A full face helmet with good mesh jacket and pants also helps.
Following this thread, always find the oil threads fascinating, some use pop corn to indicate ho hum. I'm a Rotella full synthetic fan, however blend would probably work as well, but what's a buck or two between oils? I prefer the 10/40 full synthetic but Rotella just doesn't sell it, at least not that I can find, 5/40 is it, probably doesn't matter a bit, the book just says, 10/40 blend I think. OK, pop corn folks, all done.
Following this thread, always find the oil threads fascinating, some use pop corn to indicate ho hum. I'm a Rotella full synthetic fan, however blend would probably work as well, but what's a buck or two between oils? I prefer the 10/40 full synthetic but Rotella just doesn't sell it, at least not that I can find, 5/40 is it, probably doesn't matter a bit, the book just says, 10/40 blend I think. OK, pop corn folks, all done.
Can-Am recommended 10/40 for the Spyder when they sold it. Now they only sell 5/40 (in the blended) and that's what they recommend. Sell what you got, I suppose.
Good information Ron. If Canam is selling 5/40 blend, then I'm way good with Rotella Syn 5/40. I'm probably getting way nit picky with the oil thing anyway. I need to do my yearly change soon, so your oil change kit awaits, minus the oil of course. :-)
Good information Ron. If Canam is selling 5/40 blend, then I'm way good with Rotella Syn 5/40. I'm probably getting way nit picky with the oil thing anyway. I need to do my yearly change soon, so your oil change kit awaits, minus the oil of course. :-)
Yes, you're doing much better with a fully synthetic oil. But it's one thing I like about Amsoil. You can run the same oil over multiple seasons without issue if you don't run to the service limit in 12 months.