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Motorcycle specific oils
- Subject: Motorcycle specific oils
- From: mfay@xxxxxxxxxx (Martin Fay)
- Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 13:49:15 +0100
The following was posted on the VTR list and I thought you guys might
be interested.
Martin
From: Jeff Strickling <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxx> To:
<superhawk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 7:47 PM Subject: Motorcycle Specific Oils
(Longish)
Over the past few weeks some of the listers have participated in a
discussion on the use of Motorcycle Specific oil's VS Automotive Motor
Oil's and Synthetics VS Petroleum based oil's.
Many of you have shared your opinion on this subject along with your
experiences, and I have shared my professional and personal opinions
on this subject.
Now comes the hard part my opinion has been swayed by the testing data
my engineers and market research staff has compiled.
As many of you know my company manufactures lubricants and we have
been developing a line of motorcycle lubricants. Today we had a
meeting to discuss the data we have compiled and what direction we
will be taking on this product line.
Our Petrochemical engineers have done a series of tests on Automotive
and Motorcycle oils that are available to the consumer along with
testing our Automotive oils. Both Petroleum and Synthetic base oils
were tested. Our testing supported the findings of Dr.John C. Woolum.
The oils tested were all SAE 10W30, 10W40, 15W40 and 20W50 API SJ,
SF/SG and SG/SH (We can not divulge the brands until the respective
companies are provided
a copy of the test results)
The first set of tests were done in our lab. These tests were Infrared
Analysis and Atomic Absorption. These tests where conducted to
alkalize API formulations and additive packages.
The second set of test were application tests. We used 5 different
motorcycles and measured Viscosity, Wear Metals and Load Performance.
The Bikes.
1992 GSX1100G
1995 GL1500
1994 F3
1997 VTR1000F
1995 Virago 750
Automotive VS Motorcycle specific (Petroleum and Synthetic)
What few Automotive oils that we found of the API Services of SF,
SF/SG and SG/SH they preformed as well and there was no surmountable
difference to justify the expense of reformulating our current
products.(Or the personal expense)
The Automotive oils of SAE 10W30, 10W40, 15W40 and 20W50 API SJ
(Energy Conserving) did not fare as well. 4 of the 5 motorcycles
displayed the following problems.
Clutch Slippage 10W30, 10W40 and 15W40.
Starter Engagement 10W30, 10W40, 15W40 and 20W50
Conclusion: Any API service of SF, SF/SG, SG/SH and non-energy
conserving SJ will lubricate your motorcycle without any negative
consequence.
Synthetics VS Petroleum.
I will not get into this one in great detail. We did find that
Synthetics are vastly superior to their Petroleum counterparts. The
Automotive Synthetics that we found of the API service of SG worked as
well as the Motorcycle Specific Oils.
One note on the synthetics, my engineers stated that the Mobil 1 MX4T,
V-Twin and Bel-Ray EXS had the best additives package and they
performed the best.
Marketing.
We polled more than 400 Auto parts Stores in 4 major U.S. markets and
found that less than 4% carried Motorcycle specific oil's and less
than 2% carried Automotive oils other than SJ energy conserving.
This is not surprising first there are only around 3 million
registered Motorcycles in the United States VS 25 million plus
Automobiles and Light Duty Trucks.
The Major Oil Companies really only want to market to the largest
market segment, this also makes sense in regards to manufacturing. So
you have a smaller market that is demanding what in essence is a
specialty product. Therefore they can demand a premium price knowing
your only alternative is the SJ oils on the shelf at the local auto
parts store.
When you consider the Motorcycling consumer is actually paying more
for a lower tech product than they do for their car, you can
understand why they feel they are being ripped off. Now the
manufactures will try to justify it
as supply and demand but the reality is these product in their base
form
are less expensive to manufacture.
At a later date I will make available off list or through my web site
our
test data.
I will also keep you all informed on the release date for our
Motorcycle Specific/Automotive Oils. I will tell you they will not be
reformulated and we are only going change our packaging.
Jeff Strickling
Vice President Sales and Marketing.
The IQA Lube Corporation.
Houston Texas.
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