2009 Kawasaki Ninja 250R

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Okay I just bought a used 2009 Ninja 250R it has a Dyno Jet stage 2 and a full Yoshimura exhaust. Currently it has 1,7XX Miles on it. And I was wondering what oil to use? And will synthetic or dino matter?
 
Rotella T white bottle for conventional. Rotella T blue bottle for synthetic. The choice is yours. In that bike it wont matter much. I see your in Alaska. If you will be hard core, and ride when the temps are what you see during an Anchorage winter, I'd go with synthetic. For "normal" riding (for me, 40 degrees and above) the conventional is fine.
 
+1 on what beanoil said. The Rotella in the white bottle is the 15W-40 stuff, and the Rotella T6 in the blue bottle is the 5W-40 synthetic. Both are JASO MA approved (for wet clutches), widely available, reasonably priced, and widely used by many motorcyclists.
 
If you are planning to take this bike on the highway then you better off with synthetic. You will be operating in its high rev range on the highway.
 
Originally Posted By: jef1ge
This is better imho


Yeah, at $9.80/qt. vs. $9.80/gallon. You might get an additional .01% more protection for 400% more cost.


Go with the Rotella and don't look back.
 
Originally Posted By: TedSexington
Does it come in individual quarts or just gallons?


I usually buy it by the gallon but I'd be very surprised if it were not available by the quart.

Just got the the Shell Oil site and look at their engine oils. You'll get all the info you need.
 
If you going to run the rotella, id go with 5w40 in your area.

Personally dont like the 15w40 Rotella, it has too much clutch grip and the shifting is nothcy as all get out.

Diesils like motorcraft or Delo400 I find shift better.And cheaper, Delo has been running under $3 per quart.

better performance and cheaper
 
I agree that one shouldn't select one type/brand of oil without trying something different.

I'd try the various HDEO (heavy duty engine oils) to see which oil the engine prefers. Personally, SRT 15W40 has been good in my Kawasaki KLR650, Valkyrie and two 500cc liquid cooled Suzuki powered ATVs. The KLR shifts very lightly with SRT 15W40 and usually begins to show signs of notchy shifting around the 3000 mile mark. Which is reasonable.
 
In my Virago 250, a small air cooled engine I have tried serveral HDEO and have noticed two that my high revver likes. Mystik JT8 15w40, which is a syn blend HDEO, and Rotella T6. Now while those are fine, it really likes Mobil 1 10w40 moto specific oil the best as far as shifting goes.
 
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
If you are planning to take this bike on the highway then you better off with synthetic. You will be operating in its high rev range on the highway.

Oh boy, more hearsay. The Ninja 250 has a 14k rpm redline. Even if you are turning 6k at highway speeds, this is not in it's "high rev range" (what ever that is), but at less than half of it's max rpm, and most likely near the meat of the powerband. Synthetic is NOT necessary unless you have temperature extremes. As said, if you are riding in the Alaska winter, grab the blue bottle. For any reasonable temperature, white bottle is more than adequate. Both oils are going to shear from the shared sump, so a change every 3 or 4 thousand is probably good practice.
 
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+1 with beanoil.

If you're dealing with extremes, synthetic might be worth the added cost. Otherwise, any quality HDEO will provide all the protection you need.

As I've said before, why pay 400% more for oil just to get .001% more protection. Just doesn't make sense.
 
Originally Posted By: beanoil
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
If you are planning to take this bike on the highway then you better off with synthetic. You will be operating in its high rev range on the highway.

Oh boy, more hearsay. The Ninja 250 has a 14k rpm redline. Even if you are turning 6k at highway speeds, this is not in it's "high rev range" (what ever that is), but at less than half of it's max rpm, and most likely near the meat of the powerband. Synthetic is NOT necessary unless you have temperature extremes. As said, if you are riding in the Alaska winter, grab the blue bottle. For any reasonable temperature, white bottle is more than adequate. Both oils are going to shear from the shared sump, so a change every 3 or 4 thousand is probably good practice.


You either really bad in math, ride like granny, or don't know jack about the Ninja 250R. The 250R top speed is 110mph close to the redline (14K) so if you do 80mph (75mph speed limit) on the highway you are above 10K. Realistically, if you have ridden a 250R then you would know that at 80mph you are closer to 11K than 10K rpm. Here in Arizona the temperature is north of average and I usually do closer to 90mph on I-10 or I-8 to California. Who in their right mind would buy oil for reasonable temperature, below speed limit, half the rpm range riding conditions?
 
Originally Posted By: TedSexington
So rotella huh? has anybody have any experience using it in a 250R ninja?


Yes. For two years and roughly 14,000 miles now. Belongs to a friend - and I do service, tire chgs, etc. The bike doesn't get ridden under 40 degrees, so we use the Rotella 15W-40 conventional oil and change it at 2.5 - 3k intervals.

Rotella is "JASO MA" rated, which you'll see printed on the back of the bottles.
 
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
Originally Posted By: beanoil
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
If you are planning to take this bike on the highway then you better off with synthetic. You will be operating in its high rev range on the highway.

Oh boy, more hearsay. The Ninja 250 has a 14k rpm redline. Even if you are turning 6k at highway speeds, this is not in it's "high rev range" (what ever that is), but at less than half of it's max rpm, and most likely near the meat of the powerband. Synthetic is NOT necessary unless you have temperature extremes. As said, if you are riding in the Alaska winter, grab the blue bottle. For any reasonable temperature, white bottle is more than adequate. Both oils are going to shear from the shared sump, so a change every 3 or 4 thousand is probably good practice.


You either really bad in math, ride like granny, or don't know jack about the Ninja 250R. The 250R top speed is 110mph close to the redline (14K) so if you do 80mph (75mph speed limit) on the highway you are above 10K. Realistically, if you have ridden a 250R then you would know that at 80mph you are closer to 11K than 10K rpm. Here in Arizona the temperature is north of average and I usually do closer to 90mph on I-10 or I-8 to California. Who in their right mind would buy oil for reasonable temperature, below speed limit, half the rpm range riding conditions?


On paper they may have a top speed of 110 mph but I've never seen one that would run over 85 mph. I'm talking "true" - not "indicated" Of course you could get it on a long downhill with a heavy tailwind......
 
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
Originally Posted By: beanoil
Originally Posted By: azsynthetic
If you are planning to take this bike on the highway then you better off with synthetic. You will be operating in its high rev range on the highway.

Oh boy, more hearsay. The Ninja 250 has a 14k rpm redline. Even if you are turning 6k at highway speeds, this is not in it's "high rev range" (what ever that is), but at less than half of it's max rpm, and most likely near the meat of the powerband. Synthetic is NOT necessary unless you have temperature extremes. As said, if you are riding in the Alaska winter, grab the blue bottle. For any reasonable temperature, white bottle is more than adequate. Both oils are going to shear from the shared sump, so a change every 3 or 4 thousand is probably good practice.


You either really bad in math, ride like granny, or don't know jack about the Ninja 250R. The 250R top speed is 110mph close to the redline (14K) so if you do 80mph (75mph speed limit) on the highway you are above 10K. Realistically, if you have ridden a 250R then you would know that at 80mph you are closer to 11K than 10K rpm. Here in Arizona the temperature is north of average and I usually do closer to 90mph on I-10 or I-8 to California. Who in their right mind would buy oil for reasonable temperature, below speed limit, half the rpm range riding conditions?


Moot point. The bike is liquid cooled. It will operate in a specified temperature range which can be handled by any decent HDEO.

Many air cooled two cycle engines spin just as fast, generate much more heat and don't have the benefit of liquid cooling. Some how they seem to survive with scant amounts of dino two cycle oil mixed with their fuel.

A liquid cooled engine running in an oil bath or pressurized oil system is in the lap of luxury compared to a two cycle engine.

The Ninja will be just fine with any quality HDEO.
 
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Originally Posted By: kballowe


On paper they may have a top speed of 110 mph but I've never seen one that would run over 85 mph. I'm talking "true" - not "indicated" Of course you could get it on a long downhill with a heavy tailwind......


The bike has a jet kit and exhaust so on a flat road it should be able to do 110 with a 160lb riders tucked in.
 
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