Code:
Sample date 11/24/15 03/29/14
Fluid L-E 8130 Red Line 10W30
Miles on bike 35,288 15,492
Miles on oil 10,052 6,392
Make-up oil 0 0
Anti-freeze NEG NEG
Fuel NEG NEG
Water NEG NEG
Visc 100C 8.9 7.9
TAN N/T 2.34
TBN N/T 7.2
Iron 17 11
Chromium 0 0
Lead 2 2
Copper 4 2
Tin 2 0
Aluminum 8 9
Nickel 1 0
Silver 0 0
Silicon 16 7
Potassium 0 0
Sodium 17 12
Boron 7 1
Magnesium 86 883
Calcium 2274 857
Barium 0 0
Phosphorus 1761 1060
Zinc 2253 1344
Molybdenum 634 42
Titanium 0 0
Vanadium 0 0
Fuel% 0 0
Same type/brand air filter on both runs. I don't have written down what oil filter I used on the Lubrication Engineers run.
I use this bike (it's a 2012) to commute ~40 miles each way, most days of the year. I tend to take the pickup when it's over 110, and I am more likely to take the pickup when the mornings are below 40. I also took this bike on a multi-thousand-mile trip for work this summer, which included long rides on the weekends to pass the time while away from family. It was my only transportation for a couple months during that time, up north. I ride for fun on weekends, sometimes.
If you didn't know it already, you can see that L-E uses a lot of magnesium, and less calcium than most current oils. Red Line is more typical in that they use little or no Mg. They use a super overload of Ca, Zn, and Mo. We can see that each strategy is similarly effective in this bike. The L-E sheared more in fewer miles, from their PDS figure of 12.4 to 7.9. The Red Line PDS says it typically starts at 11.4 and it ended up at 8.9. However, each of the fluids held up as well as or better than Honda's GN-4, so I'm not worried about it at all.
Both of these fluids provide very good to excellent shift performance in this gearbox. The L-E fluid may be a skosh better, but it's hard to recall qualitative/subjective stuff like that over the course of 18 months.
In the end, I don't really know whether I would prefer either of these fluids over the other in the future. A local shop carries the Red Line, and I buy it by the quart. L-E I have to mail order, of course, and I normally get it in 5-gallon pails to keep costs under control. I no longer use the 10W30 for any other vehicle, though, so a 5-gallon bucket of oil goes a looong ways on this bike. It holds about a gallon, and my OCIs are most of a year. In fact, I _may_ round up to a year from here on. Or maybe not.
Sample date 11/24/15 03/29/14
Fluid L-E 8130 Red Line 10W30
Miles on bike 35,288 15,492
Miles on oil 10,052 6,392
Make-up oil 0 0
Anti-freeze NEG NEG
Fuel NEG NEG
Water NEG NEG
Visc 100C 8.9 7.9
TAN N/T 2.34
TBN N/T 7.2
Iron 17 11
Chromium 0 0
Lead 2 2
Copper 4 2
Tin 2 0
Aluminum 8 9
Nickel 1 0
Silver 0 0
Silicon 16 7
Potassium 0 0
Sodium 17 12
Boron 7 1
Magnesium 86 883
Calcium 2274 857
Barium 0 0
Phosphorus 1761 1060
Zinc 2253 1344
Molybdenum 634 42
Titanium 0 0
Vanadium 0 0
Fuel% 0 0
Same type/brand air filter on both runs. I don't have written down what oil filter I used on the Lubrication Engineers run.
I use this bike (it's a 2012) to commute ~40 miles each way, most days of the year. I tend to take the pickup when it's over 110, and I am more likely to take the pickup when the mornings are below 40. I also took this bike on a multi-thousand-mile trip for work this summer, which included long rides on the weekends to pass the time while away from family. It was my only transportation for a couple months during that time, up north. I ride for fun on weekends, sometimes.
If you didn't know it already, you can see that L-E uses a lot of magnesium, and less calcium than most current oils. Red Line is more typical in that they use little or no Mg. They use a super overload of Ca, Zn, and Mo. We can see that each strategy is similarly effective in this bike. The L-E sheared more in fewer miles, from their PDS figure of 12.4 to 7.9. The Red Line PDS says it typically starts at 11.4 and it ended up at 8.9. However, each of the fluids held up as well as or better than Honda's GN-4, so I'm not worried about it at all.
Both of these fluids provide very good to excellent shift performance in this gearbox. The L-E fluid may be a skosh better, but it's hard to recall qualitative/subjective stuff like that over the course of 18 months.
In the end, I don't really know whether I would prefer either of these fluids over the other in the future. A local shop carries the Red Line, and I buy it by the quart. L-E I have to mail order, of course, and I normally get it in 5-gallon pails to keep costs under control. I no longer use the 10W30 for any other vehicle, though, so a 5-gallon bucket of oil goes a looong ways on this bike. It holds about a gallon, and my OCIs are most of a year. In fact, I _may_ round up to a year from here on. Or maybe not.
You _do_ have to squeeze further and harder to get close to lock-up than you would on some other bikes, though. I actually see that as an advantage, because brake modulation is easier. Some don't care for the feel, though, as I understand it.