800cc Suzuki Boulevard Oil choice

[alex_at]

Hi,

I recently bought a brand new Suzuki Boulevard C50, 800cc Vtwin liquid cooled.

Of course I'm turning my head already about what oil to use...

My options right now living in Europe:

Motul 300V 10/40 15/50 around 56€/4 Liter
Amsoil MCV around 65€/3.8 Liter
Maxima Extra4 15/50 (most expensive, have to order from UK) around 90€/3.8 Liter

Mobil1 V-Twin isn't available here - but Mobil 1 Racing 4T (Bike version) 15/50 is for around 60€/4 Liter

Another interesting option, pricewise, would be Castrol Power 1 Racing (Power RS Racing) golden bottle 10W50, 33€/4L

The very popular Rotella isn't available here - but there is the choice of Mobil 1 Delvac MX 15/40, that would be pricewise the cheapest option for around 90€/20 Liter - some bike riders seem happy with that oil too.

Now I have already experienced the 300V in my 125cc Vespa, and I really liked it! Very smooth engine, incredibly fast start up and the "insurance" of the double ester technology -> keep in mind with the variomatic gearbox there is no such thing as warm up the engine with moderate load and low rev's.

Then on the other hand the Mobil 1 MX 15/40 seems to be a popular oil too, I just can't get my head around using a Diesel oil in an gasoline engine, especially in a shared oil system with the gearbox. But then Diesel oil does a pretty good job on lubricating my turbo in my turbodiesel which apparently spins with over 100.000rpm - so it can't be a bad oil either.

Another cheap option would be the Valvoline SynPower 4T oil, but it has mixed reviews ....

Another note on the Boulevard V-Twin engine: I know from the BMW M3 crowd that the piston speed is maxed out at about 22 meters/second, you wouldn't want to put more stress on a piston than that - and the C50 Boulevard comes very close to that very high piston speed - even tough someone might think a big vtwin with a rev limiter ov 6000-7000rpm isn't much stress on the oil at all, considering sportbikes with their 14000-16000rpm limit, but it actually is an engine running at the limits.


What would you do? Which oil would you recommend or use in a Suzuki Boulevard?


Thank you very much for your response and opinions!

cheers,
Alex

 

[BrocLuno]

I have been building and rebuilding bikes for something like 50 years now. My BIL crews/builds on some very fast national ranked short track motors. So I guess I have seen the inside of a fair number of bike engines...

I have never had an oil related failure. Loss of oil, sure. Piston seizure yes, due to over lean conditions. Broken ring lands on nitro motors, etc. But the cylinder walls and the crank bearings always looked OK and measured out OK unless there was a catastrophic failure of some kind, or a failure of the intake boots and dirty air got in ...

If it were me, I'd look at a good HDEO. Ravenoil, Motul, etc. The list is long. Look for a syn-blend 15W-40. Water cooled motors are just not that hard on oil from a temp spike perspective. Change it a reasonable intervals and ride on

I get the Motul in the scooter and I pay ridiculous USA prices for some Motul oils when the need arises - race motors and stressed 2-strokes. But it is not called for here.

The piston speed is within limits. Suzuki builds some tough motors. They are not known for coming apart easily. I've had maybe 8 Suzuki's in my life and the motors always outlasted the chassis, paint, upholstery, etc.

I'd be way more concerned about shock fade, fork seals, fork oil, brake fluid, etc. Motor oil - that engine will go 100K km easily on pedestrian maintenance

 

[JimPghPA]

What are the ambient temperature extremes that that motor will see?

 

[Atesz792]

Delvac MX all the way!
A whole lot of specs included, and modern ones, not a century old.
Incl. Allison C4, which is a spec for wet clutch compatibility in the industrial world.
One of the best HDEO-s in Europe according to an 'insider' acquaintance.
And great shift feel through the OCI from personal experience.

 

[alex_at]

Summer up to 40° Celsius, normally in summer around 35° Celsius, bike will be stored in mid fall till mid spring

 

[alex_at]

Originally Posted By: Atesz792
Delvac MX all the way!
A whole lot of specs included, and modern ones, not a century old.
Incl. Allison C4, which is a spec for wet clutch compatibility in the industrial world.
One of the best HDEO-s in Europe according to an 'insider' acquaintance.
And great shift feel through the OCI from personal experience.


Thanks for the info on the wet clutch compatibility with the Allison C4 rating, I read that the oil is supposed to be wet clutch compatible, but it has so many ratings - I couldn't google all of them yesterday.

One thing I read about the Delvac MX is the possibility of foaming - I'm sure someone here has more information on that wether that's true or not, even tough im not so concerned about fomaing since my operating rpm will be less than 6000rpm (6000 rpm is close to the limiter) , quite similar to a diesel.

 

[Atesz792]

ACEA sequences are quite strict about foaming.
Google ACEA E7 (or the rest of the E ratings it carries) 2012, you'll see the limits. I didn't worry about foaming while using this oil.

 

[alex_at]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
ISuzuki builds some tough motors. They are not known for coming apart easily. I've had maybe 8 Suzuki's in my life and the motors always outlasted the chassis, paint, upholstery, etc.


actually the engine of the C50 is known for three things:

1.) it's a great long lasting realiable almost bulletproof engine except for:
2.) Cam chain tensioner issues
3.) the german forums report that this particular engine is not very suitable for high rpm riding, it will wear out the bearings pretty fast and will likely damage the engine - on the american Boulevard C50 forums I haven't heard about that issue at all, maybe it's a german thing with no speed limit on the highways.....

regarding the cam chain tensioner: I used to have an Audi S3 wich was kown for expensive cam chain tensioner issues - a few people from the S3 forums decided to research about that issue - and there's a 50 page PDF file why that engine is known for cam chain issues - according to them the problem is: long oil change intervals with Volkswagen's reduced additive oil. Use a good oil with normal intervals and there's no problem with the cam chain.

long story short: Maybe I can help the Boulevard and her cam chain issue by using high quality oil changing it out often - or mayber not.