Lubricants for four-stroke motorcycles

Lubricants for four-stroke motorcycles

Keywords Lubricants, Automotive

In Vol. 50 No. 2, 1998, I drew attention to the problems which had surfaced when conventional automotive lubricants for passenger car petrol engines were used for motorcycles. This re-branding of automotive lubricants has been common practice on the part of many lubricant suppliers, although a small number of specialist lubricant companies had already devised their own particular formulations for motorcycle use. When one considers the considerable differences in operating conditions and consequent lubricant requirements between the two types of vehicle, it is surprising that the motorcycle manufacturers have continued for so long without having imposed their own requirements in the form of a specification. The Spotlight entry in this issue describes the launch of a new specification for such vehicles, which is not before time, and highlights the absolute need for lubricant formulators to work together with the motorcycle designers and manufacturers. For too long, lubrication has been considered a separate item by such manufacturers, and attempts were often made to ''engineer out'' the perceived limitations of available lubricants. Hopefully this situation is now at an end, and the motorcycle manufacturers and lubricant formulators can in future work together to ensure against a recurrence of these types of problems.