LUBE, COOL & CLEAN
Starting my 1981 Moto Guzzi when the temperature was close to freezing was always a hit-and-miss affair. As a teenager I thought the problem was always down to the battery’s ability to cope with the cold, but it turns out engine oils of the 1980s didn’t help, becoming extra thick in the cold and making it that much harder to start.
We’d fire up our bikes on those cold mornings using lots of choke to increase the fuel-to-air mix, and the 850 would often take a few stabs at the starter before it would burst into life. No doubt the poor overworked starter motor was needing a rest between attempts at getting the oil moving.
Modern multigrade oils barely suffer from this problem, remaining viscous (runny) even when cold, reducing the effort required from the starter. These days we can start a bike on a much smaller battery than the hulking units of the 20th century. From the top of the rocker cover, where your valves are being compressed by camshafts, to the cylinders to the crankshaft to the clutch and gearbox, 4-stroke motorcycle engine oil has an important job in a tough environment.
The oil in your motorcycle can be likened to the blood in your veins — the essential fluid that keeps everything working as it should.
