dutch

After doing some research about Lucas I decided to give it a try. The reason why some of you may have had problems with Lucas is because you added too much. Lucas is wet clutch friendly if you follow directions. On the back of the bottle where the directions are a 10% ratio is suggested for motorcycles with wet clutches. At 64 ounces to an oil change that means that no more than 6.4 ounces should be added. That means that when I change my oil I put in 57.6 ounces of oil and then top it off with the 6.4 ounces of Lucas. I read one thread where someone put in half a litre. Wow is that asking for problems. Guys as my wife often asks me "did you read the directions?". Before I begin dumping a bunch of stuff in my engine I am going to stringently follow directions. Anything beyond that and you're asking for it. I am sorry to hear of anyone having problems especially when it is self-inflicted and unnecessary. I screwed up on my math. It should be 128 ounces to an oil change being that there is 32 ounces to a quart. This means that I only added 5% of the recommended amount instead of 10%. One thing about it-I would rather be 5% under instead of 5% over.

After having read all the posts on motorkote including what I could find on the web and what it may or may not do and being somewhat reluctant to use my bike as a test subject I asked some of the guys in maintenance where I work what they would recommend for quieting engine and gear noise. All of them responded with the same answer-Lucas Oil Stabilizer. I asked them what they thought about Motorkote and to my surprise none of them had ever heard of it. The corp. I work for is worldwide so this is not a corner ma and pa operation. This does not suggest in any way that Motorkote will or will not do what it is touted to do as I have no evidence to substantiate either finding. Regarding the Lucas though I can report the results. The whine is definitely reduced and what remains has not been the harsh sound I had before. I just came off a Goldwing 1500 so you can imagine the difference. This makes the bike much more enjoyable and to my surprise my wife has never even mentioned the whine and she is a pretty picky gal. Before I added the Lucas I noticed that as the bike/oil warmed up the level of whine went up as well. What the Lucas does is prevent heat from breaking down the lubricating capabilities of the oil. Yes it is wet clutch friendly and the ratio I used was 10% in the crankcase and I even added 10% to the rear differential making it run quieter as well. The Lucas is readily available at about any auto parts store for around $15.00 a bottle. At 10% this one bottle will last for several applications. No I do not own any Lucas stock but after my results with their product I wish I did. I am probably not going to pursue the "whine" any more being satisfied with the results I have obtained. It worked for me-maybe it will work for you.

Having owned both I think I can give you a fairly objective opinion about these bikes. I probably won't tell you anything you don't already know but sometimes maybe we need to hear it again. I liked my roadie for what it was and that is a heavy cruiser. It was great for short rides but any long distance would really take its toll on the bod. Its not that it couldn't do it but the way you sit on it will soon let you know this is a cruiser not a tourer. Mine was very dependable and never let me down. However it does vibrate and for that reason and the fact that the passenger seat left somewhat to be desired did not make it a good two-up bike. Ground clearance wasn't very good either and it didn't take much to scrape the pegs. Good looks, good sound, good short ride. Now the Venture. To me this is where you get the best of both worlds. This is a great looking bike that has touring capabilities with no sweat. Its easy to handle, has better ground clearance than the roadie, still has great looks, and shaft drive which is a big plus to me. Its still a lot of fun even on those short hops when you just need to get away for a while and it doesn't make you feel like you are wrestling Godzilla. By now you know my preference. I'd go for the Venture and let the Roadie go but I'm not sure if I would go for an even swap-that ones up to you guys. Dutch:cool17: