I use Shell Advance 15w50 - very hard to get hold of from their garages but very handy if you have inside contacts who get it at cost price :D

15-50 or even 20-50 is the only weight oil to use in a ducati
thicker is better when it comes to a ducati.
I would guess that a 10 or even 5- 60 will result in head damage.
but that's just my and quite a few others opinion

Tried Ducati reccomended oils, which resulted in 12 scrap rockers. Possibly not caused by the degredation of the oil, but who knows. I have no doubt someone will be along to correct me, but the first number in an oil spec is the viscosity when cold, the second one when hot. So my theory is the oil flows better when cold (gets into the heads better), and resists extreme pressure better when hot, i.e. between rocker arms and cams. Over to you Shazaam.

have a read of this page off sigma.
scroll down a bit and you will see the conversation turn to oil.
enjoy.
ps lots of good info on there
http://www.sigmaperformance.com/rockers.html

I change oil & filter every 1,000 miles using 15/50 mobil oil in both my bikes,never had any problems with flaking rockers or any other mechanical issues!:bouncy:

[Edited on 17-1-2005 by baylissboy]

15w50 Fuchs fully synth from these boys:
http://www.bikesport-uk.com/

Click on Silkolene and you can order online. But you can get the DSC discount on the Shell stuff now from the DSC Home Page. Can't remember how much though.

Ade.

Semi-synth (Shell Advance) every 3000 miles for my 900SL. I've been warned off fully-synth (overkill for a 2v) and lightweight oils by almost every mechanic I've spoken to, but I might start using Shell Advance Ultra after reading Neil's article above.

The reason for multi-grade oils is to allow you to turn your engine over on cold days. Ducati engines take a relatively long time before the oil reaches the rocker arms, so it would seem that an oil with a lower winter viscosity would be an advantage, certainly on a cold day start. Once the engine is up to temperature, the hot viscosity rating essentially establishes oil pressure - so there’s no reason to go too high on this part of the rating.

An oil sold as 5W-60 is no thicker than straight 5 weight oil under below freezing conditions and it is no thinner than straight 60 weight oil at 212°F.
The way you make a 5W-60 oil is to start out with a 5 weight oil
and then adding substances called Viscosity Index Improvers (VIIs). Without VIIs, the oil would thin out too much at normal operating temperatures.

This presents two problems.

First, VIIs are not lubricants, so the more of them that you add, the less oil you have to lubricate engine parts.

Second, VIIs are long polymer chain molecules that are broken into smaller pieces by the transmission gears in a motorcycle. This makes the oil less viscous at high temperatures. Synthetic oils typically have very few VIIs, so these oils are far less subject to viscosity breakdown and a result, synthetics are far more stable in a motorcycle engine.

A frequent marketing claim made for motorcycle-specific oils is that they retain their viscosity longer than automotive oils when used in a motorcycle. That is, motorcycle-specific oils contain large amounts of expensive, shear-stable polymers that better resist the punishment put on the oil by the motorcycle's transmission, thus retaining their viscosity longer and better than automotive oils would under the same conditions.

Nevertheless, when tested by MCN, the best-performing oil of the group tested was Mobil 1 automotive oil. Based on their test results, here's their advice:

1. Use a synthetic oil. The viscosity of synthetic-based oils generally drops more slowly than that of petroleum-based oils in the same application. There is no evidence that motorcycle-specific synthetics out-perform their automotive counterparts in viscosity retention when used in a motorcycle.

2. Change your oil more frequently, and more often than 3,000 mile intervals that is normal for cars. Motorcycles are somewhat harder on an oil's viscosity retention properties than cars. (The gears in the transmission are the significant factor in cutting the VIIs molecules into shorter pieces that are less viscous.)

A 5W-60 oil will have a lot of Viscosity Index Improvers added to 5W oil, so will experience a larger loss of viscosity over time than say, a 15W-50. So if you use an oil with a lower winter weight rating you’ll need to change it more frequently

I use the Mobil 1 automobile-specific in the 15W-50 viscosity only. Thinner viscosity versions of Mobil 1 make them inappropriate for both wet and dry clutch applications in my opinion.

http://ducatisportingclub.com/xmb/vi...=6566#pid53390

Talking of all things oily, can anyone recommend a simple way of flushing old oil out of my 600ss engine??

The oil that's in it has obviously been there for several decades, and I really don't want to pour lots of lovely clean oil in if it's going to mix with the sludge that's in there.....

Cheers,

ali

I understand the theory behind motorcycle engines being harder on oil that cars becasue of the gear box but what about the BL A series engine as used in the Mini which has the gearbox under the engine and they both share the same oil? They never specified any fancy oil for it and the service interval was quite long.