Victory Oil vs. Other Oils

[Tumbler]

Well the trip went off without a hitch. No problems at all & actually I think I got better mileage. I'm still going to drain the oil & go back to the Victory oil but so far no ill results.

Now I have to figure out whats going on with the rear brakes. 1st set of rear pads lasted 6k miles, 2nd set lasted 9k, but the 3rd set only lasted 5k. But I'm still on my original set of front pads with over 21k miles on them!!

The mechanic I took it to said the rear rotor appears to be warped & people that rode behind me said they saw the same thing.

My biggest question is should this be a warranty issue? I'm going to check into it but if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears!!

[JoeGopher]

Brakes are generally not considered warranty issues, but the rotor might be.

A suggestion I have is switching to the rear pads for the TC. I used them on my KP nad got about 15K out of them. They are cheaper as well.

[Tumbler]

Originally Posted by JoeGopher

Brakes are generally not considered warranty issues, but the rotor might be.

A suggestion I have is switching to the rear pads for the TC. I used them on my KP nad got about 15K out of them. They are cheaper as well.

I'll check on that then. I never expected the pads to be covered but figured the rotor would be. Just have to find a dealer worth a damn to take it to.

Since Warner is shutting down I'll have to investigate which dealers are good with warranty claims. I have the extended warranty & got the bike in 2006 so I hope its still in the warranty period.

Its funny that the past two times it went to the dealer & they put the pads on that they didn't notice the rotor problem. I was told that it was "normal" for the pads to wear that quickly, especially if you use the rear brake a lot. So I stopped using it for the most part but the pads still wore out quickly.

As for the pads themselves...I know the ones that came out were Brembo ones that were a pretty soft compound. We'll see what the new ones look like after 1700 miles when I have the front tire put on. I guess the front pads are not wearing evenly either. One pad is about half gone & the other looks new.

Don't know if that is common on these bikes but maybe there is something going on there too. I appreciate the help/tips on this issue.

Keep the posts coming!!

[Saeed_R]

I purchased oil from AutoZone for my Kingpin with wet clutch additive(don’t remember the brand name) twice. The only difference I noticed the Auto zone oil seems like getting darker than Victory brand after 2500 miles. I used std. victory brand last year for my trip to Montana, changed the Oil at 3400 miles and oil still looks good . Victory brand is semi synthetic which should last longer and kept the clutch wet and lubricant still after couple thousand miles. I would not go over 2k on other brand if they are not synthetic, and don’t use any that have not been designed for wet clutch.
PS . the Oil filter M3323 Bush works great for my king pin.

Rick: when did you do the Superior loop, I just came back (7-27) from that trip CW.

[Tumbler]

We did the Circle Tour July 9-11. It was a great trip & one I would like to do again but maybe over a longer period of time to be able to see more stuff.

Here's the final word on the warranty issue with my rear brakes. I had to work my way up to the GM at Kline but he told me that he looked at the warranty & rotors are not covered anyway so there was nothing I could do.

So a new rear has been ordered for around $200 from Northway. Should be on & the bike back in business by the end of the weekend I'm hoping. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Its too bad my warranty expired before I knew it was going to...I would have had the bike gone over to ensure nothing was wrong that could have been covered!!

[Rainmaker]

I don't know anything about oil, do you? I do know friction and heat are the enemy and oil is the only thing that fights it. It is the single most important thing we can do to our bikes to help them last longer.

We can probably run anything in there we want, who will ever know? If it doesn't have adverse affects while we ride, who cares? The dealer can't tell. If the engine seizes, we're not going to tell them we used brand X, right? Most of us don't break down our engines to look and see how well they are wearing. So we don't have any real idea if the oil we put in is working right. We can't control the conditions we ride in or monitor engine temp etc. Unless the Clutch sticks or Slips we have nothing to go by.

It must have something to do with the tinker in all of us that make us wonder if theres a better way, a better oil. Of course, there is the old "Victory just says that cause they want to sell oil"! Yeah right we are all victims of "the man".

Victory Engineering designed the powertrain and the oil for it to use. Then they use it exclusively during development, endurance and performance testing on the engine dyno's and on the road testing. I don't know how many F$%N miles and hours that adds up to but it a hell of a lot of oil.
Victory doesn't use it because they get a good deal on it, they use it because it was designed to be used in Victory engines.
Isn't that a good reason to use Victory oil exclusively?


I don't know one Victory Engineer that uses Amsoil, Rotella, or EVOO or any of the other suggestions in their own bikes. Why would I?

I can't imaging putting an unknown oil into my bike (unless I had no choice) and taking off on a trip to see if it works as well. Even If I saved $20. I'd worry about it the whole way.

Lets keep this thread going for days! Riddle me this: If there was a better oil for your Victory that was proven to make it last longer but cost $20 more, would you use it?

Good luck with your experiment(s). Enjoy the ride!

[Rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Saeed_R

I purchased oil from AutoZone for my Kingpin with wet clutch additive(don’t remember the brand name) twice. The only difference I noticed the Auto zone oil seems like getting darker than Victory brand after 2500 miles. I used std. victory brand last year for my trip to Montana, changed the Oil at 3400 miles and oil still looks good . Victory brand is semi synthetic which should last longer and kept the clutch wet and lubricant still after couple thousand miles. I would not go over 2k on other brand if they are not synthetic, and don’t use any that have not been designed for wet clutch.
PS . the Oil filter M3323 Bush works great for my king pin.

Saeed, If you oild gets darker more quickly, that oil filter you are using may not be filtering as well as you think. Since you like to experiment, try a K&N or a WIX. Of course you won't want to pay for the K&N it is more expensive, but the WIX is cheaper. Also NAPA Sells one that is cheaper too. If cheaper is what you want, there are lots of options.

[Thumper]

77,000 miles on an 04 92" Vegas that I ride hard & put away wet... I've only used that green Victory Oil - nary a problem with anything inside the engine. My bike will keep running the Victory oil 'till it passes 100,000 miles

Regarding the brakes, I went thru several Victory rear brake pads, averaging about 6,500 miles per set. At about $50 per set, that was adding up, not to mention the hassle of replacing more often than the rear tire.

I switched to Lyndall Racing Brakes. I have the LRB Gold pads on the rear, and they're at about 45,000 miles. It might be getting time to replace them. I have the LBR "Z" pads on the front, they have about 30-35k on them and look fine.

The LRB pads, especially the Gold ones, have a break-in process that you have to go through, that basically has you using the brakes hard at progressive speeds for the first 50 miles. That's the only hassle with the Gold brakes, the fit the Victory perfectly.

The LRB "Z" pads have kevlar in them and to have a distinct sound when you're using them, but they're a bit softer and feel a little better than the Gold pads. They seem to be lasting just as long as the harder Gold pads.

Plus, either Gold or Z are less expensive than the Victory pads. Less expensive, last longer, and work better... that's a no-brainer.


BTW - Rainmaker - I think I saw you in a magazine! :-) Those are the kind of business "meetings" I want to attend! :-) What a nice work place you have!

[JohnnyIron]

You can't tell if your oil is good or bad from the color!

[Sgt_H]

I don't know nothing about nothing, but I bought my bike from a Victory engineer. He said to make sure that I use the Victory oil because of the additives for the tranny.

[signals_91]

On the VMC, I found a link to a pretty extensive study by Amsoil (2009 White Paper) where they compared many different m/c oils including the Victory oil. In summary, the Vic oil did pretty darn good in many of the tests conducted by Amsoil. I'm not an amsoil guy, but it's a pretty interesting read if you want to know more about the oils that are available for the motorcycle specific markets.

[signals_91]

Here is the link to the Amsoil 2009 White Paper Study....

http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g2156.pdf

[mnhammer]

I use extra virgin olive oil works well and does't tast to bad.