Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
It's that time of year now where the ambient temperature turns the thick monograde engine oil into toffee, and is making it very hard to start the bike first thing in the mornings. After 300 miles, and 2 changes of running in oil, I put in the last of my SAE50, but after a further 300, it's time to change that for something lighter, and since I got hold of a cheap gallon of Golden Film SAE30, that's what's going in. I've given the tank and sump a good clean between oil changes during the running in process just in case there were any chunks of metal floating around, but it's looked pretty good so far. After 600 miles the engine is getting smoother and wants to be opened up more, and I'm happy to take it over 70 for short stretches for the next few hundred miles. It should also be noted that Ariel recommended the oil be changed every 1000 miles which is also the specs of some of the monograde oils on the market, and in my case this is every month.
It's that time of year now where the ambient temperature turns the thick monograde engine oil into toffee, and is making it very hard to start the bike first thing in the mornings. After 300 miles, and 2 changes of running in oil, I put in the last of my SAE50, but after a further 300, it's time to change that for something lighter, and since I got hold of a cheap gallon of Golden Film SAE30, that's what's going in. I've given the tank and sump a good clean between oil changes during the running in process just in case there were any chunks of metal floating around, but it's looked pretty good so far. After 600 miles the engine is getting smoother and wants to be opened up more, and I'm happy to take it over 70 for short stretches for the next few hundred miles. It should also be noted that Ariel recommended the oil be changed every 1000 miles which is also the specs of some of the monograde oils on the market, and in my case this is every month.
