frogg toggs

[Guest]

Hi, I bought this new, broke it in softly with dino oil. the bike has about 6k miles. switched to syn oil this year. I took a highway run recently about 280 miles all highway doing about 75pmh. I burned over a quart of oil on the trip. around town I burn no oil. dont recall much oil being burned when using dino. Has anyone had this problem with syn oil? Is it because I screamed the enging at 6000rpm for a day? I would hope the engine can stand up to these type of rides. Mark.

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Dec 1, 2005, at 8:54 PM, mark_anthony123 wrote:

> dont recall > much oil being burned when using dino. Has anyone had this problem > with syn oil? Is it because I screamed the enging at 6000rpm for a > day? I would hope the engine can stand up to these type of rides. > Mark.

Synthetic or dino, it doesn't seem to matter for folks; lots of folks report that the engine uses oil if rev'd above around 5,500 RPM. No worries, though. -- Blake Sobiloff http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> San Jose, CA (USA)

[jokerloco9@aol.com]

Call it fact or fantasy, and while it is sure to provoke a huge outcry of discussion on this list, some people think that an engine run too soon on synthetic will burn a little oil until the motor is broken in. I think most people would say 6000 miles is about the time it is OK to use synthetic. But your motor may not have broken-in completely yet. It still may depend on how you run the motor. After the initial break-in, some would say you should not "baby" the motor, as it will only slow down the break-in. In 1999, I bought a 1984 Mazda B2000 pickup with 18,748 original miles from the original owner. To make the story short, the vehicle had literally NEVER been on the freeway, top speed in its' entire life may have been 50 MPH, and was only driven 4 miles to and from work. It was an older guy that "babied" it. When I started driving it, it would go through a full 1-2 quarts of oil in 1000 miles. I drove it to 110,500 miles, and at that time, it was burning about 1/2 quart in 1000 miles. The motor was never broken in properly. I slowly broke it in as I drove it. And yes, I sold it for a $700 profit. It is time for you to hammer on the motor a little bit. I don't mean abuse or over-rev it. And I don't mean to cruise it at a constant speed/rpm. Even your owners' manual states to vary the RPM during break-in. Just don't be afraid to go wide open throttle. A lot. Do it frequently for a while, and I suspect much of your oil burning will go away. If it were my bike, I would change the oil and put regular oil back in for another few thousand miles. I don't care what anyone else on the list or someones' slick synthetic oil advertisement says, I only know from experience - some friends and I have had a number of OLDER bikes do funny things when switched to synthetic oil. Most common problem reported is slipping clutches. I'm not saying there is a problem with synthetic, or the clutches, and it is probably not proper for older bikes. It is just that to some people synthetic oil is some kind of Holy Grail to cure all problems, that motors will magically last twice as long with synthetic, and that the regular oil that has been serving us well for over 100 years has somehow turned to crap. Gee - synthetic is new and high-tech, it must be better. By the way, most people on this list would agree that the KLR is pretty much unchanged in 20 years. Could it be that it too is somewhat "low tech" like my other older bikes? Page 65 of your owner manual states the oil type to use. Are any of those oil type designations for synthetic oil? I don't know, and I don't have time to look it up right now, but I DON'T see any direct reference - yes or no - to the approved use of synthetic oil. Think about it. Synthetic has been around for, what, 10, 20 years??? I have kind of noticed that a few of the problems that people have are related to modifications that are done to the stock bike. Not to say the bike is perfect, but makes you wonder how Kawasaki could produce this bike for 20 years and thousands others without all of this "help"............ This list has a term for these "helpful" modifications: DPO - dipsh*t previous owner.......... By the way, I did idle mixture screw mod - opened from 7/8 to about 1 1/2 turns open. Bike throttle response seems better at the low end. Still feels like it could be just a touch lean at the high end - nothing dangerous, though. No carb jetting is perfect for all locations. Jeff A20 Sure to piss off a few people....... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[ron criswell]

Must be something to the baby the engine routine. I had a Mazda B2600 and put 225,000 miles on it driving the heck out of it, revved the crap out of it and it never used oil except maybe a little right before I traded it. I used Vavoline what erever they put in at the Mazda dealership my wife works at every 3,000 miles. We gave my kid a Mazda B2000 truck and being a kid, I don't think he was too conscientious about oil changes. Still, he got 200,000 miles put of it. He called one day "Dad, my oil light came on and nothing shows on the dipstick." Uh Oh, ........... trouble. Criswell

On Thursday, December 1, 2005, at 11:26 PM, jokerloco9@... wrote: > Call it fact or fantasy, and while it is sure to provoke a huge outcry > of > discussion on this list, some people think that an engine run too > soon on > synthetic will burn a little oil until the motor is broken in. I > think most > people would say 6000 miles is about the time it is OK to use > synthetic. But > your motor may not have broken-in completely yet. > > It still may depend on how you run the motor. After the initial > break-in, > some would say you should not "baby" the motor, as it will only slow > down the > break-in. > > In 1999, I bought a 1984 Mazda B2000 pickup with 18,748 original miles > from > the original owner. To make the story short, the vehicle had > literally NEVER > been on the freeway, top speed in its' entire life may have been 50 > MPH, and > was only driven 4 miles to and from work. It was an older guy that > "babied" > it. > > When I started driving it, it would go through a full 1-2 quarts of > oil in > 1000 miles. I drove it to 110,500 miles, and at that time, it was > burning > about 1/2 quart in 1000 miles. The motor was never broken in > properly. I > slowly broke it in as I drove it. And yes, I sold it for a $700 > profit. > > It is time for you to hammer on the motor a little bit. I don't mean > abuse > or over-rev it. And I don't mean to cruise it at a constant > speed/rpm. Even > your owners' manual states to vary the RPM during break-in. Just > don't be > afraid to go wide open throttle. A lot. Do it frequently for a > while, and I > suspect much of your oil burning will go away. If it were my bike, I > would > change the oil and put regular oil back in for another few thousand > miles. > > I don't care what anyone else on the list or someones' slick synthetic > oil > advertisement says, I only know from experience - some friends and I > have had > a number of OLDER bikes do funny things when switched to synthetic > oil. Most > common problem reported is slipping clutches. I'm not saying there > is a > problem with synthetic, or the clutches, and it is probably not > proper for older > bikes. It is just that to some people synthetic oil is some kind of > Holy > Grail to cure all problems, that motors will magically last twice as > long with > synthetic, and that the regular oil that has been serving us well for > over 100 > years has somehow turned to crap. Gee - synthetic is new and > high-tech, it > must be better. By the way, most people on this list would agree > that the > KLR is pretty much unchanged in 20 years. Could it be that it too is > somewhat > "low tech" like my other older bikes? > > Page 65 of your owner manual states the oil type to use. Are any of > those > oil type designations for synthetic oil? I don't know, and I don't > have time > to look it up right now, but I DON'T see any direct reference - yes or > no - > to the approved use of synthetic oil. Think about it. Synthetic > has been > around for, what, 10, 20 years??? > > I have kind of noticed that a few of the problems that people have are > related to modifications that are done to the stock bike. Not to say > the bike is > perfect, but makes you wonder how Kawasaki could produce this bike for > 20 > years and thousands others without all of this "help"............ > > This list has a term for these "helpful" modifications: DPO - dipsh*t > previous owner.......... > > By the way, I did idle mixture screw mod - opened from 7/8 to about 1 > 1/2 > turns open. Bike throttle response seems better at the low end. > Still feels > like it could be just a touch lean at the high end - nothing > dangerous, > though. No carb jetting is perfect for all locations. > > Jeff A20 Sure to piss off a few people....... > > > > > >

[mark_anthony123]

frustrating though. Gas was 3 bucks a gallon and I was all proud of how I scooted up my shack in VT from CT on 4 gallons only to have to pay 4+ bucks for quart of oil at a quickie mart. They wanted 10 bucks a quart for syn so I ended up dilluting my syn with dino. Likely go back to dyno but my clutch is less grabby at first start with syn and dino tends to get pretty burned on hot summer day rides. I hate to say it but I may have to look into the kawi concorse, it seems my highway trips with my klr is asking too much from my thumper. I91 in the northeast is 75mph average and I must have tried to shift into 6th gear about 100 times now. I wonder how is it that the klr and the concorse both get the mpg rating?

[htdb33]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, scott quillen wrote:

> > Barry, > > I've heard mixed reviews...lightweight/pack small/good

protection...

> but that they tear easily. > > Regards, > Scott >

I wouldnt wear them hiking in the woods but they are fine for motorcycleing. They are made of the same or a similiar material as the Tyvex stuff they sheath houses with. As to the different styles. The missus and I have differenct styles of both the jacket and pants. I have the bib style pants. She has the regular. The bibs offer greater protection in a long hard rain. The problem with this is it is a PIA to get anything out of your pants pockets with them on. I have the pull over jacket. She has a regular zip up jacket. The nice thing about the regular jacket is it comes with a nifty built in pouch to store the hood in. The pull over jacket does not. I have the choice of letting it flap in the wind or rolling it up and cliping it with one of those black binder clips. The normal jacket is also a bit easier to put on and off. Although it is possible to pull mine on without removing my helmet. Were I to do it over again I would get the bib pants and a zip up jacket. By the way, if you go to the Frogg Togg website directly and or call them you can get a much greater variety of colors and can order any combination of styles you like. Yankee Dog

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Dec 1, 2005, at 11:26 PM, jokerloco9@... wrote:

> It is time for you to hammer on the motor a little bit. I don't > mean abuse > or over-rev it. And I don't mean to cruise it at a constant speed/ > rpm. Even > your owners' manual states to vary the RPM during break-in. Just > don't be > afraid to go wide open throttle. A lot. Do it frequently for a > while, and I > suspect much of your oil burning will go away. If it were my > bike, I would > change the oil and put regular oil back in for another few > thousand miles.

Agreed. The most important thing you do when breaking in a new engine is get the rings properly seated. To do that, you need a lot of pressure in both directions on the rings. Compression pressure comes from full-throttle application up to high RPMs, while vacuum pressure comes from coasting down from high RPMs with zero throttle. If this isn't done very, very early in the engine's life it is possible that the rings will not completely seat and the engine will burn oil until a ring job and proper seating of the rings is done.

> Page 65 of your owner manual states the oil type to use. Are any > of those > oil type designations for synthetic oil? I don't know, and I > don't have time > to look it up right now, but I DON'T see any direct reference - yes > or no - > to the approved use of synthetic oil.

The designations in our manuals don't have any relevance to the origin of the oil, only its performance characteristics. Dino or synth can meet/exceed the designations' requirements.

> Think about it. Synthetic has been > around for, what, 10, 20 years???

AMSOIL was the first commercial producer of synthetic oils back in 1972, so synth predates even our long-lived motorcycles. -- Blake Sobiloff http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> San Jose, CA (USA)

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Dec 2, 2005, at 8:15 AM, mark_anthony123 wrote:

> I hate to > say it but I may have to look into the kawi concorse, it seems my > highway trips with my klr is asking too much from my thumper.

Nothing wrong with a Connie, but your KLR should be able to handle long trips better than what you're experiencing. It may be that your motor was not broken in correctly, but it could also be that there's some gunk gumming up your rings and letting oil flow past. I found that to be the case with my KLR, which I bought used. I did one treatment of Auto-Rx http://www.auto-rx.com/> and in the past couple thousand miles I haven't been using any oil. Read more at .

> I91 in > the northeast is 75mph average and I must have tried to shift into 6th > gear about 100 times now. I wonder how is it that the klr and the > concorse both get the mpg rating?

60 MPH--that's the top speed the gubbermint drives at to determine highway fuel economy. See http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ fe_test_schedules.shtml>. -- Blake Sobiloff http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> San Jose, CA (USA)

[Pat Cunningham]

Perhaps a 16t sprocket would help.

On Dec 2, 2005, at 11:15 AM, mark_anthony123 wrote: > frustrating though. Gas was 3 bucks a gallon and I was all proud of > how I scooted up my shack in VT from CT on 4 gallons only to have to > pay 4+ bucks for quart of oil at a quickie mart. They wanted 10 bucks > a quart for syn so I ended up dilluting my syn with dino. Likely go > back to dyno but my clutch is less grabby at first start with syn and > dino tends to get pretty burned on hot summer day rides. I hate to > say it but I may have to look into the kawi concorse, it seems my > highway trips with my klr is asking too much from my thumper. I91 in > the northeast is 75mph average and I must have tried to shift into 6th > gear about 100 times now. I wonder how is it that the klr and the > concorse both get the mpg rating? > > > > > > Archive Quicksearch at: > http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > >