I love Leonard Setright's books and articles. A brilliant writer, engineer, and lawyer. I was privileged to know him slightly back in the day.
I still have one of his books here, "Tuning BLs A series engines". It was considered the bible for anyone who had a proper Mini all those years ago. Because of my career choice, I found some of the stuff that he wrote about very interesting.
Bob T, undo a top end oil feed pipe on your Ducati and hit the starter button and see how long the oil takes to reach the union. Better still video it and post it ;-)
Why would I bother to do that? Much easier to use a decent oil and not start the engine if I am not going to ride it. You seem to disagree with people who have much more knowledge than you or I do.
I only write with 20+ years of Ducati ownership, and the personal experience of leaving a top end feed banjo pipe loose on a rebuild start up. I don't quote other people unless my personal experience backs this up.
I had the same belts in my SS way beyond the two years, probably five or more. When I did eventually succumb and change them, they were in as good condition as the new ones and instantly returned to oval. As mentioned, seized rollers and poor fitting are far more likely to cause problems than going over two years. When you do change them, it has to be a good idea to check the tension shortly afterwards and if it's still good, it will probably stay good. Regular checks on the rollers are not going to hurt either. Doing these things is much more important than slavishly changing every two years, I'd say. I'm using Chris Kelley's California Cycleworks ExactFit belts in my 999 because I seriously resent the price of OEM belts, which is even more crazy than the two year limit. After shipping etc, the saving isn't huge but at least I have the satisfaction of voting with my feet as it were. Sadly, no one seems willing to take on importing these belts, which would bring the price right down and force Ducati to think again about their pricing Gates are just a belt manufacturer, there are others. Do we all use Brembo pads in our brakes? I think not...
When I was a student, I lived in the same road as LJK Setright (Wensleydale Road, Hampton). He could be seen sitting in his study typing away, facing the window and the road, most evenings. The family car was a Bristol and his missus used to drive it with some verve... In those days he had god-like status and I would certainly believe anything he had to say about engines.
I figured the belts I took off my Monster the summer before last were at least 7 years old, and if I recall looked as new. I'm pleased I changed them - my peace of mind when ragging the thing round Welsh B roads (on the two decent rides I've had between breakdowns) were worth the time and trouble of changing them. They are now being done again, along with the valve shims, this time by a garage as part of a full service. It seems a bit of a false economy not to change them at a convienient time, even though again they looked as new. The 1198 had the full two year service just a couple of months ago, Id say it was unnecessary changing the belts but again, it's peace of mind.
That sounds like an excellent idea to me. I'd have said the complexity involved would be acceptable on a plane though, surely little more than a small electric motor driving an oil pump in the oil circuit? Perhaps a small heater in line would help too? I appreciate Theres little chance (or need, in my opinion) of the space behind the fairing being available on our road bikes for them though. Personally, as I mention every time the (or a battery? charge or not to charge) subject of belt positioning, cold starts, ticking over in the garage until warm comes up I simply repeat my logic - I don thermals and ride my road bikes on the road. I accept any wear that may occur as an unfortunate side effect of me using my expensive toys for what I bought them for. There's very few months when the weather has been so constantly crap I can't get out and enjoy a ride on them. My opinion only! As I read on this forum a while back, you don't buy a chocolate bar and leave it in its wrapper do you!
Ian, bob, if you didn't want to preheat the oil then all you'd need is a reservoir, an oil pump and two dry breaks tee-ing off your in/out on the cooler or engine. Plug the pump in and off you go. If you did want to preheat it then you'd put a thermostatic heating element in the receiver pot.
Just keep a small green house heater, 60 watt? under the sump, perhaps. I've read that allowing the oil to get really cold permanently thickens even fully synthetic, so this would bring several benefits. Chuck a big blanket over the whole bike as well and you'd even keep condensation away.
60 watts on 24/7 for the winter would come to about 200 KwH I reckon. How much would that cost on the electricity bill I wonder?
£20 seems a reasonable price for stopping the engine and the oil from getting too frozen, doesn't it?
During winter and every few weeks, i put my bike in gear and roll the rear wheel a little until the belts are sitting in a different place on the gear wheels. No need to start it and worry about viscosity and all that nonsense. Sorted.
All you are doing by preheating the oil is making it thinner, great in the days when you could only get 20/50, but these days modern oils can be 5/50 and therefore the same thickness as the old oils when hot, but thinner when cold. the 5 will still be thicker at 10c than the 50 will at 100c. The only reason to heat and make it thinner is to put less strain on the starting system and get it to circulate quicker on start up, so minimising the time with no oil.
Exactly but also, according to my reading from those more knowledgeable, even fully synthetic oil is permanently thickened by exposure to very cold temperatures. Should cut down on condensation in the engine too.
What's the definition of 'cold temperates' at which synthetic oil becomes problematic, for your average decent bike oil? Are we talking autumn in Exeter (in which case I'll become concerned!) or mid winter in Russia (when I won't)?
