Hard to find Neutral solved and with other benefits too!

I bought my 2013 TV4 at the beginning of March, apart from just doing a few miles the day after collecting the bike, I changed the oil to Millers ZFS 10w40, Fully Synthetic. Over the next 900 miles I found it hard to select neutral, hardly ever being able to select neutral from first gear with the bike stationary and selecting first gear from neutral was is a bit of a clunk almost like getting a bit of drag on the clutch. I checked and adjusted everything to do with the clutch and concluded it more than likely to be the oil.

Although I intended to change the Millers ZFS 10w40 with Shell Advanced 10W40 fully synthetic oil, I decided to flush the engine through with Lidl 15W40 engine oil.
As soon as I changed the oil to the Lidl 15W40 and rode the bike for about 20 miles I noticed a complete change. The gears became slick and changing down was almost as good as the quick shifter. After 60 miles I had no problem selecting neutral from either first or second gear and selecting neutral from a stand still was also no problem.

After completing 300 miles, still using the 15W40 Lidl oil, I found the slow hot starts, which are a known issue on pre 2014 model Tuono V4s, where eased with the engine turning over far more readily than before.

I have now completed 600 miles with the 15W40 Lidl oil and had fully intended to change it at 500miles, however on my last couple of rides I've noticed another known issue has eased. The cam chain can rattle on start up when the engine is hot. This rattle is caused by the cam chains hydraulically operated tensioner loosing oil pressure after stopping the engine and not refilling until a few second after restating the engine. Since using this oil the cam chain tensioner must fill more quickly and the rattle stops sooner than it had before the oil change.

The Lidl oil is a mineral oil with synthetic additives and is designed to be used in petrol or diesel engines. It has an API SL , ACEA A3 petrol engine oil standard which is the same API Aprilia recommends for my V4 Tuono. With the oil also being suitable for diesel engines API CF, it has been designed to withstand shear effect which I thought could be an issue as a mineral oil is more prone to this in a bike engine where the gears run in the same oil. The only grade it does not state or conform to is the JASO which is recommended as an anti clutch slip standard for engines with wet multi plate clutches which also run in the engine oil. To date I have not suffered any clutch slip at all.

I have decided to take this oil up to 1000 miles and continue to monitor it performance characteristics and will let you know my findings as I get them.

This is a Youtube video I made after only 60mile with the Lidl oil.
https://youtu.be/XO2ZRSq11Zs

999Gav said:

Seems odd... I can understand the Cold crank being better and the camchain tensioner noise not being so apparent when cold due to the higher thickness rating, but they are both rated 40 weight when hot, so it should be the same viscosity.

You say you had Millers fully synth in at first, What type of oil is the Lidl? Part-synth/Mineral/fully? Because that may hold your answer.

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The 15w40 maybe a bit thicker than a 5w40 or 10w40 because the 40weight conforms to viscosity ratings at 40 Celsius and 100 Celsius but how the viscosity changes between the two temperatures could be slightly different from one oil to another depending on the polymer additives called viscosity index improvers, or VIIs. This isn't the only possible reason why there is a quicker reaction time to the cam chain tentioner.
The Lidl oil is mainly mineral but has synthetic additives.

Blade said:

You shouldn't use car oil in a bike with a wet clutch as the additives in it known as "slippers" will ruin your clutch

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Yes there is a potential for clutch slip if using a car oil but as yet this has not been the case using the Lidl oil.
Also don't use oils that have the "energy conserving" SAE label on the back of the container this will have more potential for clutch slip.

MCN have compared car oils with dedicated motorcycle oil with some surprising results. ie some bike oil shears down more quickly than car oil.
Bike oil rip off? | MCN