Placebo effect, weather or fairings?

Morning all,
bit of an odd one, may well be nothing, I don't really expect an answer but some discussion would be interesting.

I changed my oil at the weekend, wasn't able to ride the bike yesterday other than 0.5 miles to the shops and back, I haven't put the fairings back on it yet as I need to change the spark plugs and air filter when they turn up.

on the way to work this morning it felt significantly more eager, peppy, I couldn't decide if it was:

• the wind chill making me feel the sensation of speed more (placebo)
• the cold air making the most of the combustion (weather)
• or a combination of colder air and lack of fairings increasing air flow?

I can't see the oil change making any such difference as it was still above the L mark when I changed it so nothing untoward should have been happening.

Any thoughts?
Or should I just shut up and enjoy the ride LOL

Originally Posted by Brettus

Morning all,
bit of an odd one, may well be nothing, I don't really expect an answer but some discussion would be interesting.

I changed my oil at the weekend, wasn't able to ride the bike yesterday other than 0.5 miles to the shops and back, I haven't put the fairings back on it yet as I need to change the spark plugs and air filter when they turn up.

on the way to work this morning it felt significantly more eager, peppy, I couldn't decide if it was:

• the wind chill making me feel the sensation of speed more (placebo)
• the cold air making the most of the combustion (weather)
• or a combination of colder air and lack of fairings increasing air flow?

I can't see the oil change making any such difference as it was still above the L mark when I changed it so nothing untoward should have been happening.

Any thoughts?
Or should I just shut up and enjoy the ride LOL

fresh oil will be a little thinner than the oxidised used stuff so may make it feel a bit fresher - also the colder more dense air can also help the combustion so that may also be helping - plus, the volatility of fuel is normally higher in the winter too, so that may also be helping ....

Plus the bike without fairings will feel smaller probably so may have an effect on the overall feel of the bike ?

lots of little things adding up to make a difference ?

Spokey

[yorkie_chris]

I thought oil reduced in viscosity as it "wears"?

Usual arguement against plastic bikes... excess weight you don't need. Get rid of it, bike is lighter!

I suspect its not just the weight as the fairings actually don't weigh that much and I swapped the exhaust out shortly before for full titanium saving me a good 4.5kg and I didn't notice anything except noise. the temp may well be the main factor though.
Ah well, I'm not complaining, feels good anyhow

[dizzyblonde]

lol....wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that its fooookin freeezing out and you wanted to get to said destination quicker.

New oil (as YC ) is thicker in density/viscosity whatever ya wanna call it, it gets thinner with age.
As for no fairings...well the wind chill just made your nipples stand out like chapel hat pegs...thats probably the peppy feeling you had

[Biker Biggles]

Probably all the gravel and tar you drained out of the engine makes it go better.

When I took the 2wheeljunkies fairing off my bike and went back to OEM it felt the same, I would say it is just the less wind resistance down by your legs (if that makes sense) rather than any power increase.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

lol....wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that its fooookin freeezing out and you wanted to get to said destination quicker.

As for no fairings...well the wind chill just made your nipples stand out like chapel hat pegs...thats probably the peppy feeling you had

ROFL, you might be on to something, think I'll be digging my snood out to stop the downdraft

Thanks for the thoughts everyone, interesting points of view

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I thought oil reduced in viscosity as it "wears"?

Not really - you can get some thinning due to the shearing of the polymer that allows it to act as a multigrade ( Polymer uncoils as the oil warms up, and this affects the resistance to flow, allowing a thin oil to act like a more viscous one - but lets not go there eh ) but in good quality oils the polymers are shear stable so the viscosity should remain fairly constant - and in synthetic oils, there isn't as much polymer required so it is also more resistant to shear.

As you use oil, the volatile components ( especially in a mineral oil ) evaporate and the heat oxidises the oil which tends to thicken it up ( here's a picture of what happens when you don't change your oil on time and the oil gets VERY thick !! ) - that's why the oil slicks you see washing up on the beaches are like tar - the volatile part ( which normally goes to make fuels ) evaporates off, and that's why synthetic oils are much better as they are much less volatile so are not affected by heat so much - so tend not to thicken when used.

The main way the oil can get thinner is usually from fuel dilution ( which if this happens you've got serious issues ) or if someone tops up with a thinner oil.

I have some oil samples - Mineral, part and full synthetic - all have been cooked at 200 degrees for 20 hours - the mineral one has turned to solid gel - the part synthetic has gone very black and thick, but still runs, the full synthetic has goine dark - but is still very fluid and capable of lubricating ( unlike the other two ) - a good example of what happens in your engine over time.

Cheers

Spokey

Naked bikes feel faster