I agree with you on this. There is no way I would ever run anything higher than 50-1. I run the Sabre oil in my 2 cycle Lawn Boy mowers and Stihl weedeater and chainsaw but I go 40-1. They just say you can go up to 100-1 but it also shows 50-1 and lower ratios on the back of the bottle. I run Dominator in my bikes at 40-1. Switched from Honda HP2 at 32-1. The thing people have to remember is you are lubricating everything in the engine not just the piston. I want my cranks to last too. I also tend to keep things pretty much forever. Seems like most the guys in favor of 50-1 and higher ratios are the guys who trade everything off every couple of years.SS109 wrote: ↑06:33 pm Jan 25 2020 I respect Slaven but that doesn't mean his word is gospel for anyone else. With the riders he deals with, in their environment, his experience holds more validity than it does for someone who rides completely differently in vastly different areas. However, it is smart to take the experience of people like him and see how it does or can apply to you and your situation.
That said... I have run 40:1 for thousands of hours, including with the infamous Castor 927, and don't get spooge unless it's time to repack my silencer or I haven't changed the jetting for the current warmer/higher elevation. My plugs look perfect mocha brown and I replace them once a year only because I feel like I should. Any spooge from a KDX is due to poor jetting, bad/worn carburetor, the silencer needing repacking, or a leaking right crank seal. No, I wouldn't ever run a ratio thinner than 50:1 in a KDX no matter who says it's fine. I'll trust more in the Kawasaki engineers who designed the KDX, who spent some real R&D time and money figuring out what worked best in it, over anyone else. Yes, I'm sure they went a little conservative on the ratio to insure the bikes were well oiled so running a little less probably isn't going to hurt it. However, 80:1 or 100:1? I wouldn't even think about it! The newer 2T oils are good but they aren't two times better at protecting your rings, piston, bearings, or cylinder plating than the 2T oils available when the KDX was built. I really don't understand why some will cheap out on oil yet put a lot of money in power adders, stabilizers, whatever, for their 2T bikes. It just blows my mind.
One other thing a lot of people seem to forget when choosing oil ratios... you make more power with more oil due to better ring seal with all other factors being equal.. This is proven to keep working up to a roughly 16:1 ratio. I also believe ring and piston life will last longer, based on the better ring seal, with higher oil ratios under the same circumstances.
Take what I say for what it's worth and nothing more. My bikes are long term investments in to my own personal happiness. I do what I know to keep them living for the long haul and, for my riding style, under my circumstances, I have been proven right over the years. Does that mean my experience applies to you? No, not directly but it's as valid as any other experience(s) out there with the KDX. I accept that I won't be able to convince no one to not run the horrible Sabre oil, or 80/100:1 ratios, and everyone else should accept that no one will convince me of the opposite.
My 2 cycle Lawn Boy mowers for example are not made anymore and the cylinders cant be resleeved, cant even be bored since there are no oversize pistons made. So once the cylinders are wore out they are done for good. I run 32-1 in them.
or at least I did until I spun the impellor on the shaft and overheated the engine, would I have got away with with only a worn piston at a 90:1 ratio, I think much less likely. I run 35:1 and use a cheap semi synthetic locally made oil
