Need opinions on Shell Helix 20W - 50 Oil for the Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 4S - Team-BHP

ron_9191 · 26th May 2009, 23:41

Hi there fellow BHPians! I am planning to change the my Bullet Electra 4 Speed's engine oil to Shell Helix 20W - 50. I was very impressed with Shell oils coz I used it on my Baleno Vxi and boy oh boy the differences was quite noticeable. The car is super smooth now and the power delivery and the throttle response has improved drastically. I know the technology used in my bike is a million miles away from what is used in my car, but it still keeps me thinking that I should go for the Shell Helix. Please advice ....

desideep · 27th May 2009, 00:59

We used this oil in our Bullet Standard and our electra one the same day. we went from delhi to Gurgaon it was a total of around 35 Km run. it was hot sunny summer day last year. and when we got to gurgaon the engine was very hot tried to check the condition of oil i miss took it as warm water when my friend touched my hand with the dipstick. we drained the oil from the Electra rite away. it was flowing like any thing not thick at all.

300 some rs were going to go down the drain. but not rite way.
we got a can of Veedol Turbo star and put that into the electra again a run from IFCO chowk to New Delhi Domestic Airport and come back

check the bikes the Veedol was amazing and the Oil in my STD was again the same like the drained oil. so that means in roughly 70 KMs we had decieded never to touch that oil again for The bullets for sure.

now we had almost 6 L of oil to our disposal . i thought of using it in my Wagon R but was not sure so gave it to a friend to use it for his really old Maruti 800.

My borther uses Shell for his car he is very happy with it. i dont know what exactly he uses

hollywoodhogan · 27th May 2009, 01:40

first of all, unless you are superman, there is no way by visual, touch or feel that a normal human being can make out whether one engine oil is better than the other.

the interpretations can be so different, for example:
1. warm oil as opposed to hot oil can also mean that the oil is not taking away the heat from the engine as required by it.
2. clean and clear oil despite running thousands of kms can also mean that the oil is not cleaning up the carbon in the engine.
Etc. etc. ect.

so lets not judge an oil until its put to a proper lab test. for example, all human perceptions of great performance and super smoothness of synthetic oils vs mineral oils are just hallucinations. no way we can make out a smoother running engine just by feel on the wheel.

i know that many may object but believe you me, what i am saying is true. of course am not saying that if you use 90w inplace of 40w that one cannot feel the diff. all am saying is that humanly its not possible to feel the difference in performance be it veedol 20w-40 or shell 20w-40.

hollywoodhogan · 27th May 2009, 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron_9191

The car is super smooth now and the power delivery and the throttle response has improved drastically.

drastically? come on!!! dont tell me that the manufacturer recommended "groundnut oil" until you discovered that shell "drastically" improves performance??? no way jose!! its all in the head of the driver. you mean to say that hp, bpcl, iocl make poor lubricants that compare drastically negative to shell? not at all my friend.

ron_9191 · 20th June 2009, 19:03

Running Shell Helix 20w-50 on the Bullet now. And trust me it is super smooth!!. I thought may be I was just feeling good or may be it was just me. So tried on one of my friend's Bullet Standard. He says the difference is far too much to explain. both of our bikes idle clean, makes very low noise from the valves at high RPM, and the most important thing is that vibrations have come down. Which is a good thing!!!. Try it out my friends. I m sure you will be happy about it.

Raccoon · 20th June 2009, 19:46

Instead of using Shell Helix, which is a car oil why not use a fully synth oil for bikes? Motul makes some xW50 oil for bikes, I believe. Would be much safer to use that. Price will also in the whereabouts to what you pay for Shell. Whats more its Ester based which I'm pretty sure Shell is not.

straight6 · 21st June 2009, 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Instead of using Shell Helix, which is a car oil why not use a fully synth oil for bikes? Motul makes some xW50 oil for bikes, I believe. Would be much safer to use that. Price will also in the whereabouts to what you pay for Shell. Whats more its Ester based which I'm pretty sure Shell is not.

Thats the 300V and its available in 15W-50.

ron_9191 · 24th June 2009, 20:32

You guys are right straight6 and racoon. There are better oils available. But the difference here is that Shell performs better as the oil is a lot more thicker, which is very good for the bullet with a cast iron bore. Coz if you go for a thinner oil like the 5w-50, it can develop unwanted oil leaks on your bullets, which I am sure you wouldn't like. Well I am no scientist here, but Shell Helix 20w-50 has been running on my bike and I love the way my bike goes now. I feel a day and night difference between the stupid Veedol 20w-50 which the company recommends.

not the 5W-50. I meant to sat 15w-50

26th May 2009, 23:41	#1 (permalink)
ron_9191 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 115	Need opinions on Shell Helix 20W - 50 Oil for the Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 4S Hi there fellow BHPians! I am planning to change the my Bullet Electra 4 Speed's engine oil to Shell Helix 20W - 50. I was very impressed with Shell oils coz I used it on my Baleno Vxi and boy oh boy the differences was quite noticeable. The car is super smooth now and the power delivery and the throttle response has improved drastically. I know the technology used in my bike is a million miles away from what is used in my car, but it still keeps me thinking that I should go for the Shell Helix. Please advice .... __________________ 2006 Baleno Vxi 2005 Bullet Electra 4s

27th May 2009, 00:59	#2 (permalink)
desideep BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: PB03, HR26, DL** Posts: 477 View My Garage	We used this oil in our Bullet Standard and our electra one the same day. we went from delhi to Gurgaon it was a total of around 35 Km run. it was hot sunny summer day last year. and when we got to gurgaon the engine was very hot tried to check the condition of oil i miss took it as warm water when my friend touched my hand with the dipstick. we drained the oil from the Electra rite away. it was flowing like any thing not thick at all. 300 some rs were going to go down the drain. but not rite way. we got a can of Veedol Turbo star and put that into the electra again a run from IFCO chowk to New Delhi Domestic Airport and come back check the bikes the Veedol was amazing and the Oil in my STD was again the same like the drained oil. so that means in roughly 70 KMs we had decieded never to touch that oil again for The bullets for sure. now we had almost 6 L of oil to our disposal . i thought of using it in my Wagon R but was not sure so gave it to a friend to use it for his really old Maruti 800. My borther uses Shell for his car he is very happy with it. i dont know what exactly he uses __________________ 2002 SUZUKI ZEN \| 1993 YAMAHA RX100 \| 1977 RE Bullet 350 STD \| 2008 HH CBZ \| 1997 LML NVSpl

27th May 2009, 01:40	#3 (permalink)
hollywoodhogan BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: bangalore Posts: 335	first of all, unless you are superman, there is no way by visual, touch or feel that a normal human being can make out whether one engine oil is better than the other. the interpretations can be so different, for example: 1. warm oil as opposed to hot oil can also mean that the oil is not taking away the heat from the engine as required by it. 2. clean and clear oil despite running thousands of kms can also mean that the oil is not cleaning up the carbon in the engine. Etc. etc. ect. so lets not judge an oil until its put to a proper lab test. for example, all human perceptions of great performance and super smoothness of synthetic oils vs mineral oils are just hallucinations. no way we can make out a smoother running engine just by feel on the wheel. i know that many may object but believe you me, what i am saying is true. of course am not saying that if you use 90w inplace of 40w that one cannot feel the diff. all am saying is that humanly its not possible to feel the difference in performance be it veedol 20w-40 or shell 20w-40. __________________ life is a beach....enjoy it! surYa Last edited by hollywoodhogan : 27th May 2009 at 01:51.

20th June 2009, 19:03	#5 (permalink)
ron_9191 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 115	Running Shell Helix 20w-50 on the Bullet now. And trust me it is super smooth!!. I thought may be I was just feeling good or may be it was just me. So tried on one of my friend's Bullet Standard. He says the difference is far too much to explain. both of our bikes idle clean, makes very low noise from the valves at high RPM, and the most important thing is that vibrations have come down. Which is a good thing!!!. Try it out my friends. I m sure you will be happy about it. __________________ 2006 Baleno Vxi 2005 Bullet Electra 4s

24th June 2009, 20:32	#8 (permalink)
ron_9191 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 115	You guys are right straight6 and racoon. There are better oils available. But the difference here is that Shell performs better as the oil is a lot more thicker, which is very good for the bullet with a cast iron bore. Coz if you go for a thinner oil like the 5w-50, it can develop unwanted oil leaks on your bullets, which I am sure you wouldn't like. Well I am no scientist here, but Shell Helix 20w-50 has been running on my bike and I love the way my bike goes now. I feel a day and night difference between the stupid Veedol 20w-50 which the company recommends. not the 5W-50. I meant to sat 15w-50 __________________ 2006 Baleno Vxi 2005 Bullet Electra 4s Last edited by Technocrat : 24th June 2009 at 20:42.

20th June 2009, 19:46	#6 (permalink)
Raccoon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Poona Posts: 1,166	Instead of using Shell Helix, which is a car oil why not use a fully synth oil for bikes? Motul makes some xW50 oil for bikes, I believe. Would be much safer to use that. Price will also in the whereabouts to what you pay for Shell. Whats more its Ester based which I'm pretty sure Shell is not.

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