Motorcycle Repair: Oil additives for Kawasaki? Teflon?, kawasaki ninja zx7r, internal combustion engine

Question
Christopher,
Are there any oil additives that you recommend for a 1999 Kawasaki ninja zx7r.  Are Teflon based additives safe and efficient?  Do they work like they claim for cold starts?   Basically do they really protect from engine wear?  I hear that a fair amount of engine wear occurs at initial start up.  Is that a myth?

Thanks a million,
Eric


Answer
Hi Eric.
 The vast majority of additives that are out there are designed for cars, not bikes. Don't use them.  Just stick with the recommended oils as per the service manual and owner's manual.  In lieu of that, I recommend Spectro Golden in place of the factory oils (if you don't want to use the recommended factory oils).

As far as damage during startup; Yes, it does occur.  What happens during extended periods of non-use (over the course of a few hours or more), is that the oil that was in the upper engine after the bike got started, goes in the direction that gravity intends; Down, into the crank case and oil pan.  When you start the bike up, the oil pump now has to send all that oil back up into the rest of the engine again.  Now this only takes a couple of seconds, but much of the engine is not lubricated for those couple of seconds.  This is true of ANY internal combustion engine, so don't worry.  Engineers have already designed the engines to run for a second or two, when cold, on little to no oil in the system.

Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON