I learnt the value of good oils maintaining machinery in the harshest conditions on earth – hot opal fields, dusty paddocks and the back tracks around the bush. As a motorcyclist, you could always ‘feel’ the difference between really good lubrication and average oils because all that slipping and sliding was going on right between your legs!
So, in the late ’80’s, while running all over the country on my ’84 Harley building ‘Live to Ride’ magazine, I’d already worked out that locally formulated Penrite was the oil of choice for me. By then Penrite had launched and proven their HPR (High Performance Range) and I wasn’t on my own in realising it was the best oil on the Aussie market. You could tell a good workshop by the choice of oil and all the best were using Penrite.
Thirty-two years later thanks to regular changes of Penrite HPR and new filters at every change that bike is still running hard with over 740,000km on several clocks. Yes it’s been rebuilt a few times but with most people lucky to squeeze a service life of 100,000km out of the air cooled V-twins before a rebuild I’ve only seen the crank pin three times in all those years. Well four actually, but one of those was caused by faulty hard surfacing on an aftermarket pin.
So, it’s no wonder as soon a Milo copped the 13BT transplant she went on a strict diet of Penrite HPR turbo diesel oil. Thanks to regular changes I managed to squeeze over 200,000km out of what turned out to be a ‘burnt’ engine. Yes, the grey 13BT motor I’d bought turned out to have been seized in a former life but good lubrication extended it’s life. Allan Gray and I could ‘read’ all this into the wear patterns when we finally stripped it down for the rebuild. Bad bearing scorch marks had been almost polished out thanks to good oil.
Terrain Tamer rebuilt that motor over a decade ago and I ran it in on Penrite. Now, over 500,000km of outback abuse later, it still runs perfectly. That proves the point, doesn’t it? Regular changes of fresh Penrite is the cheapest insurance you’ll ever get.
It’s in the name. Back in 1926 when Les Mecoles founded Penrite ‘Pen’ came from his exclusive use of the highest quality base stocks available from Pennsylvania and ‘rite’ came from his decision to sell only the ‘rite’ oils to local customers. Those decisions have seen Penrite grow from batches of oil brewed on Les’s mum’s stove to one of the biggest specialty oil companies in the country.