Perferd

I use canola oil...

james1300

Whatever you put in your bike, make sure you CHANGE it on a regular basis.

Argeldeggy

I'll just use vegetable Oil in my bike, maybe i'll beable to do wheelie's in 6th gear Thanks for the tips you guys

bfizzle

I use Chevron Delo 400 Synthetic. It is shizzle and is cheap at Wallmart. 100% Synthetic and I could hear the difference between that and dino oil. My motor idles quieter and can change it twice as often as Mobil 1 for the same price.

richardlpalmer

Oil, Tires and Relgion -- three things that should never be discussed on a forum...

Skier

I have about 700 miles on my latest oil change with Mobil 1 synthetic on my bike. Didn't notice a single bit of difference, once that oil change interval is up, it's back to regular ol' Castrol GTX goodness for me. Or maybe I'll use up that gallon container of Honda 20W-50 oil I have sitting around. Either way, no more $30 for five quarts of M1 at Wally World for me!

Buz

I have run RP in my R1 for the last 7k with no problems.

Bubba

Man that was a good read. I have been wondering how MC oil stacks up and i figured as much. Good thread and Mobile 1 or Rotella is on my shopping list for oil. Thanks for the info, i have been using Dino-oil so far so i havent been totally skrewed it is MC oil but its from Shucks. Good stuff so far but im just over 3000 and ready for the slippery stuff.

RVFR

Personlly don't see the big deal.. if it makes you sleep nights then use what you want, personlly I'll give my baby the best I can give for the buck.. don't really care what everyone else thinks or says, I know what I know, and I know whats worked for me. Ha! think this is bad try looking into the avaition industry. so Buz, you change that oil?

Loc Dogg

anybody who runs car oil in their bike is probably so slow their clutch wouldnt slip anyway. thats the funny thing. car oils have a complately different list of priorities than motorcycle grade oils. they are: 1. emissions. 2. fuel economy 3. mileage then 4. performance of the oil. motorcycle grade oils are developed with job number 1 being to protect your motor and give the best performance possible. i run maxima maxum4 extra in my truck.

Skier

As long as I have concrete evidence car oil is working fine for my bike, I'll continue to do so, regardless of how slow I am.

I'm also switching back to dino oil ASAP, Mobil 1 is awfully pricey for the same feel. Perhaps Blackstone Labs will say it lasts longer, but I'll see in a few weeks.

Wrench

Dude, do some REAL research on oil. Start by learning about BASE STOCKS and ADDITIVES.

I run car oil in my bikes, have for a long time. And my tracktimes are DEFINATELY none too shabby...

-Mobil 1 15w50
-Shell Rotella T synthetic

Both can be purchased at Walmart for WAY less than what the bike shops charge.

Oh, by the way. I know a guy who ran "bike specific" oil since his bike was brand spanking NEW, and changed it RELIGIOUSLY. He rode pretty decent, but didnt flog the snot out of it ('99 Katana 600). At about 20k, his clutch started slipping a little in the higher gears at high rpm. I told him to switch the the Mobil 1. He did. His clutch quit slipping ALL TOGETHER. So, please explain to me how that happened and how that fits into your ignorant theory about oils.

james1300

Phaang

Just to continue the flogging, here's a link to a recent car vs cycle oil study:
http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0308_oil/index.html

Wrench

Awesome article!! Page two has all the tech date; really good!!

snake

Did that article give us any idea what oil will make the bike shift smoother?

Wrench

I can tell you from personal experience that the Mobil 1 makes a positive improvement in shifting. I have heard alot of others state the same thing.

I find the Shell Rotella T shifts the same as the Mobil 1.

I dont believe the article said anything about shifting feel, though.

BLCKBSTRD

ive used castrol car oil in most of my bikes but recently changed to silkolene semi synthetic no compalints here.

snake

When you say Mobil 1 do you have you tried both the auto and motorcycle versions?
I tried M1 motorcycle a while back and didn't notice improvement.

Last oil change in my 749 was to Redline and it seemed to make shifting very smooth. Redline doesn't make a motorcycle oil.

I wonder if the Royal Purple is as good as Redline? The have RP hear at the general store and it is on sale $7.99 for the full synthetic motorcycle oil.

BLCKBSTRD

im using royal purple now it rocks ,shifting is silky smooth kinda spendy though.but im using the royal purple motorcycle oil.

Wrench

Snake,
I was referring to Mobil 1 15w50 car oil, and Shell Rotella T 5w40 truck oil. The Shell Rotella T was designed for heavy duty truck use.

ricksr6

I use Yama-4R. Works great, semi-sinthetic still kind of clucky on shifting on my older bikes though!!

yamar1

Dam rip off Yamalube!

snake

In the previous post you said you are using Silkolene.
What is the deal?

hecker

I used Mobil 1 Red Cap until they reworked their oil product line with new flashy bottles and added the Extended Performance oils. Now I can't find anything that is considered "Energy Conserving" that's not 15-50. I liked buying the 5-30 Mobil 1 that was not energy conserving by the 5 quart jug... now I buy the Mobil 1 MXT motorcycle oil at Schucks ($7.99/quart). I was tempted to switch to a different synthetic oil but I really wanted to stick with Mobil 1 and I guess I will pay the higher price for the motorcycle specific oil if I can't find what I need in the Automotive oils.

Skier

I recently received an oil analysis report from Blackstone Labs with the second oil change on my 599. I used Mobil 1 "full synthetic" gold cap - 15W30, not energy-conservering.

It's interesting to note the Mobil 1 15W-30 has more "moly" (molybdenum), at a concentration of 79 parts per million (PPM) than: Castrol GTX 20W-50 (27 PPM), Castrol GTX 5W-30 (47 PPM), and Valvoline 5W-30 (50 PPM). Only Pennzoil 5W-30 has more, at 161 PPM.

So it's actually easier on your motorcycle's wet clutch to use the "energy conserving" Castrol GTX oils and Valvoline than Mobile 1's gold cap offerings.

Food for thought.

(For clarification, I only ran the Castrol GTX 20W-50 and Mobil 1 15W-30 in my bikes, the rest are from samples from my Civic).

Skier

More oil analysis shennanigans. This time I'll compare Mobil 1 SUV 10W30 (non energy conserving) to Honda's standard GN4 20W-50. Both oils were in my bike for 2,500 miles with a SuperTech (Walmart) oil filter.

First off, wear was almost identical. There was negligable difference in wear.

Viscocity at 210 degrees F showed the synthetic Mobil 1 ahead of Honda's oil. However, there was 1% fuel dilution in the Honda oil sample, probably from the idling it does when it's warming up the cold mornings it had. One item to note is both oils were below the viscocity they should be at, even after 2,500 miles. Bike motors and transmissions are hard on oil.

The additive packages vary a bit, but not as much as I would have thought. Honda's oil had about 70% of the molybdenum additive in it that the Mobil 1 had. That's the stuff that's rough on your motorcycle clutch. The Mobil 1 oil had 79 parts per million (PPM) while Honda's oil had 56. For reference, Castrol GTX 20W-50 has 27 PPM.

Mobil 1 had an awful lot of Calcium, a cleaning additive. 2275 PPM, Honda had 1829. Castrol GTX 20W-50 has a bunch, as well: 2286 PPM.

So what am I getting at? I suppose my oil samples reinforce my belief of it's not what oil you run, it's how often you change it. You could probably run the cheapest oil at Walmart in your bike and be just fine as long as you change it every 2,500 miles. You may be safer running the oil for longer, or 2,500 might cause the oil to come out coked up and nasty. The only way to truly tell what works for your bike and your riding habits is to have the oil analyzed.

A parting note: the energy conserving Castol GTX 5W-30 my Civic uses has less anti-wear, slippery additives than either the Honda GN4 oil tested or the Mobil 1. Interesting!

RonVTR

More Info in support of Rotella Oil (The one available at WallMart)

http://www.rotella.com/qa/answerresult.php?rowid=169

I was searching the web for more information on the Rotella oil in the SH and found this response from Rotella's experts. Thought it was interesting so copied and pasted from the web site (address above). I think I will also try it and give feedback.

Can heavy-duty diesel oil be used in motorcycles?


Motorcycle gasoline engines may not seem in the same league as the big displacement diesel engine under your hood, but they share some of the same lubrication requirements. So yes, in many cases, a premium heavy-duty universal oil capable of serving both diesel and gasoline engines is the best choice for your bike.

The high power-to-displacement ratio of a motorcycle engine means rod and main bearings are subjected to loads that are not normally found in passenger car engines. The valve train is also highly loaded, and requires extreme pressure boundary lubrication. The same can be said about gears in the transmission, which are normally lubricated by engine oil. Oil additives containing phosphorus protect these highly loaded extreme pressure areas (in both gasoline and diesel engines). Because diesel engines have higher loading of components, more of the phosphorus-containing additive is present than in typical passenger car oils. And with advanced catalyst systems for gasoline engines, the phosphorus content has been declining in passenger car oils.

Since many bike engines are air-cooled, and tend to be operated at high power outputs and speeds, their lubricating oil needs to be more resistant to high temperature oxidation. That’s another advantage of a premium universal oil. Another thing you want in your motorcycle is oil that has excellent viscosity control, so that with use it retains high temperature viscosity. Some multiviscosity grade passenger car oils, subjected to extreme loads, can quickly thin out. Their viscosity can drop to the next lower grade.

One last thing to consider is whether oil contains friction modifier additives. For improved fuel economy, most passenger car oils have such an additive. But the wet clutch in your bike doesn’t perform right with friction modifiers. Universal engine oils don’t have friction modifiers.

Be careful choosing diesel oils. Not all of them are universal. In addition to the API Service Category CI-4 PLUS for diesels, look for API Service Category SL.

Premium universal oils like Shell ROTELLA® T Multigrade are formulated for heavy-duty performance, and your bike engine has some heavy-duty challenges for oil. For optimum performance, be sure your oil is up to the challenge.

Riverrat

This is one of the most disturbing threads I've ever read. I love my bike, it takes me places I'd rather not walk out of. It get's the best, in my opinion that's Red Line 10w40 full synthetic (100%Ester basestocks, the only 'true' full synthetic). I have talked to riders AND test ridden bikes that were slipping with 'car' oil in them, and so far every one has cleared up with a DECENT motorcycle oil. I'm sure many bikes will run fine for 50 or 60k, but wouldn't it be better to have them run fine for 100 or 200k?

In my experience, the most anal riders about what they put in their motors are Goldwing and BMW riders. Most high mileage (over 100K)bikes I've seen...you guessed it GOLDWINGS AND BMW!!

One last point...most late model, large displacement sportbikes come with a 'slipper' clutch from the factory(reduces rear wheel sliding when downshifting too fast). I can think of at least half a dozen of these that came to me experiencing the motor racing when they hammered it, but very little acceleration "I can't even keep up anymore and my bike used to be faster". In each of these cases, a full synthetic was used in their last oil change and a semi syn or fossil oil cleared up the problem.
These are things I deal with DAILY and it DOES HAPPEN!! Seein alot more CAR TIRES, yes flat, square CAR TIRES on VTX's lately too, "gets far more miles than a MC tire" with a contact patch the size of a pea! I beg you all, don't be "that" guy!
Snake, ALL redline motor oils are motorcycle approved, will run cooler, and shift smoother. Their shockproof gear oils are out of this world...nothing else comes close. The heavy shockproof (80w90gear) has the shear strength and load carrying capacity of a 250w gear oil, that is truly impressive!