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The Official Oil Thread


HispanicSlammer

What Kind Of Oil Do You Use?  

1,244 members have voted

  1. 1. Oil Type?

    • Synthetic
      835
    • Dino/Organic
      238
    • Blend
      173
  2. 2. Motorcycle or Generic oil?

    • Motorcycle Specific
      735
    • Major Brands
      460
    • Generic Automotive
      84
  3. 3. Which Brand?

    • Honda Branded
      188
    • Mobile One
      325
    • AMSOil
      109
    • Castrol
      114
    • Penzoil
      11
    • Lucus
      3
    • Havoline
      1
    • Quaker State
      4
    • Motul
      107
    • Valvoline
      33
    • Golden Spectro
      16
    • Rotella
      209
    • Other
      126


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  • Forum CEO

I know the list of brands is far from complete but I added the major brands that seem to be talked about most here, and those you can find most anywhere - at least in the US. Other seems will be a large portion of this poll.

discuss, but dont biotch here. Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

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  • Forum CEO
You should add mileage between changes too! :thumbsup:

GN4 every 2K miles. :rolleyes:

Limited to 3 poll questions, not relevant to what I am looking for, more of what you buy than how often.

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  • Member Contributer

No Repsol?!? Never used the stuff but I hear some guy named Nicky likes it.. :rolleyes:

I've stuck with Valvoline for 20 or so years. I just haven't been convinced synthetic or MC specific oils have enough benefit to justify the additional mortgage on the house to pay for them. The evidence may be there, I just haven't bothered to look for it.. :lol:

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Honda Branded, Synthetic, Motorcycle Specific,10w/40..........works great, stays clean, never an oil related issue in "YEARS/ MANY MILES" of using it in all my Hondas (50cc through 1832cc/ every engine design)...... Exception: Triumph Branded/ Specially Formulated Mobil 1 Synthetic/ Motorcycle Specific, 15w/50 in the Triumph Speed Triple....... :thumbsup:

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Guest VFR_ATL
Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

Miguel,

What happened to the data posted in '05 by Scott the petro-test engineer?

Good stuff, particularly the fuel contamination data.

Regards,

VFR_ATL

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Guest Gap Trash
Honda Branded, Synthetic, Motorcycle Specific,10w/40..........works great, stays clean, never an oil related issue in "YEARS/ MANY MILES" of using it in all my Hondas (50cc through 1832cc/ every engine design)...... Exception: Triumph Branded/ Specially Formulated Mobil 1 Synthetic/ Motorcycle Specific, 15w/50 in the Triumph Speed Triple....... :thumbsup:

Skuuter,

I'm not attempting to be a smarta$$ at all. I know that in recent years you have not kept bikes for a very long time and you trade around alot, so I wouldn't think that you would put a staggering number of miles on one bike. Therefore the long term effects of using a certain oil can't be seen. Have you had any other bikes in the past that you have used this iol in and stacked alot of miles on? Again, I'm not calling you out at all. Just wondering.

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I'm surprised about all the responses of folks using synthetic. I thought the manual said not to use oil with certain kind of friction additives or something, and every synthetic I've seen has them in the oil?

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  • Member Contributer
Honda Branded, Synthetic, Motorcycle Specific,10w/40..........works great, stays clean, never an oil related issue in "YEARS/ MANY MILES" of using it in all my Hondas (50cc through 1832cc/ every engine design)...... Exception: Triumph Branded/ Specially Formulated Mobil 1 Synthetic/ Motorcycle Specific, 15w/50 in the Triumph Speed Triple....... :thumbsup:

Skuuter,

I'm not attempting to be a smarta$$ at all. I know that in recent years you have not kept bikes for a very long time and you trade around alot, so I wouldn't think that you would put a staggering number of miles on one bike. Therefore the long term effects of using a certain oil can't be seen. Have you had any other bikes in the past that you have used this iol in and stacked alot of miles on? Again, I'm not calling you out at all. Just wondering.

I trade bikes a lot only in recent years(only since 2001)....have owned several bikes with 80,000 to 100,000+ miles on them over the years. I also always own more than one bike, so some stay longer than others as some get traded. A lot of the bikes I own now see 16,000 to 27,000 miles per year of daily riding. Lot of start-ups, shut-downs, twisties, cruising, etc. I had a little 750 Shadow(single/ divorced) that had 112,000 on it in 40 months once(and I owned some other bikes while I kept it).........sorry, I can't give better "qualified" opinions, maybe riders that ride "more often", and rack up "more miles" could give better evaluations on oil "durability"............................ :rolleyes:

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  • Forum CEO
Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

Miguel,

What happened to the data posted in '05 by Scott the petro-test engineer?

Good stuff, particularly the fuel contamination data.

Regards,

VFR_ATL

He told me that one of his clients read the info he was posting here and he feared for his job, so he asked me to delete his account and all his posts. Too bad.

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I'm surprised about all the responses of folks using synthetic. I thought the manual said not to use oil with certain kind of friction additives or something, and every synthetic I've seen has them in the oil?

Synthetic motorcycle oil won't have the friction modifiers. I use Shell Advance and it comes in many flavours but all without friction modifiers.

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Moly is a wet clutch no-no.....some Honda synthetics have it, some don't..............but what do I know........... :unsure:

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I'm a long time Mobil 1 advocate and it has always tested at or new the top of every category, but I recently made the switch to

Shell Rotella T Synthetic based on it's test results(always right up there with MB 1) and lower cost the MB 1 also one of the few "C" rated oils out there which seem to be good for our bikes.

My MB Diesel, track bike and VFR all have Rotella T Synthetic in them! :thumbsup:

I also like the info on oil found here, they also have a great oil filter cross reference listed to and I now use only WalMart's SuperTech ST 7317 filters as they have superior filtering then most at the cheapest price(made by Champion)

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html

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  • Member Contributer
I know the list of brands is far from complete but I added the major brands that seem to be talked about most here, and those you can find most anywhere - at least in the US. Other seems will be a large portion of this poll.

discuss, but dont biotch here. Facts mostly please, just gathering data here in the form of a poll

If you want to throw more fuel on the fire - add a survey lines - break in with dino and add synthetic later ~7500miles or short break in oil and change immediately to synth on first oil change. I'm sure that will light a fuse....

MD

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Generic and Valvoline dino oils so far, but following my winter storage oil change I'll be using Mobil 1 synthetic going forward. So far I've used Honda OEM and Fram oil filters, but plan to try a couple others next season. Also, I change my oil every 3k-4k mi.

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I'm in a state of flux on this one, but I've got a bunch of Shell Rotella T Synthetic and am using that as a "base" to which I've added, as of this last change, Suzuki 10w40 MC oil, non-synthetic. I've noticed a bit nicer shifting with less of a notch to the action of the shifter. Thinking I may try a Kawasaki or Honda oil next go around, one quart of the MC oil and the rest Rotella T. Addendum; Purolator "auto" filter, 4,000 mile change interval.

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  • Member Contributer
I'm surprised about all the responses of folks using synthetic. I thought the manual said not to use oil with certain kind of friction additives or something, and every synthetic I've seen has them in the oil?

Antiwear additive:

These are perhaps the most discussed additives, which serve to protect the engine from

metal-to-metal wear. Common antiwear additives are phosphorous and zinc. Other antiwear

additives include friction modifiers like molybdenum disulphide (or moly).

Typically, synthetic oil contains less of this additive, or in some cases none at all due to its

naturally higher viscosity index. This is another reason why synthetics are better suited for the

wide range of temperatures and riding conditions associated with motor-cycle use. Viscosity

modifiers are one of the first additives that wear out in oil, and a big reason that some

synthetic oil manufacturers claim longer service life. Since they are naturally a multigrade

product without the chemical modification mineral oils require, synthetic oils will hold their

viscosity grade longer.

Can synthetic oils cause my clutch to slip?

To answer this in one word: No. Clutch slippage is caused by many things, but the use of

synthetic oil alone is usually not the culprit. The truth is that some bikes seem to suffer clutch

slippage no matter what oil goes in them, while others like the VFR run fine with any oil. This is

most likely caused by factors other than the oil, such as the spring pressure, age and clutch

plate materials. If you have a bike known for clutch problems, you may have to be more

selective in your oil choices. Moly is often blamed for clutch slippage, and it can have an

effect-but moly alone is not the problem.

Quote Mark Junge, Vesrah's Racing representative, who has won numerous WERA national

championships using Vesrah's clutches. He said that in his years of engine work he has yet to

see a slipping clutch that could be pinned on synthetic motor oil. Junge felt that nearly every

time the clutch was marginal or had worn springs, the new oil just revealed a problem that

already existed.

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  • Member Contributer
I'm a long time Mobil 1 advocate and it has always tested at or new the top of every category, but I recently made the switch to

Shell Rotella T Synthetic based on it's test results(always right up there with MB 1) and lower cost the MB 1 also one of the few "C" rated oils out there which seem to be good for our bikes.

My MB Diesel, track bike and VFR all have Rotella T Synthetic in them! :thumbsup:

I always advise caution when a customer ask about Shell's Rotella T... since diesels engines live

at the slow end of the rpm scale I'm not sure that the additive package is suited for rigors of an

high revving motorcycle engine... I'm speaking of the anti foaming additives that are important to

us due to the high RPMs that can cause cavitation which will starve bearings from necessary

lubrication... In order to hold cost to a minimum Shell's chemical engineer only adds what is

necessary and anti foaming additives are not important in a slow turning diesel...

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