| There is a lot of confusion about oil in motorcycles. | | | | used regular Castrol GTX car oil, 20W50 in the |
| Specially marketed "motorcycle oil" is a lot more | | | | summer, 10W40 in the winter, changed his oil every |
| expensive than oil sold for cars, but is it really safe to | | | | 4000 miles, only changed the oil filter EVERY OTHER |
| run car oil? Yes, just make sure it meets SG, SH, SJ, | | | | time. When this bike had 100,000 miles on it, they |
| or SL service requirements. Generally, you are better | | | | dyno'd it up against an identical bike with only 6,722 |
| off with a heavy-duty oil for motorcycles, such as | | | | miles on it, and the horsepower and torque curves |
| 15w40, below is a list of oils known to work well in | | | | were virtually identical! The magazine later did a follow |
| motorcycles:1. Chevron Delo 400 15w40 | | | | up, with the same CBR at 200,000 miles and going |
| 2. Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 15w40 | | | | strong, so as you can see, the oil had no affect on |
| 3. Pennzoil Long-Life 15w40 | | | | his bike.So, you may wonder, "Why then, is |
| 4. Quaker State 4X4 Synthetic Blend 15w40 | | | | motorcycle sooo much more money, if its the same |
| 5. Shell Rotella-T 15w40 (my personal favorite) | | | | stuff?"Well, because they sell motorcycle oil in smaller |
| 6. SuperTech 2000 (WalMart) 15w40 | | | | quantities, more packaging, smaller orders, less sales, |
| 7. Valvoline All Fleet 15w40 | | | | more cost per quart. Just recently, some of the |
| 8. Castrol Syntec Blend Truck and 4X4 15w40A | | | | major oil companies have caught on to this, and have |
| really good choice HAS always been Mobil One | | | | started selling their own motorcycle oils in auto parts |
| 15w50, but recently they changed their formula from | | | | stores and even places like Wal Mart, and they are |
| TriSynthetic to SuperSyn, which has additional friction | | | | MUCH closer to the price of regular car oil, because |
| modifiers, which may make it no longer a good | | | | once again, they are the massive companies, they |
| choice for bikes. This is still up in the air, with people | | | | move a lot more oil, and have less cost per quart. |
| having mixed results, but I say, why risk it, try one | | | | So, when you buy the really expensive motorcycle oil |
| of the other ones above!Now, this may seem | | | | for your bike, what you are paying for, is not better |
| sketchy to you, and you're thinking, yea it may | | | | oil, you're just paying for that companies costs. Get |
| work, but will my bike die in a year? In the June 1996 | | | | it? Good. Save your money for better things, like |
| Issue of Sport Rider Magazine, there was a report | | | | new parts! |
| called, "100,000 mile Honda CBR900RR." The owner | | | | |