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