Brand of oil to use?

[metalnicx]

I'm going to change my oil and I'm not sure what brands are good. Do you guys have any suggestions?

2000 SV650
2 Cylinder V-Twin

[Mista Black]

i use Mobil 1 exclusively in the engine and Mobil 1 gear oil in the transmission and rear end....

yes guys i know shaft drive bikes are :gay:

:321: :lol:

[RSVR4aCowboy]

Motul 300V. Great oil for v-twins especially :up: :up: . You can get it at Performance.

[thaitanic]

i use lard, its cheaper

[Mista Black]

is that genuwine lard or the synthetic stuff??

[thaitanic]

its Genuwine lard of course, the real stuff. :lol:

[Sparker]

Amsoil. get Amsoil vtwin air cooled specific oil.

[Anonymous]

Amsoil. get Amsoil vtwin air cooled specific oil.

Say what bro? If you check out AMSOIL's product page, they don't have "air cooled specific V-twin oil". What they do have is Synthetic 10W-40, which works on all bikes. http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amf.aspx

[Mista Black]

and 10w-40 is lighter than bmw recommends :( so i wont be running it

[Rick T.]

I use Silkolene exlusively for both my Aprilias, but Motul is great too.

[thaitanic]

i use genuwine Lard

[Sparker]

Amsoil. get Amsoil vtwin air cooled specific oil.

Say what bro? If you check out AMSOIL's product page, they don't have "air cooled specific V-twin oil". What they do have is Synthetic 10W-40, which works on all bikes. http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amf.aspx

oh they have it. i got it sent to me by mistake. ive got a qt of it sitting in the garage.

[Anonymous]

Amsoil. get Amsoil vtwin air cooled specific oil.

Say what bro? If you check out AMSOIL's product page, they don't have "air cooled specific V-twin oil". What they do have is Synthetic 10W-40, which works on all bikes. http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amf.aspx

oh they have it. i got it sent to me by mistake. ive got a qt of it sitting in the garage.

I think that was an old product or something. :dunno: Pretty sure that isn't there anymore... Either way, don't use it on a Japanese liquid-cooled V-Twin. Regular sportbike oil will work fine. ;)

[wraithR1]

I've used Motul, Amsoil, and Mobile 1. Amsoil seemed to run the quietest and my shifts seemed slightly smoother. The differences were negligible, if detectable at all. Protection wise....I've read every oil comparison known to man. Amsoil and Mobil 1 seem to win by a narrow margin.

[Horn_E_NINJA]

I agree with Rick T on the Silkolene. I noticed a lot of improvement in regards to vibration on my Kawi.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Rick T on the Silkolene. I noticed a lot of improvement in regards to vibration on my Kawi.

:wtf:

Did you change more than brands? I.e. did you also switch to synthetic, or change viscosities?

Unless you had a completely bottom-dollar oil simply changing brands shouldn't make a significant difference. All of the ones people have mentioned here are ones I'd put in a bike, and it's just more personal preference (I use Silkolene or Amsoil). What did you have in there before?

[Nick_Ninja]

Bel-Ray semi synthetic

http://www.motodepot.com/accessories/oil/BelRay/images/belraylogo.gif

[The Black Knight]

what about the Repsol lubricants? Anyone try it yet? I'm thinking of using it for my next oil change.

[Lel]

mobil 1 mx4t

lel

[wraithR1]

"what about the Repsol lubricants? Anyone try it yet? I'm thinking of using it for my next oil change."

Being an oil connoisseur, I was thinking of trying out the Repsol stuff. Let us know how it works for you!

Hey...does anyone know offhand if TK sells Repsol? I'm about due tor a service and might as well get my oil changed.

[troythetroll]

I use Castrol cager oil. Sometimes I mix it with 5 year old Bel-Ray bike oil...other times with Quaker state. Premo oil is Mobil 1 cage synthetic oil, 15-50 usually. I used that Honda Pro HP4 stuff a couple of times for fun, until Honda got cranky about moly content and started warning against it in service bulletins.

I swap between cage and bike oil whenever I have the urge, I also swap weights, brands and types, cage dino oil, cage synthetic oil ( yeah right ), and whatever leftover bike stuff I have, dino or synthetic.

Makes it real easy to clean up any leftovers in the garage. Oh...and I tend to do this mostly for non new, non warranty remaining type bikes, my KLR saw everything under the sun in its crankcase over the years.

I do this because under most circumstances it simply doesn't matter. The shifting on most bikes does tend to smooth up with the synthetics of most any brand though....real synthetics preferred over synthetic labeled fakes, like I beleive most Castrols, Pennzoils and Quaker States are nowadays. Damn the courts anyway, screwing with oil marketing.

[voncon]

For normal street use on a non-modified motor, I see nothing wrong with using a motorcycle spec dino oil. Yamalube has always been a good standby for me. However, on my old superbike which was highly modified and used under "duress" -- I used Silkolene Synthetic and everytime we pulled the head, things looked all new and shiny in there. :P

On a bike you'll probably trade or sell before engine wear is even a thought, I have a hard time falling for the 10.00 a quart hype.

[troythetroll]

See, when you read your manual, its doesn't say "use API rated SL spec motorcycle oil", its says "use API rated SL spec oil".....so I've always had a beef with the marketeers and their trying to sell something labelled "motorcycle oil" at twice the price of what is for all practical purposes the same stuff.

This appeared to be a fine philosophy until the "energy conserving" reformulation of a few years ago where alot more friction modifiers got added to cager oil, something which is arguably bad for wet clutches. Fortunately, the "energy conserving" label is something attached to the lighter weight oils, X-30W most everything jumps to mind. Whereas the bikes are usually spec'd for 10-40,10-50,15-50,20-50, and in the cager formulations, you don't run into the "energy conserving" label in those weights.

Now, if you want to talk about real synthetics versus not real synthetics, thats almost as good a flamefest as using wd-40 as chain lube or not.

[Ripper]

Royal Purple

http://www.rpmoil.com/?r=g1

[rybo]

Ask a question about oil or tires and the opinions will fly!

Amsoil makes two weights of oil for motorcycles 10W-40 and 20W-50 my owners manual specifies 20-50 so that is what I use. I would think that either one would be OK in your SV, but I would stick with the lighter oil in the winter.

Amsoil is the only motorcycle specific oil that doesn't completely gouge you on price. Their bike oil is about the same price as their car oil, which is a welcome relief. Mobil charges at least an extra $3 per quart for their motorcycle specific oil and the stuff you can get at the motorcycle shops is downright ridiculous.

As a cheap alternative Mobil 1 15-50 car oil (red cap) does not contain friction modifiers, so it is completely safe to use with your wet clutch, and can be had for about $4.50 a quart at wally world.

as a final recommendation, don't skimp on the filter, use a high quality filter and your bike will stay happy.

Best to you

Scott

[troythetroll]

Has Amsoil gotten themselves API certified yet? A problem with Amsoil used to be they wouldn't couldn't wear the API certification label which is a problem when an owners manual requires API certified oil. I hear they went and got an API cert or two on some of their cager stuff, but I don't know about their motorcycle oils.

[JOE!!!!!!]

Troy, Amsoil states that manufacturers warranties specify an API Service classification (SH, CF, etc.) and all their motor oils have those. I'm looking at a new bottle of Amsoil Motorcycle Engine Oil for 4-Cycle Engines (10W-40) and on the back it says API Service SH, SG, CF. JASO MA. Is this what you wondered about?

Joe

[thaitanic]

i use genuwine lard

[troythetroll]

Well, the API starburst is something pretty specific, its that round thingy with rough edges, on the front of the pennzoil quart I'm looking at right now, says "American Petroleum Institute Certified" on the outer band, and then mine says "For Gasoline Engines" inside it.

Thats the official stamp, there is usually another one with the SAE Oil weight, service, and energy conserving stamp on the back somewhere.

Amsoil has this habit of claiming API specs and grades and equivalents, but unless its got that stamp, then its just like me saying "Hey I'm a millionaire" without coughing up a statement of networth from some Fortune 100 accounting firm.

Do you see this stamp anywhere on it the front of the jug?

[Dysco]

Rotella 15W40 :up: