[biglebowski]

My buddy who has been riding an 02 with 15K's on the odometer tells me that he uses full synthetic because it increases horspower, makes the bike more responsive and runs cooler as well. His theory is that, synthetics are lighter and not prone to loose viscoursity quickly.

I wanna swich to synthetics during my next oil change but are there any harmful effects to using synthetics? Is there any validated truth to increase horspower and does it protect the engine better than regular oil? Also, after how many miles can i start using it? This stuff is expensive; almost $9 more a quart so i do not want to waste money. Any one here have experience with these oils? Finally, how come manufacturers never recommend it or put it in their bikes?

 

[rraiderr]

This should help you decide.

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

 

[Sexfreak1k]

my god ....got tired reading . Good stuff .thanks

 

[biglebowski]

Yep! Good article.

 

[CrashCrain]

DO NOT SWITCH TO SYNTHETICS TILL AT LEAST 2500 miles. The rings on your pistons will not wear correctly so your bike won't get broken in correctly and you will have permanent loss of power and small amounts of oil burning.

 

[theJrod]

Synthetics are just plain better than dyno juice. But like Nuk said, don't switch too soon. Other than that, you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[rraiderr]

I screwed up again with my 05 1K. I knew I should not have gotten it for my first bike.

When everybody posted about synthetic oil I thought they meant alternate oils like corn oil.

I am running some straight weight Wesson corn oil I got at my local grocery store.

I knew the bike sounded strange almost like fries cooking at McDonalds and it kind of smells like fried chicken when I was ride.

 

[Insurance101]

my bike came with Shell advanced syn (can't get it in the states) amsoil syn 600 mile
spectro syn 1200 mile.
I never have to add oil in between changes with syn, can't explain why, but, it just happens that way

 

[CrashCrain]

Chicken cooking gsxr, I like the smell of that.....
I use Castrol R4 in all my bike and I have been very satisfied with the results.

 

[x2468]

I screwed up again with my 05 1K. I knew I should not have gotten it for my first bike.

When everybody posted about synthetic oil I thought they meant alternate oils like corn oil.

I am running some straight weight Wesson corn oil I got at my local grocery store.

I knew the bike sounded strange almost like fries cooking at McDonalds and it kind of smells like fried chicken when I was ride.

dont park in the 'hood. hungry crack heads might steal it if they cant get to a KFC in time.

 

[thefleshrocket]

IMO motorcycle-specific synthetics are a waste of money. I use Mobil1 15W50 in my bikes--it pours down to something like -40F (some temp so low I'd never venture outside, much less try to start a bike).

What I've heard is that you can use synthetic car oils in a bike as long as they don't have "Energy Conserving" written on the SAE emblem found on the back of every quart of oil sold in the US. The "Energy Conserving" refers to certain additives which are good for gas mileage in cars but bad for the friction material in bike clutches.

For example, Mobil1 15W50 and 0W40 are not "Energy Conserving" so they're okay, but 0W30 and 5W30 are, so you shouldn't use them. Also, I've noticed that none of the new Mobil1 synthetics rated for 15000 miles are rated as Energy Conserving. I've been using the regular 15W50 in my bikes, but since I go a year between oil changes, I'm going to switch to the 15K version of 15W50. My bikes usually see about 5000 miles a year, so I think I'll be able to rest easy leaving the extended 15W50 in for that long.

 

[Del La Sol]

i think the not using synthetic til X mile thing is just hype... what about aprilias? they come with 100% synth from the factory, bmw's, mercedes, ferrari's, porches, vipers all come with synthetic from mile one... what about the racers that don't put a single street mile on their bike and use synthetic from the get to... i put semi-synth in my k3 at 100 miles and full syn at 2k miles and never had any problems, never got beat in a roll on against anything and won two dyno contests with just a pipe

 

[AllMtrSlut]

you cant compare race motor to street motor, they rebuild those things often.

 

[Del La Sol]

sure you can, its the same motor, and if the supposed to downside is a loss of power then that would be even more reason for a racer to not run it, but they do... i'm not sure what rebuilding it often has to do with anything

 

[biglebowski]

You can't use race oil in regular motor. Race oil is formulated to reduce friction and to perform for a specific race duration. You will gain power with it but you sure won't have a long lasting engine. that oil is too light.

 

[Del La Sol]

not sure if that was directed at me, but i didn't say race oil, i said synthetic

 

[biglebowski]

Sorry, my bad.

 

[Squam69]

I run Castrol Semi Synthetic car oil (non energy conserving)--But I change my oil between 1500-2000 miles and my filter every other oil change. I've done this for 23,000+ miles and still have the original clutch, bike doesn't burn oil, and it cost less than $3.00 per quart.

 

[shockinglyfast1K]

Read your oil.

If you look closely at your oil after your critical 500 mile run in, you will see a heavy amount of very small metal fragments, it looks like gold dust in the oil. That's from the cylinders and rings mostly.

After about a 1000 to 1500 miles on the second oil you will notice the metal frag is significantly reduced and at that point it's safe to go with full synthetic. Engine break-in is complete at this point.

I suppose you could go to your next regular oil change (3500 miles) before going full synthetic but really isn't necessary. The sooner the full synthetic goes in after 1000 miles the sooner your better protected against the ravages of the engines operation. You also get the well known performance improvements with full synthetic as well, so why wait.

 

[biglebowski]

How about the new oil's that claim a longevity of at least 8000 miles. Who's advise do you take? the oil manufacturer guarantteing an 8000 mile change interval or the bike maker who is just claimimng 3500 miles for convenience.