As far as claiming "junk" I'd be interested in seeing the actual junks vs. any version of opinion because everybody's got one.
john3_16 said:Any motorcycle specific oil is waaayyyy overpriced...Motorcycle specific synthetic oil is that much more overpriced.
I know a guy that works in oil test labs that designed the tests that oil refiners must pass before their oil can be reccomended for use in diesel and gasoline engines...His main focus is on oils used big diesel engines where wear protection is a huge concern like caterpiller, cummins, mack ect...ect...Most oem heavy duty engine manufacturers have their own oil specs because the pruchasers of these engines expect them to last...They expect these engines to last 500,000 to 1,000,000 miles...If they don't last then UPS and Ryder will go buy their engines somewhere else.....He tests these oils to make sure they conform to the engine manufacturers specs...He's also the head guy their and has the freedom to perform tests for his own interests(testing oil samples from his and his friends bikes)...He also knows and is good friends with the phd chemists that formulate the oils for many of the big name oil companies.
Long story short...Stay away from 10w30's as most are labeled a energy concerving..If it says energy concerving on the api label stay away from it..It can make your wet clutch slip not to mention poor wear performance..They contain additives like viscosity improvers that do little for protection and focus on fuel economy...Light weight oils like 5w30 and 10w30 are for fuel efficiency only and the gasoline car companies are required to meet a certain level by laws set by the epa or they get heavy fines..the easiest most cost effective way for the engine manufacturers to do this is to reccommend a light weight oil that is very poor at reducing wear on engine parts (just enough to get you past the warranty) but are good for fuel economy.
He said that most motorcycle specific oils are usually expensive junk...Stick with the big oil companies like Mobile, Shell, Chevron ect..ect..
Honda GN4 10W40...Long story short....Expensive junk..He's run test samples on the Honda oil and it frequently showed 200 ppm of aluminum and iron from a CBR1000 which shows high amounts of wear. By contrast his test samples of Mobile115w50 showed only 10 and 20ppm...That's 10 and 20 times less wear. He not only tests for fuel dilution and metal contaminates from wear but also he's done radioactive wear test on rings, cylinders, valvetrain parts where they can measure wear rates while the engine is running and test dozens of oil in a short period of time. This test shows even the smallest amounts of wear.
Also, higher weight oils like 15W50 and 20W50 always, always show lower wear than 10W40's, 30's, and so on...Good oils to use in motorcycles if keeping wear down to a minimum is your concern is a HD(heavy duty) oil like Delo 400 15w40 (he says this is the best performing HD oil) Mobile 1 15w50 or Mobile 20w50 Vtwin oil...Mobile 1 15w50 car oil is very close to mobile mx4t in formulation...The other difference is weight ...Moblie Vtwin 20W50 and MX4t are exactly the same with the difference being only the weight... Mobile 1 15W50 car oil and any HD 15W40 have shown lower wear rates on motorcycles than most motorcycle specific oils that are $3 per quart higher...Some name brand HD diesel oils are actually only $8 for 5 quarts at Walmart.
So after all the blah blah blah..If protecting your motor is your chief concern...The best are Mobile 1 15W50 and Mobile 1 20W50.
Or you can use a 15W40 HD diesel oil....Basically, 15W50's, 20W50's, and 15W40 HD oils from a name brand protect better across the board that 10W's and that includes motorcycle specific oils...He said he'll never use a 10W30 oil in his car or bike based on the data he's seen.