Motorcycle engine oil…what grade do you use, what does the bike manufacturers recommend?

[Dave]

Engine oil, oh what a fine subject.

I am currently updating my Oil / Air quick guide sheet for my the vehicles in my household.

Not having all the user manuals at hand, I did a quick search into the world of experts, which reminded me on the masses of opinions about “which oil”.

So, what do you put in your engines and what does the manufacturer recommend

[Gazza]

I worked in oil and fuel research for 8 years (Esso Chemicals), during the development of synthetic oils.

At the end of the day, you usually get what you pay for.... additives.

Additives do most the preservation and economy work. The base oil is simply there to carry them around.

Personally I use fully synthetic for everything. It's cheap. In comparison to petrol it's dirt cheap. Considering the increased longevity of the engine it's probably free.

[Zathos]

Fully synth is the way to go, but with a caution about bikes with a shared lube (I can't believe it's not butter!) system for engine and clutch. Don't use full synth in that case, use the oil type specified by manuf as the additives can reduce friction, not a good feature on a clutch.



I can't think of many modern bikes / cars which have that arrangement....

[RK6]

Motul fully synth because it looks like liquid kryptonite and the bottle is awesome.