NEW! and Oil Questions

[kanatawolf]

I hate to admit it but quite new and I have a 2003 Honda Shadow. What is the better oil to use like the weight or doI just go and get ant 4 stroke bike oil? It's not driven alot so should the oil be change twice a year?
What about the bike oil from a place like Canadian Tire?
Thanks In Advance

[xdixiecratx]

better listen to honda, no synthetic oil,it causes honda clutches to slip and if you had a new bike they would void your warranty, ask them.

[HYPERR]

better listen to honda, no synthetic oil,it causes honda clutches to slip and if you had a new bike they would void your warranty, ask them.

Honda makes and recommends their HP Synthetic Blend oil for their bikes. I use it in my CBR and it shifts like butter. Clutchless upshifts are even better....totally silent and no resistance whatsoever. I use the Honda HP synthetic in my KLX too. It is sooo easy to find neutral with it.

Honda HP comes in two types. With moly and without moly. You use the moly-free one in wet clutches. I think that is what you are talking about.

[flynrider]

Synthetic or Non-synthetic refers to the base stock of a motor oil. Neither one alone will cause a motorcycle clutch to slip. What will cause a clutch to slip are additive packages that contain friction modifiers. Many off the shelf automotive oils now contain these. It used to be that you could look at the API circle on the back of the bottle for the words "energy conserving" to identify these friction modifiers, but that's not necessarily the case anymore. Newer API classifications may describe oils that have friction modifiers, but do not have the "energy conserving" label.

To make things simple, I just switched to Valvoline motorcycle oil. Pretty much any oil that is specifically marketed for motorcycles will not have the offending additives. I just like Valvoline because it's sold in regular auto parts stores and costs about the same as regular car oil. The motorcycle specific oils at motocycle dealerships seems to be priced closer to exotic champagne

[Skier]

better listen to honda, no synthetic oil,it causes honda clutches to slip and if you had a new bike they would void your warranty, ask them.

Honda makes and recommends their HP Synthetic Blend oil for their bikes. I use it in my CBR and it shifts like butter. Clutchless upshifts are even better....totally silent and no resistance whatsoever. I use the Honda HP synthetic in my KLX too. It is sooo easy to find neutral with it.

Honda HP comes in two types. With moly and without moly. You use the moly-free one in wet clutches. I think that is what you are talking about.

Moly may be blamed but it is only part of the problem. I've used plenty of oils with a lot of moly in them with no ill effects. Marketed as non-energy-conserving.

Surprisingly, Honda's GN-4 motorcycle oil has more moly in it than energy conserving Castrol GTX.

[HYPERR]

better listen to honda, no synthetic oil,it causes honda clutches to slip and if you had a new bike they would void your warranty, ask them.

Honda makes and recommends their HP Synthetic Blend oil for their bikes. I use it in my CBR and it shifts like butter. Clutchless upshifts are even better....totally silent and no resistance whatsoever. I use the Honda HP synthetic in my KLX too. It is sooo easy to find neutral with it.

Honda HP comes in two types. With moly and without moly. You use the moly-free one in wet clutches. I think that is what you are talking about.

Moly may be blamed but it is only part of the problem. I've used plenty of oils with a lot of moly in them with no ill effects. Marketed as non-energy-conserving.

Surprisingly, Honda's GN-4 motorcycle oil has more moly in it than energy conserving Castrol GTX.

Moly may or may not make a wet clutch slip. Most won't but I know some bikes that did. Since Honda HP4 is available with and witout Moly, I just get the one without Moly so as not to find out if my bike is one of them that do.

[Misguided Missle]

Everyone Ive talked to says go with a blend.

So I did

[Skier]

Everyone Ive talked to says go with a blend.

So I did

All the performance of dino oil at more-than-dino prices? Where does one sign up?

[Misguided Missle]

I asked my paw, why he makes his own fishing lures

He said:

"Boy, those store bought lures are not meant to catch fish.... They are meant to catch fisherman"


Same with oil, over 6600 brands, and a hand full of refineries.

Until my machine is out of warranty, Ill waste my shrinking dollar on what they want me to put in it. At 21-23k miles a year, the warranty is my friend. After that, maybe Wesson cooking oil

[Skier]

I asked my paw, why he makes his own fishing lures

He said:

"Boy, those store bought lures are not meant to catch fish.... They are meant to catch fisherman"


Same with oil, over 6600 brands, and a hand full of refineries.

Until my machine is out of warranty, Ill waste my shrinking dollar on what they want me to put in it. At 21-23k miles a year, the warranty is my friend. After that, maybe Wesson cooking oil

The warranty doesn't care what kind of oil you use, as long as you change it according to the maintenance schedule.

If you really want to know how your oil is doing, get it analyzed.