O/T Rotella T in my motorcycle?

Jeger · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:25 pm

I have been doing some reading over at www.bobistheoilguy.com and have seen where people are using Rotella 5W-40 synthetic in their motorcycles. It would be real nice to use this since I have it around anyhow. I have an '82 kawasaki 440 twin and it does call for 40W but its either 10 or 20w-40.

I feel pretty comfortable trying it but thought I would ask here to get your opinions.

Bonehead · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:36 pm

Any non "energy conserving" rate oil will working in a bike. I know more that one person that run a diesel oil in their bike. HD actually states in their owner manual that if motorcycle oil is not availible to use a suitable diesel rated oil.
I use amsoil mcv 20w-50 in my M109R but that stuff is like $8.40 a qt :shock:

Oh and if you have to chose between 10w and 20w-40 I would go with the 20w-40.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:04 pm

most motorcycles run an oil bath clutch - so you actually need some friction modifiers in there - - like a limited slip in the rear - if you run straight a straight automotove oil - you can kill the clutch. (If I can find the link I'll add it later)

Bonehead · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:14 pm

ATXKJ wrote:

if you run straight a straight automotove oil - you can kill the clutch. (If I can find the link I'll add it later)

That why I mentioned no "energy conserving" rated automotive oils because they had anti-friction additives (which play hell on a wet clutch). The diesel rated oils don not have this rateing. Now I myself use a M/C specific oil in mine, but he ask if he could run the rotella in his bike and yes he can. I will also about bet that the rotella would deal with the heat of an air-cooled twin pretty easy , where some M/C oils don't.

Metal Man · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:41 pm

I run the Rotella T in my Ninja 250.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:10 pm

I didn't catch the "energy conserving" comment when I read it, although Tim makes the same point in his writeup.

The article I mentioned - the Tim had tried Mobil 1

http://www.cbxclub.com/timoil.html#oil

and his wasn't a v Twin - it was a CBX - which rev's a little more and might be a bit harder on the oil

I do use the Golden Spectro 20-50 in mine.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:36 pm

I run Redline 20W-50 in my Buell. It seems to work quite well. Redline synthetics are safe for motorcycle clutches. It's not an issue on my Buell as my clutch is in the primary case which uses seperate oil.

crackercrd · **Posted:** Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:55 pm

I used whatever was in the garage on the shelf the first couple of changes in my sv 650 (just to use it up). since then I've used diesel oil, 21K miles mostly @ 11K rpm :lol:

, it seems to be holding up ok. I don't know how long a M/C clutch normally lasts though.

O/T Rotella T in my motorcycle?

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