Gang.... just a recap.....
My original complaint wasn't a specific criticism about "shifting quality".... it was the fact that it was hard to shift from 1st to Neutral.... Neutral to 2nd....... 2nd to neutral...... neutral to first...... heck, 'finding' neutral was simply difficult.
The bike had 20w40 when I purchased it and it had been in there for probably 3 years, with very low mileage.... maybe only 1,000 miles. For the test ride on the bike, it shifted through all the gears effectively and seemed solid.
The first ride, after pouring in Rotella, it was even smoother and I was thrilled.
It was a very weird, that 24 hours after a good long ride..... it all went south. And then more weird that a couple days later, went back to perfectly functional. I have no explanation and will probably be stumped on this one.... forever.
My comments below are based on 30+ years of riding and having owned 27 motorcycles, 7 different brands and 5 different types.
The argument that riders can't distinguish shift quality with their foot, butt and brain is pure hogwash.... or it is someone arguing, who doesn't know poop about motorcycles or riding. It is kinda like this example..... Put 6 people in a crew cab pickup, drive down the road and only the driver notices the mild vibration and pesky noise, coming from somewhere in the vehicle. The five other people, have no idea anything is wrong.
Most motorcycles are finicky.... some like certain oils and some like others. I am like the driver of that pickup.... it drives me nuts if there is the smallest vibration or noise or lack of near perfect shifting. I am also a gun cartridge reloader and I know it will take me 4-10 different loads (different bullets, different powders, different seating, etc.), to get the gun it hit a dime at 100 yards. I take the same approach with oils for my bikes.
Of course over the years, I have landed on a brand and type that all my bikes like the most. None have ever complained about about Rotella that carries the JASO cert, and since Shell does not blend a semi-synthetic Rotella with the JASO cert, I blend my own. T4/T6, both of the 15w40 line, is what my bikes like the best.
By the way, the notion that mixing T4 and T6 is bad or even less quality..... is another opinion of pure hog wash. If Shell made a 15w40 with JASO cert. semi-synthetic, I would simply buy that.
Here is the caveat of me using Rotella moving forward....... as of May, 2022. Both our local WalMarts and many of the Parts Stores are empty on the oil shelves. I don't understand why there is now, very, very limited Rotella availability. Of course WalMart is stocking and pushing their "house", SuperTech 15w40 and it is deep on the shelves.
..............