My Yamaha Raptor 350 and my V-Star 650: oil

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Riding season has begun already but I've not had time to ride until now; just finished my freshman year of college (and I'm happy to be home for the summer, lol). But, I want to change the oil in my bike and atv before riding, as they are both due, however, I have seen many different opinions about motorcycle/atv oil... Mainly, the JASO MA certification to verify wet clutch safe. First, let me tell you this - if money were of no concern, I'd head out to my nearest Yamaha dealer and buy Yamalube and have no worries about anything, but I have to be thrifty with my cash (since I'm a college student, I'll need to be saving money whenever I can).

To the main question here... Some members say that JASO is not important, just go choose an oil that does not say "energy conserving" - but others swear by making sure it's JASO certified or else you can say goodbye to your clutch (regarding shared sump bikes/atv's). I know that Rotella just recently got a JASO cert, and I would not hesitate to throw it in my Raptor, but I just feel like my V-Star would be better off with an oil that was made for motorcycles.

Can you help me ease my mind about choosing a good oil, while not breaking the bank?

~ Triton
 
You can use Rotella with confidence in your v-star. I use it in my Honda vfr800 interceptor(12k RPM redline), which probably has 2x the specific output of your v-star, and I haven't hurt anything yet.

About $13 a gallon for the 15w-40 conventional or $22 for T6 5w-40 syn. I've got the T6 in there right now for those cold South Carolina mornings.
 
Rotella 15w40 will work well for both. If you do a lot of in town riding in the V star you can use the valvoline conventional 20w50 motorcycle oil. That is what my friend used in his Vstar 650 in the summer and in cooler months he would use 15w40 rotella.
 
I use the 15w-40 Rotella in My 1100 V-Star in the cooler months sometimes.. I used the 5W-40, UOA showed it sheared down pretty good so I stopped using it.
 
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Originally Posted By: Triton_330
Riding season has begun already but I've not had time to ride until now; just finished my freshman year of college (and I'm happy to be home for the summer, lol). But, I want to change the oil in my bike and atv before riding, as they are both due, however, I have seen many different opinions about motorcycle/atv oil... Mainly, the JASO MA certification to verify wet clutch safe. First, let me tell you this - if money were of no concern, I'd head out to my nearest Yamaha dealer and buy Yamalube and have no worries about anything, but I have to be thrifty with my cash (since I'm a college student, I'll need to be saving money whenever I can).

To the main question here... Some members say that JASO is not important, just go choose an oil that does not say "energy conserving" - but others swear by making sure it's JASO certified or else you can say goodbye to your clutch (regarding shared sump bikes/atv's). I know that Rotella just recently got a JASO cert, and I would not hesitate to throw it in my Raptor, but I just feel like my V-Star would be better off with an oil that was made for motorcycles.

Can you help me ease my mind about choosing a good oil, while not breaking the bank?

~ Triton


Rotella is a motorcycle oil.
 
Any of the diesel oils work in a wet clutch, atleast I haven't found one that doesnt. The super tech 15w40 cant be beat price wise, like $2.77 perquart.

and diesils were used long before one decided to put Jaso ma on the bottle.
 
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I ran 15w-40 in my Vstar 650 back in the day. No issues at all. It is JASO MA oil. Rotella is head and shoulders above most "motorcycle" oil
 
I run Shell Rotella 5w-40 synthetic in my 2006 V-Star 650.....have been since I bought it off my daughter in 2007. I also run the same oil in my son's 2009 Honda 250 Recon and my wife's 2004 Yamaha 350 Bruin 4x4.

Why buy the Yamaha oil when there is just as good or better oil available at a more cheaper price?

Only time I use 20-50 oil is in my Heritage softail.
 
Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
Any of the diesel oils work in a wet clutch, atleast I haven't found one that doesnt. The super tech 15w40 cant be beat price wise, like $2.77 perquart.

and diesils were used long before one decided to put Jaso ma on the bottle.


+ a zillion billion

i was testing supertech 15w40 back when it was UNDER $1 a qt.
at 2.77 it now seems "expensive" lol
 
15w-40 is good stuff...

my '06 Shadow is currently using up a 'witch's brew' that has several 15w-40's in it...Rotella, Wolf's Head, and Super Tech (also has several 10w-40 motorcycle oils); so far over 850 miles on current change and no degradation is shifting or indications of other problems;

my 'new to me' '09 GZ250 is using Super Tech 15w-40 for a 1000 mile 'flush' oil change and will most likely be using some sort of 15w-40 afterward (or leftover 'witch's brew' before buying anything new);

if you 'need' the assurance of JASO-MA rating then Shell Rotella T is the way to go in the realm of heavy duty engine oils
 
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I guess I should say for those who haven't seen another newer post of mine, I ended up getting the Rotella T6 5w-40 and using it in my bike, and I also got Mag 1 4T syn blend 10w-40 for my quad. We'll see this summer how they do. I'm sure they'll do fine. Thanks for everything guys, good advice.
 
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