1979 Honda CX500 Oil choice and OCI

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caprice_2nv

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I am finishing putting back together the cx500 I bought and I will be commuting with it almost 100 miles a day through the summer anytime it isn't supposed to pour rain. I want to use a full synthetic motorcycle oil, it calls for 10w40. A liquid cooled v twin with shared sump and filter.

Since it's going to get miles piled up on it fast I don't want to cheap out on oil changes. I'm going to keep it a long time. I don't know the whole history on the bike. It came with a parts bike. The odometer reads less than 30k and the parts bike is half that. So it maybe low miles or maybe not even the original odometer.

What do you guys recommend that I might be able to buy here in Canada?
 
I would go with Rotella T6 5W/40. It has all the additives that are required for motorcycle application, and does not have the anti friction additives that would be a clutch problem.

Or, if money is no object, you can get the equivalent oil with Mobil I 10W/40 motorcycle specific oil.
 
Well it may be 36 years old but it almost certainly didn't get used the amount I'm going to be using it. Do you really think its going to last another 100k miles the next 7-10 years no matter what I do? I'm hoping it does, but my feeling is that it WL take a lot of care for it to happen.

I plan to stick with motorcycle specific oil after reading another thread with a very long explanation as to why hdeo oils don't have the same high pressure wear resistance as many gas engine specific oils. Maybe he's right and maybe he's wrong but I'm not chancing it whether or not someone else got away with it for years or not.

An oil change also costs less than doing one on my 305 or 350 Olds engines as it doesn't carry as much oil.

I can pick a high end motorcycle oil like the Mobil 1 suggested or something similar and I'll feel safe with that, but what I'm not sure on is OCI. Its going to be a lot of long highway rides completely warmed up.
 
Another thing to mention, Money isn't no object but I want it to last as long as possible before a rebuild. I'm saving a lot of gas money by commuting with this (60mpg vs 20mpg in the car).
 
If you go with synthetic, 5k miles for an OCI is not out of the question. The limitation on motorcycles is twofold, to my way of thinking......One, the transmission gears tend to shear the oil down a grade, and two, the clutch wear winds up in the oil. I do 3k changes, on my bikes with wet clutches and shared gearboxes. But I am overly conservative.

If it were me, I would save a few bucks using inexpensive Rotella, and spend the money I saved on more frequent OCIs.....Which would be 3k, for me, in general usage.

There are numerous long term tests with motorcycles using car oil. If you choose wisely, the biggest difference between good car oil (Without friction modifiers) and motorcycle specific oil is the bottle. Just sayin'.
 
I'd use the Rotella or any other name brand HDEO 15w40. I'd probably use the 5w40 syn or Esso 0w40 in winter.
I don't buy that info on 'gas specific' oils having more 'wear resistance' than HDEO's. Also remember that today's oils are much better than 1979's.

PS: I really like that bike and the 650 version that was available for a year or two. I always thought it to be a great design....kind of like a smaller, water cooled Moto Guzzi with Japanese reliability. Good Luck with it.
 
You are not cheaping out by using a conventional oil and changing it out a little more often. Bikes with shared sumps can be hard on any oil.

On my shared sump bikes I change the Rotella 15w-40 every 2500 and the oil filter every 5000.

That's a cool little bike and I hope it works out for you with the mileage that you have planned for it. Be sure to put fresh tires on it regardless of the tread condition of the current tires.
 
Hi Caprice,

Valvoline makes some really good motorcycle specific oils in both dino and synthetic versions.

Use the dino for 5k changes or the synthetic for 7.5k changes. Enjoy the gas savings but also enjoy the wind in your face.

BTW I just got back from a 2200 mile 6 day trip on the Harley. We had some warm and cool weather down here. But it was a BLAST
 
My 05 Ninja 250 is capable of great duel economy over 75 MPG if I stay out of higher rpm's. I like going faster though and tend to get 60-65. Gas savings will be eaten up by increased tire replacement. I have not gotten 10,000 miles on a set yet but have opted for touring over sport tires. Hoping they will last much longer but I cannot see hitting 15,000 miles and the cost for 2 motorcycle tires can be as much as a set of 4 car tires.
 
Originally Posted By: spk2000
My 05 Ninja 250 is capable of great duel economy over 75 MPG if I stay out of higher rpm's. I like going faster though and tend to get 60-65. Gas savings will be eaten up by increased tire replacement. I have not gotten 10,000 miles on a set yet but have opted for touring over sport tires. Hoping they will last much longer but I cannot see hitting 15,000 miles and the cost for 2 motorcycle tires can be as much as a set of 4 car tires.


The tire thing is something we try not to point out to our wives. Fact is, motorcycles require expensive maintenance at a much higher rate than modern cars. Between that and the tires, it is hard to justify from a purely economic basis, especially for commuting. But I always justified it because it was good for my mental health.

You never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrists office, unless the psychiatrist rode it there.
 
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Originally Posted By: spk2000
My 05 Ninja 250 is capable of great duel economy over 75 MPG if I stay out of higher rpm's. I like going faster though and tend to get 60-65. Gas savings will be eaten up by increased tire replacement. I have not gotten 10,000 miles on a set yet but have opted for touring over sport tires. Hoping they will last much longer but I cannot see hitting 15,000 miles and the cost for 2 motorcycle tires can be as much as a set of 4 car tires.


The tire thing is something we try not to point out to our wives. Fact is, motorcycles require expensive maintenance at a much higher rate than modern cars. Between that and the tires, it is hard to justify from a purely economic basis, especially for commuting. But I always justified it because it was good for my mental health.

You never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrists office, unless the psychiatrist rode it there.


This. I'm lucky to get 1000 miles out of a set of tires on the street. The track wears them out even faster. Although my most recent addition to the stable, should be a bit easier on tires.

But I'm not riding to save money. I ride strictly because I enjoy it.
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Sorry MR. Trump,But you will be wasting the gas savings on a oil that motor doesn't need or require.,,


Care to share how you think that is true? I could understand more if you told me I was wasting my money on synthetic in my 305 that can go 300-400k miles on conventional, because you're probably right, but I doubt that on almost any motorcycle engine. Feel free to enlighten me if I'm wrong.
 
Reading everyone else's posts I think I'll stick to conventional at 3k oil changes.

I didn't realize the tires wore out that fast. My dad has an ex police bike Harley, but only has a short commute to work and doesn't ride it all the time.
 
In general, synthetic oil just lives longer, not better protections. The very expensive "true" synthetics might be better...PAO has higher film strength than petroleum and is better at frigid temperatures. None of this really matters. Higher film strength doesn't matter if the stress isn't breaking down conventional oil. You won't ride in frigid weather.
 
Originally Posted By: caprice_2nv
Reading everyone else's posts I think I'll stick to conventional at 3k oil changes.

I didn't realize the tires wore out that fast. My dad has an ex police bike Harley, but only has a short commute to work and doesn't ride it all the time.


3k oil changes are likely just fine. I've had some oils that allowed the shifting to become notchy before 3k, and other oils that went further than that with smooth shifting throughout the OCI. I tried many different brands before I found one I like.

As for tire wear, that is highly dependent on the type of tire, the bike, how the bike is ridden, and how abrasive the road surface is.
 
I'm going to drive it pretty conservatively. I reserve the driving like I stole it for when I'm on four wheels in a car worth about $800 :)

I better look into the price of tires soon.
 
A quick search found some cheap tires for about $65/each. That's not too bad if I can actually get them for under $100/each.
 
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