Originally Posted By: smonska
No issues with the clutch at all.
That's an interesting idea with using the conventional rotella over synthetic. I guess having a much lower HTHS being a 15w, it is likely to have a thicker base and as such, can't shear. With my last UOA I thought it only sheared due to the fuel, but with less fuel in this sample I guess the 5w-40 really does thin out. There are a couple other UOAs with T6 Syn in a honda that show similar shearing.
Can't argue with the wear metals though!
No. You can't however does that bike have cylinder liners. I know my 1100 v-star had ceramic cylinder liners,so wear metals were always very low.
Getting back to the conventional vs syn I found in my 750 shadow,my 450 nighthawk,1100 v4 venture and my 1100 v-star ,all of those bikes were much less noisy in operation using conventional rotella vs M1 10w-40 mc specific oil/Amsoil 10w-40mc oil/Amsoil 0w-40 powersports oil.
I found that with all the syns listed(and a few more I've forgotten) shifting became notchy and shifting gears became a bit touchy as well as alot more top end noise almost like clockwork at 2000 miles. Yes the oil could have gone further but changing it made the bikes operate as usual.
With conventional rotella I found that those issues didn't present themselves til at least 3000 miles(or longer) before a change was required to improve shift characteristics.
Now I'm sure all of these oils can go longer in the sumps of these bikes and still protect the engine however it was shift quality that necessitated the change,not the oil being overwhelmed, so based on that I figured why spend more money on these bike specific fluids when rotella costs less and actually lasted longer in my bikes. Made no sense to me anyways.
Now if those premium bike oils or any syn oil kept my bikes shifting nice for double the mileage that rotella does,then I would use them,simply because it would be a better value however since rotella costs half as much and lasts as long or in my case a minimum of 30% longer its a no brainer to me.
And 5 gallon pails of rotella can be has for 65 bucks. To use a syn in the bikes I listed I would need 10-11 quarts at 15 a quart retail here,so 150-165 per oil change,or I can get 3-4 oil changes per bike for 65 bucks.
Even if rotella only lasted half as long as a syn bike oil it would still be a better value.
I think shift quality and shear are directly related in my shared sump bikes,and once the oil has sheared it negatively affects shifting,in my case.
And I will be using rotella in my 107hp/115tqS&S powered Harley this year just to prove it can be done. I'm already using it in my primary and my stock clutch doesn't slip.
Anyways I hope something I wrote an help someone save a buck.
