Castrol, Motul, Shell, Mobil....a lot of brands to chose, but wich one is best for the GS?

The great Carnak predicts that Rehab will suggest Amsoil Synthetic.  :lol:

I don't  think that there is a big difference between brands. Get motorcycle oil, car oil has additives you don't want in your engine. Beyond that, it's down to natural or synthetic and that has been debated here before.

i just went over this for my sv650. most everyone agreed that shell rotella t is perfect for the sv650 (robust additive package, excellent base oil, no friction modifiers) and is quiet cheap at $7 a gallon. it's standard dino oil, but the sv650 is water cooled and has a redline of 10,500, so it's very easy on oil. however, i found out that aircooled engines really benifit from synthetic since they operate at much higher temperatures and only have the oil to cool them, therefore i'd recommend shell rotella t synthetic or, for the fat walleted amoungst us, amsoil synthetic oil. amsoil synthetic is, so far, the only brand synthetic besides rotella i haven't heard anything bad about.

You dont happen to be a trucker by trade do you...
Never mind just kidding...Yes Rotella is a great oil and truckers swear by it. I have discovered oil made by accel sold at walmart for 75 cents a qt that has the old SF rating and it says on the box use only in old cars before 1988 or some like that. The newer oils have fewer friction reducers that dont hurt the sensors. Older oils were loaded with zinc and copper both of which save wear on bearings etc. Yes your clutch may slip if its bad already but it sorta is better for the clutch than synthetic and my clutch is good so no risk for me.
Cool.
Srinath.

How often do you change oil? 3000KM? 6000KM?

The oil in your crankcase is the best kind!

Probably 5,000 km intervals is about right, but of course it depends on the usage. 5k km or 3 months, and always before storage is my routine for a street bike.

The newer automobile oils actually have far more friction reducers and it has nothing to do with sensors, but to help with fuel economy. They have far less zinc and phosphorous which were in older oils, and motorcycle oils, for preventing metal to metal contact (after oil film breakdown) from causing as much damage.

It's the most expensive, but IMO it's the best...Amsoil. Wanna get it cheap? Join the preffered customer program and buy it wholesale.

Hmm. Amsoil quotes all the specs on the bottles, but they are not in the official JSI and SAE symbols because they've never been certified to meet the standards.

It may just be a matter of money - certification does cost a lot of $.

When you say it is "best", do you have any test data that proves that? I don't believe there is any, unless they have some whiz bang infomercial testing that doesn't conform to any accepted standards.

A lot of money for little benifit I think.

Quote from: JuanferHow often do you change oil? 3000KM? 6000KM?

for Srinath....that might be 30,000 or 60,000 KM
he might just add oil to his GS valdes

oh yeah....WHACK WHACK :mrgreen:

Werase and KevinC are on 399 posts...
Yea I used to run the thing on 60wt and it was great...Yes on the zinc and copper and phoshorus...I mis typed...However on additive package they have made changes to the additives nowadays that are more sensor friendly. The older oils used to be black and grey and foul smelling...the new generation of oils are clear and light and fruity smelling....Might as well be ghey if you using them...real men use smelly oil and rough soap and they laugh at foo foo bikes that have just 487 CC...or use that new fangled gasoline...Real vehicles use diesel...no not Vin Diesel....what sorta name is Vin anyway...Sounds like french for wine....another fruit fly drink...Real men drink whisky
Cool.
Srinath.

I have heard from several mechanics that Amsoil Motorcycle oil is about as good as you can do. Yeah there are other options, but I will spend the extra couple of dollars to be sure.

And stick to 10w-40 will ya?

 -Anti

Quote from: octaneIt's the most expensive, but IMO it's the best...Amsoil. Wanna get it cheap? Join the preffered customer program and buy it wholesale.

Ok so I have already been called out on my answer  

You can join the preferred customer program for $20 a year. This allows you to buy at wholesale costs.

If you don't think you will buy a lot of oil each year - I will also sell anyone from gstwin.com oil at wholesale or you can buy it through the website and I will donate ALL profit to gstwin.com

Just PM if you are interested. I am not making any money from selling wholesale - only helping out fellow gs'ers.

If you'd like to become a preferred customer click this link:
Become a Preferred AMSOIL customer

Dylan,
Still waiting for the oil to arrive. Filter came a while back but still no oil. Thanks for your generous gstwin offer!

I change my oil every 2500-3000km, but im hard on my bike so i feel thats about fair. I use motul oil. its about $37.00CDN/4litres, so reasonable priced. Some people change there filter every 2 oil changes, but dont do that. change it every time for the extra $5.00. Its worth it.
If you constantly rev your engine above 8000rpm (like me who never has it below 7500 unless idling or in the neighbouhood), change it more often. Thats what i believe, maybe im crazy, but mechanical engineering teches you some stuff. I abuse my bike, and i know it, but i do take good care of it.

Quote from: pantabloDylan,
Still waiting for the oil to arrive. Filter came a while back but still no oil. Thanks for your generous gstwin offer!

For clarification, I had some oil shipped to Pablo for free to try out (for having such a fantabulously GS website) and the Los Vegas warehouse put my name on the box instead of his so it was refused at his place of business. It is back on its way though.

I bought some oil today. I went with the valvoline 10w-40 motorcycle oil. I believe it will do fine. I went with a fram oil filter. Hope it is good as well. I am going to change it later today. I have never changed a filter like this before. Anything I should know. I have the Clymer book to help me.

i have some castorl GTX oil and STP SMO-00 filter waiting to be put on to my bike. I will probably do it today if not next weekend.

Got the oil changed today. That was not too bad. I think I got the filter cover sealed well. I was trying to be real easy tightening that cover down. Looks like it could be screwed up easily if someone was not careful. My bike held 3 qts exactly. My clymer manual said 3.1 but it is full at 3 qts. I hope this is normal. I have checked it many times on level ground upright like I am supposed to and it is right on the money!

Quote from: zoltani just went over this for my sv650. most everyone agreed that shell rotella t is perfect...

My other GS forum agrees... What weight Rotella do you use in this bike?

The Shell Rotella T synthetic, 5W-40, is probably the best bang for your buck oil for the GS.  It's like $12 for a gallon and you can get it anywhere.  3 quarts for when you change it, 1 quart leftover to top up with.  It's a dual rated oil, for both gas and diesels, so it's got a strong additive package and is made for use in turbo engines.  Our 70's era GS500 engines are probably pretty hard on oil and I figure this stuff should hold up nicely.  The conventional Rotella, 15W-40, is also probably pretty good and even cheaper, but I like the extra margin the synthetic provides.

BTW, car oils do not contain bad stuff that will hurt your bike, so long as you stick to the higher viscosities.  There are millions of bikes with bazillions of miles out there disproving this myth every day.

jeff