Hi all,

Just shy of my first 1000 miles in my GS500F and its all been great going so far. There are a few issues I need guidance on so any advice would be much appreciated.

Firstly, I've been given a full can of motor oil by a friend of mine, but he's an Alfa Romeo owner not a motorbike rider. The oil is "Selenia 20k Motor Oil" and is the recommended SAE 10W-40 as per the GS 500 owner's manual. My friend tells me it is good quality. The API rating is different however - it is SJ/CF as opposed to the recommended SF or SG. Another article posted on this forum seems to suggest SF and SG are obsolete ratings, but before I start topping up my engine oil with this stuff I wanted to hear from some of you folks with a tad more experience to see if it all sounds OK, or whether I should buy some dedicated motorcycle oil. I only need something to "do the job" and don't need the best available.

The other matter to hand is my rear brake is really getting on my nerves. Something looks to have gotten trapped in there and its making quite a squeal when applied. I've sprayed around the area and as much as I can in the gaps with Wurth brake and chain cleaner, but it hasn't really had an effect. I'm not sure what else to do, especially given my mechanical know-how is fairly limited. Any suggestions?

I've got a couple of other questions regarding fuel but will throw them in a new post or it will just get all too confusing 

thanks all

The oil will work just fine as far as I am concerned. I personally put only synthetic in mine, but these aren't race bikes, so go for it.

  -Anti 

I use Castrol GTX10/40.
Just don't use a 10/30 or you might have clutch slippage issues.
The rating of the oil he gave you is a newer standard.
The higher the letter after the letter "S" the newer the standard.
As long as you have a higher standard you will be ok.
The standard that the GS was rated for has probably been superseded many years ago.
Now as far as the bike oil vs. motorcycle oil issue,  I'll leave that up to others.
I would give the rear brake about 100 miles.
If it still squeals take it to the guy you got the bike from and let him look at it.
If there is something serious stuck in there you should see something on the rotor.
If not it will probably go away.
Good luck with the bike.

Better get used to the rear brake squeal. most GSs have it. Meticulous alignment of the rear wheel appers to have helped in some cases, but it's pretty much a feature of the GS.

I have a 2002 with almost 23,000 miles and have never had it.
I have seen and heard others and they did not have it.