Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech 20W50 instead of 15W50?

Is anyone running 20W50 in their bike? I can't seem to find 15W50 anywhere around here. (Other than my dealer at $50/gal.) I can get 20W50 Amsoil V-Twin oil from my brother for $6.95 a qt.

Nologic,been running Amsoil 20/50 for about two years.
Very satisified. 6.95 quart is a good price.
Go for it.
Mike

I've done two oil changes with Mobil 1 V-Twin oil in 20W-50 weight. The 10W-40 choice didn't seem like a good idea. If I rode all year round, the 10W-40 might make sense for the colder months.

If you go to Amsoils website and look at the write-up on the 20W-50 Syn Motorcycle oil, and scroll down to the Applicatins section they address this question.

Tom

As long as the rest of the spec matches or betters the Triumph requirements, AND you don't intend to ride when it's -40F, 20W50 isn't a problem. The 20W part means that the oil doesn't get any thicker than does single viscosity SAE20 at 0F.

Running mobil v twin here. I did an extensive search and found a website with a resident guru who is apparently in the oil biz and has done a lot of research and testing of oils. V twin was his recommendation. After reading a lot of posts there i came to believe this guy knew what he was talking about from real experience. Most opinions on oil are just that, but this guy seemed to know from much lab research. So thats my oil of choice. Don't ask me to link the site, as i can't recall what it's called and only found it after searching google for a few weeks when i first got the bike.I doubt i could find it again very easily.

Oh boy, more oil talk! It's been at least three days.

I am currently running the Shell Rotella 5w-30 snythetic. I was told, "NO NO! You cannot, must not, should not run 5w in a motorcycle!!! It will ruin your cluth, it will blow up your motor, it will blow all your seals, it will molest your daughters...."
Works great, many many hard miles, no slippy, motor stays nice and cool, runs hard, only $12 a gallon at Wally World.
I used to run 10-40, 20-50 etc etc. All kinds of oils and weights. Never a problem.
Simple rule: Clean oil is good oil. If the clutch don't slip, it be fine!

So pat, is that motorcycle oil or just plain old oil oil? I got my sister a case of it at costco for 15 bucks for her car...

Benny, it is synthetic diesel oil. If you go the the Rotella site, they even recommend it highly for wet clutch motorcycles.

Ok cool, I guess Costco just has the plain jane petroleum oil on the cheap. Good for my sis's 91 saturn...

Really Al, you know what I mean by the 3 day remark eh? Over at the RatNet it is rediculous, every other thread is 'what oil...???"
Anyway, I got the synthetic Rotella at WalFart, it was on the bottom shelf and says synthetic right on the front. It is a different color than all the other oils.
Good stuff too, and I beat my bike pretty hard and it's been fine. There are a few others that use it but I am betting they are a bit afraid to say so because of the Oil Nazis that will say what idiots they are for using the wrong oil.
I figure it runs great, the temp and pressure are perfect, the clutch feels great so it must be ok?

I think there are 2 kinds of "the wrong oil". theres stuff that is just wrong and it's a known fact...wrong type, (extended milage, etc) or weight. Then theres the kind that works fine and no one really knows because no one has problems with it, and if they do it cannot be linked reliably to the oil. So the big question is how does anyone know whether it may cause the engine to wear out faster. I mean, if one guy's bike with a lesser oil lasts 100k and the other with a known good oil lasts 130k, neither is going know why thier bike went to that perticular milage before needing a rebuild. And even if 2 guys did compare considering the oils they used, it would be a rare situation. It would take a lot of people with high milage bikes comparing over a long period before any definate conclusions could be made. So what do we really know? All we REALLY know is that the wrong weight is not good, and using oil thats the wrong type for a wet clutch is not good. other than that i'd bet that till some controlled tests are done we will never truly know whether shell rotella is as good or better than mobil V twin, or whether vtwin is as good or better than mobil 1 car oil, etc etc etc.

thats why as dinqua suggests, these oil threads are pretty much useless other than to answer the already known questions like weight for example, and those take one reply before the thread is then worthy of closing.(of course even weight is subjective to a point, but beyond that point it's known)

Didn't mean to kick a dead horse here. I did do a search and didn't find any threads that asked about using 20W50 instead of 15W50. Just looking for some thoughts from fellow enthusiasts. Sorry.

No worries, go ahead and ask, that's what the place is for. Don't worry if it's been asked. And at least you did a search too.

Just wanted to make sure 20W50 was acceptable .....in whatever oil anyone feels is good in their opinion. In mine it's Amsoil because I feel comfortable with it. And it is accessible and priced right.

find motorcycle oil motul syn 10w-50w 31$ cdn a gallon. it was the first time I saw 10-50w anybody have any info about motul 10w-5ow.

Interesting site about oil faqs;
http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

Pat, is the same Rotella T stuff I see at 'wamert' that is recommended for heavy trucks, etc., but doesn't mention bikes? Seems too easy!! Checked today and it was up to $14/gal....still a bunch cheaper than most bike-specific blends.

BD,cheaper now isn't always cheaper later. Al

As far as I know (I'm in heavy duty truck maintenance) Shell Rotella is not synthetic. Unless they've recently come out with a new Rotella.

Yes, that's the stuff.
Read this link from Rotella FAQs

nologic, go over to any BMW dealer, they have 15W50 that meets all of our specs (as I mentioned in my other post), and is only $8 a quart versus $12, then you have that extra peace of mind. Another possibility is to order Motorex oil online from:
MOTOREX USA
Chuck Ramage
1932 Eastman Ave., Suite #107
93003 Ventura, California
Tel: 001 805 658 0900
Fax: 001 805 658 09 10
e-mail: motorexusa@juno.com

They have several 15W50's, one for about $7 a quart, one for $8 a quart and one for $12 a quart. All meet our requirements, so you should be fine to go for the $7/quart stuff. I'm going to give the $8/quart stuff a try next time around. Running the Beemer oil now (it's actually from Spectro), so far, so good!

Rotella 10W-40 is my choice. Full synthetic with no additives. Been running it for a couple months. Bike runs great and no slipping on the clutch.

Does anyone think there would be a warranty issue if an engine problem would develope and Triumph found that I was running 20W50 instead of 15W50? Does anyone have any experience or dealer advice in this regard?

NL,please tell me how they are going to know? Al

I don't know whether this is bad or good but, if you look in the harley manuel, they recommend using diesel oil's when harley's brand is not available. They have no warrenty issues with using such oil's as rotella. Personally I think you'd be just as well off and maybe changing at 4000 as oringally suggested by triumph would be a better choice. Im currently using Jersey Joe's Super Slick Stuff, in mine and quite pleased.

i'm running 20/50 mobil v twin every 4000 miles w/ a pure one filter and a magnetic oil plug. i run rotella t synthetic 5/40 in another bike and its water cooled. works great. thought about using it in the speedy...???

cat

I'm not sure if the dealer would take an oil sample if there was an engine failure. I know that this is the procedure in the heavy duty truck world. Although most sample labs would need a sample of new oil also to compare. But since it seems like most everyone here runs what they want anyway I shouldn't be too concerned.

NL,if you had an engine fail would you take it in for repair with the wrong oil in it,if it was the WRONG oil? If you insisted on running the cheapest oil filter,would you show up with that oil filter?Al

Just wanted to make an observation here. I've been looking at oils and found that VERY few meet the Triumph spec of API SJ or higher....not even Mobil 1 V-Twin, which I already bought.(Motul doesn't either.) I'm going to follow Bayern710's advice and use the BMW oil until my warranty is up.

20-50 might not be to good in the winter wh ere you are, but other than that its ok. i live in S. Fl. and have always run 20-50 Amsoil but its always warm or hot here thus the 20 factor is fine but in the cold you might want to go to a 5 or 10-30 or 40??

I usually don't ride in anything below 40 degrees (I'm a wuss) so the 15W50 (BMW oil) should be fine.

Quote:

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I usually don't ride in anything below 40 degrees

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So, Sally, I guess you're about done for this season then, eh?

OW!

CRUNCH!!

You been storing them up Pat?

Yea, I've been sick all week and I'm just starting to get back to "normal".

Did I deserve this????? Some of us ride when we want to ride....not to impress others.

Rick, you should be honored that Pat looked down from his lofty perch and deemed you crunchable!

Of course that perch is often alcohol induced and Pat is usually full of stale gas...