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[Morgan Buchanan]

Anyone use Shell Rotella T synthetic?  I've heard I can get it at WalMart for about $15 a gallon, and it's listed here as a good oil for bikes:

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Consumables.html

The site says 5w-40, but that seems like it might not be best for Texas...  any opinions?  15w-40 be better here?

[CouldBFaster]

I have always run 20-50w in the summers here in the great state of texas. cause it gets so hot. Just make sure you let the bike warm up first. You can't just Hop on and go. I let mine sit in the morning for almost 5 min. 
That is just what I do.

[Morgan Buchanan]

With oil cooling, 20-50 kinda seems like overkill, don't you think? 

[Crewsn]

20w-50 is fine. just in case anyone is interested. the first number with the "W" after it refers to the fact that additives were put in the oil to allow it to flow like a 50 weight oil at 20 degrees. the oils with just the single number were not. example: plain 50 weight oil gets really thick at 20 degrees, oil pump really has to pump and it takes longer to circulate. typically in texas there are only a couple of months you may need to worry about cold temps being a factor. the manual actually has a section in it with a chart based on average temps as to what oil weights you can use. 20W50 is fine. BTW, i've been using shell rotella T in mine fo almost 2 years. the gallon jug makes it easy, i use a slightly larger than stock filter so i just dump in the gallon and i'm good to go. good luck and ride safe.

[hipshot]

With a liquid cooled engine you don't need to run the 20W-50, even in the summer. It won't harm your bike, but it's not necessary. Air cooled engines are built to looser tolerances, and they get hotter in the summer than our liquid cooled engines. They need 20W-50. I believe that the lower number in a multi-viscosity oil refers to its ability to flow like a lighter oil in a cold environment; this facilitates cold-weather startups.

[Morgan Buchanan]

That's what I was thinking and why I didn't think anything more than 10-40 would be necessary (and that's largely what I've read on the subject from the "big tech dogs" on VTXOA main.  If I can find Rotella synthetic in 10-40, that's what I'm going to go with, I guess.

[CouldBFaster]

With oil cooling, 20-50 kinda seems like overkill, don't you think? 

Some might say with Traffic the way it is don't you think and 1800CC motor on a motorcycle might be a little overkill. Speed limits set so low having a bike that can do more than twice the legal limit might be overkill. But if you ask me its dead on perfect and i would not have it anyother way. It is always better to have a little more than what you need than not enough. With everything in life.