oil 2009 considerations?

[nightpilot]

I just had a talk with valvoline who makes napa synthetic that is on sale to the end of the month for $3 per quart and was going to put some 15 - 50 syn in. The tech said that they did not recommend synthetic for the wet clutches and also did not recommend the car oil re not having the additives thier bike oil has. He said the clutch would last longer with bike oil. This oil is sm/sl which is the most recent formulation. I read the threads and analysis, noting, I think, that the tests were on cars. I also note that lots of guys said they have been running car oil for years and all works fine? I did not price valvoline bike oil but cstrol semi syn is $6 from my mechanic who uses it himself. Any thoughts re recent info?

[DGXSER]

Honestly, nothing has changed about these bikes or their engines and transmissions since the various post you have read. I am not trying to be rude or arrogant, but as you noted, this subject has been discussed ALOT. I can assure you it is a question I asked when I first got to XS11 and first got my bike. And after just 6 months or so, I have read SO many threads on oil discussions that I already know why the members who have been for years go "Arrrrrgggghhh, not ANOTHER oil thread!!"

So take that into account and not personally when I say, you already have all of the facts needed to make your own choice form what you have stated. This is a personal preference thing. The facts are there between MC oil and Auto oil. They have taken nothing from the Auto oil that I know of to make it less effective for our bikes. The MC oil is still alot of $$$ by comparison. From there the choice is yours to make.

[webbcraft2150]

80k on the XS running dino Castrol 10-40. 400hrs on 300hp Mercruiser running 40wt Castrol HD. 305k on 75 Dodge, bought new, 2nd engine, running on Castrol or Valvoline 30 or 10-40 dino oil. 89k on '02 Protege, bought new running on 10-40 Castrol GTX. Some folks run diesel Rotella with good results, some run syn oil and have not complained about clutch slippage, yet. I tend to stick with what works.
Interesting note when I was wrenching on boats, Mercruiser did not recommend the use of syn oil in any of there sterndrives or inboards, yet all high HP engines from the racing division came with Mobil 1. They also scorned the use of any multi-vis oil, till they came out with there own private brand @
$5+ a quart. Oil is like tires, everyone has there favorite brand they swear by. I think you will find most people here stick to the Castrol brand in one weight group or another. A gillion miles of testing and hundreds of 30+ year old bikes still running can't be all wrong.

Which brings up an interesting question, just how many XS11's in this group are up and running? I know I have one of 'em.