After almost a year of testing just about every oil on the market, the dust has settled and I've found THE one :bow1:
I've tried dino oil by Honda, yamaha, golden spectro, valvoline and castrol.
And HDEO or "Diesel oils" if you wish, from Rotella T, Valvoline Premium blue,
Mobil Delvac, and Delo 400.
I've tried synthetic from Mobil 1 4T, Rotella T6, Redline, Amsol etc.
I've sent too many samples to Blackstone Labs to count.
The Mobil 1 synthetic did well, as expected. It was just getting way too expensive, and I didn't like the rattle and noise or notchy shifting at 3K.
None of the service rated dino oils fared well, as expected. Most thinned down to about 10-15 to 10-20 by the time it reached 4K.
The HDEO's did very well with the exception of Delvac 1300, which surprised me. The Delvac oil made ALOT of unexplained clattering in the engine at idle, like the engine was laboring.
The Rotella T, did very well in the begining, but again, got notchy around 3K
The Valvoline Premium blue was Fantastic from the get go! The clutch grab was great.
Almost felt like a new bike. Shifting was smooth through the entire OCI, and came out still looking clean. Several lab reports said keep running the HDEO's. Base TBN ended up higher than the mobil 1.
As much as I want to like synthetic oil, I just can't justify the extra cost, nor accept the rattle and notchy shifting that comes with it on this bike.
The Winner, my old standby! Chevron Delo 400LE. Now I know several of you that read all the stuff at Bob's the oil guy, will start crying about Moly!, but while the old formula was probably better than the LE version, this LE version smoked just about every other oil I tested, with the exception of the Valvoline Premium blue, up to and including several synthetics. It didn't "beat" Amsoil or Mobil one, but it did Match Mobil one, almost to the letter, and ended up with a higher TBN when drained. It not only stood toe to toe with the very expensive synthetics, but beat some of them as well.
I used to use the Delo 400 in all my bikes for years before they changed the formula. For some unknown reason, I made the mistake of never trying the new formual. My bad.
Next time you do an oil change, give this stuff a try, you may never go back to whatever you were using before.
Just sharing.
IGOFAR
Update: I just came back from a 371 mile ride through the mountains. The bike has never shifted Soooooo Smoooooth before! The Valvoline was close, but this delo is the cats meow !
I've tried dino oil by Honda, yamaha, golden spectro, valvoline and castrol.
And HDEO or "Diesel oils" if you wish, from Rotella T, Valvoline Premium blue,
Mobil Delvac, and Delo 400.
I've tried synthetic from Mobil 1 4T, Rotella T6, Redline, Amsol etc.
I've sent too many samples to Blackstone Labs to count.
The Mobil 1 synthetic did well, as expected. It was just getting way too expensive, and I didn't like the rattle and noise or notchy shifting at 3K.
None of the service rated dino oils fared well, as expected. Most thinned down to about 10-15 to 10-20 by the time it reached 4K.
The HDEO's did very well with the exception of Delvac 1300, which surprised me. The Delvac oil made ALOT of unexplained clattering in the engine at idle, like the engine was laboring.
The Rotella T, did very well in the begining, but again, got notchy around 3K
The Valvoline Premium blue was Fantastic from the get go! The clutch grab was great.
Almost felt like a new bike. Shifting was smooth through the entire OCI, and came out still looking clean. Several lab reports said keep running the HDEO's. Base TBN ended up higher than the mobil 1.
As much as I want to like synthetic oil, I just can't justify the extra cost, nor accept the rattle and notchy shifting that comes with it on this bike.
The Winner, my old standby! Chevron Delo 400LE. Now I know several of you that read all the stuff at Bob's the oil guy, will start crying about Moly!, but while the old formula was probably better than the LE version, this LE version smoked just about every other oil I tested, with the exception of the Valvoline Premium blue, up to and including several synthetics. It didn't "beat" Amsoil or Mobil one, but it did Match Mobil one, almost to the letter, and ended up with a higher TBN when drained. It not only stood toe to toe with the very expensive synthetics, but beat some of them as well.
I used to use the Delo 400 in all my bikes for years before they changed the formula. For some unknown reason, I made the mistake of never trying the new formual. My bad.
Next time you do an oil change, give this stuff a try, you may never go back to whatever you were using before.
Just sharing.
IGOFAR
Update: I just came back from a 371 mile ride through the mountains. The bike has never shifted Soooooo Smoooooth before! The Valvoline was close, but this delo is the cats meow !
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