[garyd23]

Hello, Im from Houston Tx and im new to all this. I bought a 2005 cbr 1000 and i dont know what kind of oil to run in it. I dont know if it had synthetic oil or regular oil in it before and I was just wondering if anyone had any recomendations on what i should use.

[bladeracer]

Motorcycle oil changed regularly.
Doesn't really matter what brand or whether it's synthetic or not as long as it's clean.

[DrRuckus07]

IMO.... stick with good old Honda HP4 oil and a Honda oil filter. Your engine and clutch will last for more miles than you will care to ride it for. But really any motorcycle oil will work. Just no Moly additives!!!

But some riders including myself have had issues with their bikes using synthetic oils in it. For some reason the cluth tends to slip or find false neutrals between the gears when the synthetic is in it. But for every Dino oil user there are others that have used synthetics fine and have absolutly no issues at all.

[bladeracer]

With full-synth I've had problems not being able to disengage the clutch as well as clutch slip. I've yet to even hear of anybody having problems with mineral or semi-synth though. I run Shell SX4 semi-synth in all my vehicles.
Who makes Honda's HP4?

[DrRuckus07]

ops.... my fault. HP4 is the semi-synthetic Honda brand oil. There is a with moly version and a without moly version. (sorry my fault)

GN4 is the Regular Honda oil. See PIC .

[bladeracer]

No, I mean who makes the oil that Honda sells under their brand?
Or do they have their own labs or refineries to make it from scratch?

[DrRuckus07]

Honda outsources the Specs for their oils. Honda doesn't actually produce the oil but has it made to their specifications by regular automotive oil companies. This is a common practice through out the industry by the way.

The actual maker is un-named due to the specs honda provides as opposed to just re-labeling a different brand of oil.

[bladeracer]

It is common practise but when you buy Shell for example you know who made it. When you buy Honda you may well be buying exactly the same thing.

[DrRuckus07]

Honda says its not Shell oil. Even if its made by that company for a period of time it has to confirm to their formulation. It is "supposed" different than any other manufactuers oil. Thats what makes it Genuine Honda.

But i see your point. It would take a chemical engineer to do a study on the oil formulations. and i have never heard of anyone reputable actually doing it.

[D.Nac]

Read this

The surprising truth about motor oils

essentially all oils work well as long as they are changed at appropriate intervals. However do not use car oil in your bike use only motorcycle oil because the additives in car oil are not compatible with your clutch and can cause it to slip.

[bladeracer]

Some car oils will work if they're not friction modified (or if you have a dry clutch) but I still wouldn't recommend them simply because car oils aren't designed to operate under motorcycle conditions of extreme revs, gearbox and clutch contamination.

[D.Nac]

Read here for all you ever wanted to know about oil and which ones to use.

All About Motor Oil

[bighicks2980]

Mobil 1 4T synthetic racing motor oil, Kendall's (car oil) 20-50w, Castrol (car oil) 20-50w, is the best oils on the market. And thats coming from my mechanic who built Rickey Gadsen bike!!!!!! I got over 40,000 miles and just changed my clutches about two weeks ago and they still looked fresh so i really didn't need cluctches... but hey everybody bike is different

[slickwill]

Whatever you decide on give it a try and after 3 or 4 thousand miles then send in a sample for analysis and see what the results are. That's what I did and the results were great so I'll keep using what I'm using.

Blackstone Laboratories - Motorcycle

Blackstone Laboratories - Free Test Kit

They'll send you the kit to collect and mail your sample in for free. You don't actually have to pay anything until you send your sample. I think it is well worth $22.50 to see if your oil is actually holding up.