I was on the H-D web site and read this

"New" H-D 360® MOTORCYCLE OIL
Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Oil is unlike off-the-shelf oils. H-D® 360 is a complex
mixture of carefully selected premium quality mineral oil and an exclusive
performance additive package (25% performance additives and 75% premium quality
mineral oil). Designed for maximum performance in H-D air-cooled V-Twin engines,
H-D 360 is a unique oil for a unique application.

What changed?

 

The name and packaging?

 

Seems to have replaced their previous mineral oil. Guess they have gone for a new blend and rebadged it.

 

Cheaper supplier?

 

Knowing the moco, the only thing they probably did was change the label then upped the price!

 

According to this chap, the new formula has more polymer viscosity modifiers

http://www.highdeserthd.com/custompa...g=riderscorner

which according to this fellow, ain't a good thing in the long run

http://jerickweb.50webs.com/autobin/oil.htm

Well, might not be good for the longevity of your bike; should be very good indeed for getting you into the dealership to trade in the old, gummed up with polymers scoot on a nice new one ( be sure to only use genuine HD oil and lubes, the MoCo can't afford to have you running around on the same bike for the next 5 years).

 

Movr viscosity improvers means it will shear out of grade faster.
It means they take a thinner oil,a 20 grade in this case,add a ton of viscosity improvers to resists thinning when the oil heats up,but those viscosity improvers look like a coiled up snake. They uncoil when hot but will break while uncoiled(shear) which thins the oil when hot.
Do over time the oil shears back to the 20 grade it started as.
When looking at oil the viscosity index is a very important value. The higher the viscosity index the less an oil can shear. A straight grade 50 has a higher viscosity index than a 20w-50 even though they are both a 50 grade hot.
In summer conditions a straight grade oil flows great and will not shear so at temp the oil is exactly the right thickness. After even 1000 miles most v-twin oils will shear out of grade and be thinner than the 50 grade hot specified for the engine

 

Does it make a difference if it's synthetic or dino? I've run synthetic 5000 miles on metrics, but changed dino every 1000 - when it was cheap. Today's prices, I'd like to get at least 2000 on a dino oil change, thought the new oils were up to it. Maybe not...

 

So if the oil is so bad why is the Moco willing to extend warranties out to seven years?

 

So if the 'new, improved', cast, press fit crankshaft is so bad why is the MoCo willing to extend warranties out to seven years? ( no biggee, adjust run-out specs for crankshaft as needed? 4k annually for average HD rider X 7 years=28K is what the average Harley owner will put on their bike by the time warranty expires! *****, odds in their favor, eh? Even the AMF bikes could last that many miles).

Honestly,I don't really know the answer to either question; sometimes I think the HD engineering department is comprised of one lonely, over worked schmoe who never gets invited to the office parties constantly being thrown by marketing and legal, which apparently, are very well staffed indeed.