Just a simple question. I have an 03 road king classic anniversary edition and am going to put synthetic in. It has !9k miles/31k Kilometers. I got this baby financed to the moon and want to keep it. I like it. What sythentic is good. I'm not saying the best as to start a pi$$ing war here but give me some brands. Up here in southwestern Ontario Canada.

randy

 

A good synthetic that is popular, readily available and you can often find on sale is Mobil1 v-twin. I personally have been using HD syn3 in my engine. Now get ready for a hundred different opinions.

 

The simple answer to your question is Mobil 1 V-twin 20w-50. Readily available.

 

Sounds good to me. Its winter time up here now. I have the bike in a heated garage. never drops below 55 deg F. Should I wait till spring or would it hurt to put it in now even though I'm not riding it. I periodically start the bike up and bring it to operating temperature and let it run ever couple weeks..

randy

 

Been using Mobil1 products since the mid 80's. Using Mobil1 V-twin oil since the late 90's. I like the heat protection the oil affords and the wear on metal to metal is minimized.

 

This is a bad practice as it promotes condensation in your oil and carbon buildup in your combustion chambers. While you are bringing the engine up to temp, (not sure how you know that), it needs to stay at operating temp for some time to burn off the condensation in the engine oil. When starting the bike from cold it needs a rich mixture to start and stay running for the period of warmup. This causes additional carbon in the combustion chamber, which would normally be cleaned out fairly handily while riding.

The best thing you can do for your bike is change all the fluids, engine, trans and primary, with good quality oils in the fall when you put it up for the winter, plug it into a battery tender, and leave it until you are ready to start riding again in the spring. If you are really fussy, you can fog the engine as well, which will leave all the intervals coated with a light film of oil, further reducing the chances of internal rust developing during our long periods of Canadian winter storage. As yours is stored in a garage with a consistent, warm temp, fogging is not necessary.

Personally I use Amsoil 20/50 V-Twin in the engine and primary and Amsoil Severe Gear 75/140 in the trans.

 

Here we go again....

 

Good advice.

 

Good thing you didn't ask for "The Best", because that will always come down to different opinions.
There is no such thing as "best".

All major brands of Synthetic will be more than good enough for your bike.
Pick the one that is easy for you to get.


Stop doing that.
Unless your going to ride the bike for a good 10 - 15 miles, your doing more harm than good in just starting it up and letting it idle.
You might think your getting it up to operating temps, but your really not if it is just sitting idling.

 

and add to the list, Amsoil, Valvoline 4 stroke, all good name brand oils, you cant go wrong.

I personally use an unknown semi syn Mystik JT8 but not what you are looking for and not recommending over all the others above.

I also agree with the above, you shouldnt be idling your bike unless you KNOW for certain your oil is getting up to FULL operating temperature before shutting down and chances are you are not.

Not getting it up to full operating temperature is known as severe service. Your leaving behind unevaporated water and fuel when you shut down.