Valvoline VR1 50W. Been running this for years in some high temp SE Texas heat with no issues.

 

Hey throttle_jockey ever get stuck in city traffic and if so what's the lowest the oil pressure ever got down to. Mine had gone down to 3 lbs. Worries me a little..

 

Oil pressure gauges lie, don't worry about it.

 

Spanners talked about this in the oil pressure gauge thread, and he's exactly right.

Automotive engines use a different kind of bearing (the shell kind). With shell bearings, you need oil pressure to float them. Oil pressure gets too low, zing. You're in trouble. The whole point is to maintain oil pressure so you avoid any metal-to-metal contact. Have a breakdown (due either to loss of pressure of viscosity), and the bearing will rub. If you're lucky, you'll just have a little wear on the bearing surface. If the bearing really grabs, you'll spin the shell in the journal, it will become oil-starved, and then you are truly hosed.

HD bearings are fundamentally different. Roller bearings don't require oil pressure to float them. Its physically impossible to pressurize a roller bearing like you do a shell bearing, and roller bearings DO have constant metal-to-metal contact (ish...the viscosity of the oil in theory keeps bare metal from hitting bare metal), but that's ok since its rolling contact and not rubbing contact.

 

........ and so, Harleys need flow, not pressure.

 

As long as you have enough pressure to keep the oil moving through the motor and to keep the lifters pumped up, you're good.

 

Welcome to the site.
As you can see , oil questions get some " flavourfull " responses .
Oil quality is now eons ahead of what it used to be .
The pros. for syn. oil are .,
It stays in its original state much longer than dino. therefore the oil change frequency can be extended .
It flows very well at cold starts .
The cons. for syn. oil are .,
The cost of the oil.
The expensive " appropriate syn. oil filter " suggested by the supplier to handle the extended oil change frequency.
The ability of syn. oil to " creep " through an oil seal that showed no leakage with dino oil.

You must keep in mind that oil does more than lubricate , it also cools the motor and floats the normal carbon and wear metal to the filter .
When the oil becomes darker colored , it and the filter have done there job and are due to be changed.

A premium quality 20/50 dino. oil and the best filter of any popular brand is what i would advise. Follow your manual for prescribed oil change intervals.

 

Does the Dino oil have to be motorcycle oil or can it be any conventional oil?

 

ITS YOUR CHOISE BRO.!
As described , you have your own choises .
Spend what you want for oil but just be sure to change it when its supposed to be changed and you will be ok.

 

Thanks bro...