Been using different motorcycle oil for over 25 years...yes including HD oil and the like. The main thing to keep in mind...stay with oil made for motorcycles, air cooled or not...

 

What is different about oils made for motorcycles? Besides marketing hype . . .

 

Any 10w40 or heavier oil is suitable for air-cooled motorcycles. I use Kendall GT 20w50 myself.

 

I have been running Mobil-1 in an EVO Heritage for ten years, alot of sustained speeds of 80 to 90 mph out on the road as well as stop and go city traffic.Yes you can use Mobil-1, it is an excelent oil. You do not have to use "V-TWIN", just regular Mobil-1.
Difference in bike and car oil: bikes (air cooled) sometimes run hot, also in most bikes, the engine oil also runs in the clutch and the transmission. A Harley engine, being air cooled,does run hot sometimes, but doesNOT share engine oil with the clutch or transmission (just like a car), so you need an oil that holds up to heat well, but you do not have to use Motorcycle specific oil. Mobil-1 is fine. For example ina Yamaha or Honda V-TWIN cruiser,there is only one oil tank which lubes the engine, clutch, and transmission. They must use a motorcycle specific oil. A Harleyhas three different oil tanks- engine, clutch, and transmission. You can put a motorcycle oil in all three, or do like a car, use engine oil, clutch oil, and transmission oil.Harley's "360" works fine too,in all three holes,you just wont be able to get it in Buffalos Butt, Wyoming at 7:30 at night....but you CAN probably find Mobil-1.OH....another thing, the synthetic holds up longer, you can go five or six thousand miles between changes as apposed to changing oil every 2500 miles with "360". That can be every three to five days on a long trip....not convenient.

 

I found some useful info on Mobil's website to help understand the diference between car and motorcycle oil.





It's a little hard to generalize about the difference between Mobil 1 passenger-car motor oils and Mobil 1 motorcycle oils. That's because not all viscosities of Mobil 1 passenger-car oils have the same levels of zinc and phosphorus, and there are even greater differences among the three Mobil 1 motorcycle oils. In general, Mobil 1 motorcycle oils have:

[ul][*]Additive packages balanced differently for motorcycle engine and transmission operation. For passenger vehicles, fuel economy and emission system protection are higher priorities.These require low phosphorus systems and the use of friction modifiers. Motorcycle oils do not require friction modifiers for fuel economy and for better clutch friction less/no friction modifier is optimum. Motorcycle oils allow the use of higher levels of antiwear additives such as ZDDP (phosphorous).
[/ul]




What are the overall advantages of Mobil 1 motorcycle oils?



In addition to the overall benefits listed above – specifically, high-temperature stability and low volatility/low oil consumption – Mobil 1 synthetic motorcycle oils also offer superior anti-corrosion performance compared to conventional motor oil, which is important in many parts of the country where bikes may sit in garages for several months of the year.
Compared to conventional oils, Mobil 1 motorcycle oils provide superior wear and high-temperature protection, and promote engine cleanliness and lower oil consumption.

Once you get past these general advantages, you have to deal with each specific motorcycle oil one at a time to understand the benefits.

 

I work in the oilpatch. I aint never seen a harley logo on a oil rig. I did see an old shovelhead running a compressor on a rig once though.

 

After reading this thread I decided to do some research...what I found is absolutely profound... I will summarize but read the report and draw your own conclusion. In summary:

Motorcycle oil superiority to car oil? - a myth
Synthethic better than conventional oil? - a fact
Best of the syntheticoils?- Mobile1

Just the facts jack (and Jill)

 

I used HD oil for the first 30k miles that I put on my bike.....then I switched to Havoline oil for the next 40k miles....now, I'm running the cheapest dino oil I can find (Walmart, Advance Auto, etc...). For tranny oil, I use regular 85-120 wt cheapie stuff, and for primary fluid, I am now using the cheapest Type F automatic tranny fluid I can find......over 98k miles on the virgin bottom end of the engine, over 98k miles on the virgin 4-speed tranny, and my original clutch plates were finally changed out over a month ago with 97k miles on them......run whatever you want.

 

What Mobil conveniently left out: 15w-50 and 20w-50 oils do not have to meet the specs for reduced ZDDP. For Mobil 1 15w-50 car and 20w-50 motorcycle oil, if you look at the levels of Zinc and Phosphorus you'll find they are nearly identical. The 15w-50 car oil has significantly more Calcium, but it has significantly less Magnesium. The 15w-50 has labout 90 ppm of Molybdenum, while the 20w-50 has none. I can speak from experience that 90 ppm of Molybdenum will have zero effect on the typical HD clutch.

Bottom line? There simply isn't enough difference in the additive packages to justify the doubling of cost.

 

Synthethic or fossil. KY or spit. The debate has been going on as long as war in the middle east. Kramer Krazy nailed it. If it don't hand grenade its good.