Yes, they add viscosity improvers to the base oil.

 

They recommend it because it meets their specs and, more importantly, they sell it. Despite some claims I hear on the forums Syn3 is a good full-synthetic oil. A friend who uses Syn3 now has 112k miles on his 2000 WG with no engine work to date. The only problem I have with Syn3 is that it is severely overpriced, and oils that test better are available for much lower prices. That said, I think it really makes little difference which full-synthetic oil you use, and the biggest effect you'll notice is how much you spend on it. Since most of us change our oil no more than once every six months, I doubt if the selection of motorcycle oil will contribute to anyone's financial ruin. I say use the oil that makes you feel good and the hell with what someone else uses or promotes, or how much it costs.

 

Would you run gear oil in your motor? that's all i'm sayin,no contest.........

 

I don't think it's a problem, but you'll be pleasantly surprised if you run a heavier gear oil in the tranny. I'm running a 75/140 Mobil 1 gear oil and the transmission is noticeably smoother and quieter.

 

I have a 09' Road King. Have had it for a month and purchased it with 300 miles on it so not sure if it has ever had a oil change on it. I have it in now for the 1000 mile service. What Oil was that bike originally delivered with? Dino in all 3 holes?

 

Besides a different label on the bottle, a tiny wee bit of additives which are not needed for the engine and $3 more per quart, there's nothing else in M1 V-Twin oil which would make it stay cooler than the M1 15W-50 under the same conditions.
I've been using M1 15W-50 for several years now and it's perfectly adequate. I also have an oil temp gauge and it rarely hits 250F even when stopped in traffic for several minutes in 90F+ temp. And even if it did, that's 180F below where it would start to lose its lubricating properties.
But hey, if you feel more comfy using the V-Twin 20W-50 in yer engine, and see your temp gauge stop at 230F instead of 250F, then by all means, go for it.

 

A friend of mine is an indy in Beaumont, Texas where Mobil 1 is blended. He told me a story of a Mobil employee bring his new 2003 Twin Cam in for it 1000 mile service and bringing 4 quarts of M1 15w50 to be used for the service, which my friend performed. He brought it in every 15,000 miles there after for service always using the M1 15w50. At 90,000 miles, realizing that the cam chain tensioners had never been inspected they told him that it would be a good idea to do so and he concurred. The tensioners were about to fail and they replaced them. I personally think getting 90,000 miles out of a set of cam chain tensioners on an early model is outstanding. As far as I know the owner is still changing his oil at 15,000 mile intervals. Now, he may have access to analysis to make sure that the oil is still viable, but I still think this speaks well of Mobil 1 and shows that using the 15w50 is OK.

 

Don't put one on! You won't like what you see.
The 103's run hot as hell. During the summer, I'll see north of 250 in stop and go traffic. Usually run 220 on the hwy.

 

I'm too obsessive to own a temp gauge, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the ride anymore. I do what I can to keep an air cooled engine from overheating and just ride. Unless I could get an analysis of my oil every few thousand, I couldn't in all good conscience go 15k on an oil change, more power to the dude that did so for 90k that's noteworthy.

 

So did I read correctly that this guy changes his oil every 15k miles? Getting 90k out of a set of early-TC tensioners is the most I've heard of to date by about 20k miles.