03-16-2015, 10:28 AM
(03-16-2015, 07:36 AM)JustPassinThru_imp Wrote: I had a long talk with my dealer, who by trade is a mechanic, with oil choices.
Since the last chain-drive Japanese machine I owned, I was converted to Mobil 1. No, it doesn't work miracles. It doesn't cure halitosis and the heartbreak of psoriasis. No, it's not to be added to the crankcase, the the gas tank, the fork tubes and the chain. It's just an improvement on nature, by controlling the molecular quality of the lubricant - by molecule; and after a lower-end failure on an engine in a GM car, I avoid both GM cars and conventional oils.
BUT.
I'd forgotten about the wet clutch pack. BMWs, of course, have a single-plate, dry automotive-style clutch. They have a gearbox with its own lubrication. Not so a Honda, with a wet clutch and transmission all lubed by crankcase oil.
DO NOT use automotive synthetics, he warned. He says there's a synthetic for cycles with wet clutches, but he doesn't know enough to recommend it.
And I'll accept that. I don't like going back to dino-oil; but - as with so many complex items and their needs - there is no "better" lubricant. There is only the lubricant with qualities the machine was engineered for; and lubricants that are out of specification for its needs.
Just look for the JASO-MA/MA2 spec on synthetics. That'll cover you on the wet clutch issue. There are a lot of choices out there.