Hello all, I just bought a 09 F650GS twin cylinder. I will have a few questions right off the bat. I've been reading some posts, so I'm afraid to ask about oil. Greetings
I am a big fan of Shell Rotella 15W-40 T4. It is cheap, seems to work well and can be purchased at most auto accessory stores and some "big box" department stores.
Chris, you are getting Bad! I'm still guffawing over that one![]
Go to WalmArt and get the Shell Rotella, T-4 T6 and be happy. When did the world lose it's brain over what freaking oil to use?
I’m new here too (1st post). Purchased an F 700 GS. The former owner was kind enough to do an oil change prior to delivering the bike to me. For whatever reason, I found I was having trouble getting the bike to downshift out of sixth gear. There were many times when I rolled up to a stop sign unable to downshift, then have to feather the clutch in 6th when traffic cleared or the light changed.
I changed the oil to one corresponding to specifications in the owners manual. According to the dealers in my area, it matters whether the oil is wet clutch compatible or not.
It has improved the downshift issue greatly.
I'm new here too (1st post). Purchased an F 700 GS. The former owner was kind enough to do an oil change prior to delivering the bike to me. For whatever reason, I found I was having trouble getting the bike to downshift out of sixth gear. There were many times when I rolled up to a stop sign unable to downshift, then have to feather the clutch in 6th when traffic cleared or the light changed.
I changed the oil to one corresponding to specifications in the owners manual. According to the dealers in my area, it matters whether the oil is wet clutch compatible or not.
It has improved the downshift issue greatly.
Make sure that your clutch cable is properly adjusted and if you have a downshifting issue, try raising the shift lever up one spline. That might help.
The manual says: 15W40 mineral oil.
However; mineral oil is getting more difficult to get.
When i purchased my bike, it had over 100k km, with full history.
The dealer made a note in the manual, saying: Castrol 10W40 half syntetic.
But of course, any half syntetic oil will work.
And it is likely that "semi-synthetic" oil is mostly mineral oil, anyway. Depending upon the brand, some comments on the internet say that the typical amount of synthetic oil in the "semi" stuff is likely around 30%, but it could be just about any proportion as there are no regulatory or industry standards for semi-synthetic oil. It seems to be mostly a marketing concept to generate greater profits per liter.
After talking with a local repair shop, I decided to use castrol power 1 synthetic 10w-40. He actually recommended the 10w-50, but I stuck with what my manual said. Can't see it making a difference either way. He wanted me to stay away from shell rotella, said he has rebuilt several dirt bike motors that were running it. [emoji41]
All I can say is that I have been using Shell Rotella in my 2002 Yamaha FZ1 for the past 15 years and it seems to work just fine. I never had to rebuild my bike. []
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