Ok im a new Harley owner. Im confused on the oil.
I have a 2008 Dyna Wide Glide. What weight oil Should I use and what brand is best? I mean what does the manual say?.
I really like Synthetic Oils and Mobil brand oils. I hear Amsol is good but I dont want to have to order my oil online> I want to be able to get it local . At the same time I dont want to use the Harley Oil.

Also how often should you change eoil in a bike?
Im sure im going to use a mobil or fram oil filter.

 

Hehehe. This has been beaten to death. Alright. Any 20w-50 will do. You don't need the JASO spec oil which is those expensive v-twin oils. They cost alot because of that JASO stamp but that stamp is for shared sump bikes. Ours aren't. If your gonna use mobil 1 buy the gold capped stuff. It's a real synthetic. All the others may say synthetic but aren't. The best oil you can buy for our bikes is red-line. It's a group 5 basestock. Amsoil is also great stuff and is a group 4 basestock. You can use 20w-50 in all 3 holes however I found that it was tough to find neutral and the primary was vet loud. So I went with red-line shockproof heavy in the tranny,red-line primary fluid and amsoil in the engine. It's easy to find neutral now,primary is quiet and the motor,well it's noisy but they all are. Now it's very important that you do not put anything with a friction modifier in the primary. It will end the life of the clutch because it is so slick the clutch won't catch anymore. I also used a product called liqui-moly in the motor. I went from 220kms a tank to 280kms a tank after I added a can of it to the oil. red-lines brand of oil already had some moly in it but I got better results with the separate additive. Now you are gonna get guys who blah blah blah no motor ever blew up with conventional however with our air(and oil) cooled bikes a synthetic will dissipate the heat better which means a longer lasting motor. You can use any 20w-50 in the engine but the expensive v-twin oil isn't essential. And the syn 3 Harley oil is over-priced citgo oil and a mix of group 3/4/5 basestocks. I am surprised they havent gotten a talking to about labeling it synthetic and if you go to the oil section in this forum this topic has been beaten to death and kicked a few times while it was down. The search function at the top of page could have answered you question and saved the countless smart *** remarks you are going to getwith this thread.
Rubber side down

 

Autozone- Mobil1Vtwin 20w50 engine & primary, Trans Mobil1 75w90...Harley filter...done

Change engine & primary every 5000 or 1 year. Trans 15000 miles or 3 years.

 

I use Redline in all 3 cavities.

 

im also a new H-D owner (2011 wide glide) and im up for my first oil change.all this is good to know. does Valvoline make a good true Synthetic oil 20-50?

 

Concern yourself with the 'flashpoint' rating on any oil you use beforehand. Which oils is 'best' is all opinion based. One will say Redline, others Amsoil, while others are Mobil V Twin fans. Any one of those 3 are going to probably be about the same in terms of lubricating and cooling your air cooled motor. Mobil VT has the highest flashpoint and is available at Autozone. Here in my town, Amsoil is also available at the local auto parts house. They are priced about the same. Redline is 'order only'. All 3 are pure synthetics-a good thing!-.

 

You don't need to pay the price for 20-50, just use 15-50 mobile 1 and you will be fine. Plus its available everywhere.

 

Here 20-15 is the same price as 15-50. Considering the heat I go with 20-50 myself

 

Just don't use frame filters they are not meant for HD's for a couple bucks more you can get the specified HD filter. Far as oil depend how **** you are about maintenance. 20w-50 your choice of favorite brand will work. Tranny 75-90 works good and I like ATF in the primary.

 

Valvoline makes a group 3 oil which is marketed as synthetic but really isn't.
The whole synthetic thing is over rated. Buy an oil you like and change it at regular intervals. Syns last an easy 5000 miles,3000 miles for conventional and your bike will last a long life