Gents and Ladies,

I was having issues with my clutch/shifting after my 5K (DIY). I dumped the Formula+ in the primary and reached for the only dino oil I had in the garage - HD's 20w50 oil. I'm running it in the primary and it is shifting much cleaner/smoother. Am I OK with this for a while till I find a replacement fluid? I don't hear much about the HD 20w50 on here so I thought I'd ask.

I run Mobil 75/90 gear oil in the tranny.

Whiff

 

I am running Syn3 20W50 in engine, tranny and primary with no issues.

 

One of the things that most recommend is using a fluid with a "JASO MA" rating in the wet clutch system.

The JASO MA rating verifies that the fluid contains either no (or a very small amount) of friction modifiers that might hinder the performance of the clutch pack.

BTW, both Mobil 1 20W-50 and Amsoil have the JASO MA rating.

That being said, I know of people that have used all kind of fluids in thier primaries for many thousands of miles without any major problems.

All in all, I think all the concern, arguments, and "this is better than that" when it comes to fluids to use worries people much more than it hurts the bike.

But anyway, I use Mobil 1 20W-50 inthe engines and primaries of my bikes, and Mobil 1 75W-90 in the tranny's.. Other fluids would no doubt work just as well, but I've used the Mobil 1 products for years and don't see any reason to change.

 

I'm using Castrol GTX 20w50 in the primary of my '07 SG, a high-quality fossil oil that's basically the same oil you're using but much cheaper, and it works fine. The primary doesn't need a magic, high-tech oil to function properly, and basically it is present to cool the chain and clutch pack. Too much lubricity may not be a good thing, so I am keeping synthetic out of the primary, although I used Royal Purple 15w40 in the primary of my old RK for a while without issues, but then changed to a cheap 10w40 fossil oil after deciding I was wasting money on the high-tech lubricants in that area.