What anti-wear additives do you mean? Phosphorus, zinc, moly? These are all good, but the fact is that you probably wouldn't see any measurable difference running any name-brand synthetic oil in 100k miles with all other environmental variables being the same. Also, more isn't always better, and a balance is what's important. That's why I always suggest buying the least expensive synthetic from among the usual suspects (M1, RP, RL, Amsoil, etc.). I would put Valvoline on that list and although I haven't seen any lab tests on it I would not hesitate using it based on its long history of manufacturing quality products.

For years I've purchased my oil in 5-gal. pails, and I save 50¢/qt. or more buying this way compared to a case of 1-qt. bottles. It's even better savings compared to buying one quart at a time. You must measure but I dedicate a 1-gal. plastic juice pitcher to my oil-changing tasks and store it in a large ziplock bag between uses. That keeps me from having to wash it after each use. I have it marked for 3.5 qts., so it's really very easy. You might check to see if your oil is available in these quantities, although you'd probably only find it this way from a distributor or by special order. I buy from a distrubutor and save even more.

 

I just got 12 quarts of Amsoil 20W50 for $105.

 

Just bought 4 quarts for the engine. Paid about $9.50 for Mobil 1 V-Twin 20-50 wt. at Walmart. Autozone is about same price.

 

Mobile ! V-Twin $11.99 / qt about a month ago.

 

Mobil 1 VTwin for 8.97/quart at WalMart.

 

Last November Advance Auto stores had a special; any 5 qts of Mobil 1 oil and a Mobil One oil filter for $29.88. The counter guy said motorcycle Mobil One wasn't on the special but he scanned it to check and came up at $29.88 too. I figured $5 per quart for Mobil V-Twin, or Racing 4T, and $4.88 for a filter is a sweet deal so I cleaned out two stores here. On my shelf are 20 qts of V-Twin, and 15 qts of Racing 4t 10W-40 for my BMW, plus 4 Tundra and 3 Subaru oil filters.
Think Harley's bad? I heard BMW charges $20 per qt for their synthetic which would make an oil change (including their $18 filter) $98 plus labor! Maybe they are using the Canadian price list?

 

YOU CAN USE CHEAPER SYNTHETIC

but it wont perform like the amsoil its worth the extra $'s if you do your homework
people using syn 3 are rebuilding there motors at 30,000 miles
people using amsoil engine are going over 100,000 miles you get what you pay for
ride safe

 

Frequency of changes in also important factor, I change every six mos. or 3K whichever comes first. If you do a lot of short trips, stop and go, frequency is VERY important.

 

Can you offer some evidence to support your claims? I learn every day and don't know everything by a long shot, but have been studying oil for about 20 years and have never seen a truly independent oil test that shows Amsoil or any other oil is superior across the board over others. Three good oil tests were performed by American Iron, Motorcycle Consumer News, and Quickthrottle magazines--and none reflect what you've claimed. BTW, the Amsoil "White Paper" is not an independent test. I will say that based on these tests Amsoil is an excellent product among numerous other excellent products on the market. What all these tests agreed on was the Mobil 1 15w50 was one of the top performers overall and was also the cheapest. You can buy it at Walmart for about $5/qt. in 5-qt. bottles. I can't even buy my brand at wholesale that cheap.

I have also never seen any evidence that using Syn3 requires rebuilds every 30k, or even less often than any other oil. I have a friend who owns a 2000 WG with 84k on the clock and he's used Syn3 since he purchased the bike. No problems with the engine and both compression and oil consumption are excellent. He also changed the cam-chain tensioners for the first time at 70k, long after most people change theirs. My last bike has run Royal Purple 20w50 "car oil" for 120k and is still running, never had the heads removed. CCP in 1998 on that bike was 155/160 and in 2006 (last check) 160/160, and no change in oil consumption. See also my account of the two 2000 FLH's earlier in this thread.

 

I pay about $8 a qt. for Amsoil.
The guy that's buying at Walmart is not comparing apples to apples.
Not saying it's not good oil tho.