Oil Prices "Yuck"

I just spent $12.35 a Quart for HD Non Syn Oil:gah: I bout Sh$t My buddy said Valvoline 20/50 Racing oil is the same as Harley oil same viscosity and cooling power and at $5.45 a quart a much better deal. I guess my Question is, is it the same or not? Does any body know or run it? Good, Bad, He$$ no or Go for it


Tiny

i just did the same and brought valaline 20/50 syn. racing oil good price, should work fine. take the same oil and put "motorcycle" on it and the price will go to $12.00. this motorcycle oil thing is out of hand, it's getting crazy. i'll use any heavy duty oil. trick is keeping the oil clean. clean oil is the best oil:devil:

Motorcycle oil

I would tend to agree that anytime the word "Motorcycle" is added to a label, the price seems to go up like a rocket. The oil and after market parts thing has gotten way out of line, kind of like health insurance has.
The answer that seems to work is for riders to become educated. I am reminded of an old axiom which says "To a hammer, the only problem is a nail".
In a free market economy in which we suffer, anyone and everyone will charge as much as they can. They will do this until they reach some resistence from the consumer. People who ride motorcycles tend to have a level of high resistence when it comes to price gouging. I honestly don't understand why this is so, maybe it has to do with the fact that many of H-Ds owners are pretty well healed and as such they have the disposable income to do most anything they want. Cost be damned I guess. Anyway, that answer will have to come from someone with a higher pay grade than mine.
I do think that given our present situation of economic malaise, we are going to see many changes of how businesses operate. For one thing there will be fewer retailers than at any time since the 1960s.
Anybody care to jump in?

Yeah, the Val 20-50 Racing oil will do the same for the engine as the HD oil...lube n cool...anyone have an oil related failure yet??

I shop around a bit...Place in Howard City charges a dollar a quart more for the valvoline straight 50wt that I use,in my Sportty

I've been using Valvoline Racing Oil SAE 50 & 60 since 1969 & have never seen an oil-related failure. I also use Red Line synthetic in several applications, but again, straight-weight, not multi-grade. And earlier this year I learned something new about the Valvoline, since there are 2 SAE 50 racing oil jugs out - that oil was never intended for use in street cars & the anti-wear additives in the original will clog up a catalytic converter as a minute amount of oil is burned off - so they make another version without those additives. Last I looked, black jug was original (says not street legal) & silver jug was the new automotive version - which you don't want.

I never use a multi-grade oil in a Harley engine, except for H-D branded 20W50 for initial start-up & break-in on a new or freshly-rebuilt engine & that's drained out the 1st day, although I would use a multi-grade if I rode in very cold weather, which I don't - OK, call me a wimp ;-)} There's a reason for that - a conventional 20W50 is a 20 weight oil with additives mixed in to make it *act* like a 50 weight hot & while that theory works to a certain extent in liquid-cooled, thermostatically-controlled engines that run the same temp in July as they do in January, it does not work in air (oil) cooled engines like a Harley. So what you end up with is dirty 20 weight - flows great on cold start-up, but ain't worth a flip running down the highway.

Now the synthetic I use & I believe this applies to most, carries a multi-grade rating because it can pass the cold-flow tests, but it's not really multi-grade. Synthetic basestock oils are very different from conventional, flow better cold, react to heat differently & the bottles I have labeled 20W50 on one side are labeled SAE 50 on the other (20W60 & 70 too)- i.e. the 50 weight synthetic will flow as well cold as a 20 weight conventional.

But the key issue is the "additive package" & very few car oils have the anti-wear additives that a Harley engine wants. The original Valvoline Racing Oil SAE 50 & 60 do though & so does the Red Line I use. That also applies to the primary, where you need the additive to keep the clutch from slipping - it's in many motorcycle oils but not in car oils. And it's in some 75W90 gear lubes, but you have to read the label - if it's OK for a limited-slip differential, it's OK for your bike too. Used to be you had to pour in a little bottle of additive to "Pos-I-Traction" differentials but now it's already mixed in with several gear lubes - but not all of them.

I love the Red Line but it's so expensive that it's hard to justify for street use & I know the old Valvoline still works great. My race engine only gets the Red Line, but I've used both in the street bikes & the oil temps are the same on either. Yes, the conventional needs to be changed more often, but it costs so much less that I end up spending less over the long run. But again, except as noted above, you'll never see the day I use a multi-grade oil in a Harley engine.

I just learned something Art...I'll have to look for the valvoline that isn't street legal

oil prices

I was running HD oil in my 06 Superglide when I realized that since I only use 3 qts it isn't that much more expensive to use HD synthetic and I know it takes WAY more heat to break down synthetic so I am switching, next time to HD synth. We ran a 5 HP motor 10,000 RPM with mobile 1 synth and never had a problem. I think HD has done lots of testing with it.

I have used Amsoil in the last 4 bikes I have owned, any time that they had to be torn into everything looked very clean with little to no wear. It is cheaper than Syn3. I don't use 20/50 in the primary or the tranny. I use 10/40 in the primary and 75/90 gear lube in the tranny, all are Amsoil products. I change every 5,000 or less miles. I purchased the Scavenger Total oil change System from Rouge Chopper so I get all the old oil out everytime I change oil. This IMO is well worth the $70.00 it cost to have completely clean oil in my motor.
I tend to be real anal about maintenance on my stuff.
Ihave heard that Mobil 1 is a good oil also.

..::Rogue Chopper::Welcome::..

i have tried several oils in my 03 dyna. the first few thousand were with h-d oil. at the first oil change i did i went to amzoil 20-50 in all three. i have tried mobil 1 20-50, didn't like it,engine ran hotter and rougher than the amzoil. i have tried all of h-d's trans oils. amzoils 75-110 gear lube. the trans shfts the same, makes the same clunking noise it has from new. i now have amzoil 20-50 in the engine and primary, amzoil 75-110 in the trans. i may try the 10-40 in the primary. the last oil change i checked the primary chain. measured right on spec. same as the first time i checked it at 5k, now have almost 40k on the clock. i will stay with the amzoil. runs cooler, smoother, more power. i paid $10.50 at the harley dealer for the amzoil 20-50.

I think that is a fair price per quart for a small quantity of 20/50. I buy a case or 2 at a time, it is a little cheaper and I resell it at my cost plus freight. I know it has gone up in price.
10/40 in the primary is supposed to help keep it a little cooler, dissipates the heat a little better, I have turned a lot of guys on to the 75/90 tranny oil and they all really like it, my tranny doesn't clunk at all. In the old style EVO tranny it would still clunk but not as bad. I think there is a blog some where in the forum about oils. Everyone has their favorite. Mine just happens to be Amsoil, if it needs lubricated I use Amsoil.
I do use H-D filters, I had a seam leak on one I got from Amsoil, but only once and that was a few years back. Price is about the same for filters.