Use the oil you like best. They all work. My CB650 lived on a diet of Pennzoil 10-40 for years. I'm using Rotella in the CBR becase that what I have on hand for the Dodge.

If your cam chain is rattling - that's a different issue than oil, and another topic that's been discussed frequently.

I fixed the rattle in mine in two stages:

1. New tensioner. That lasted 3,000 miles or so IIRC.
2. Synchronized the carbs. I didn't do that to fix the cam chain rattle. I did it because I was searching for some other weird noises, had the fairing, seat and tank off, and decided to synch the carbs. They were waaaay out. When back in synch all weird noises, shudder below 2,000 RPM, cam chain rattle, and drive line clatter disappeared.

My theory is that out-of-synch carbs give rise to variations in crankshaft speed (vibrations, if you will) that set the cam chain to bouncing around.

Worked for me. YMMV.

 

Good point DRam , four carbs and four cylinders , if they're all way out of balance it's not conducive to a nice smooth running engine!

 

Stay on topic, hawkman!! We're trying to beat a dead horse here!! If you keep talking about carb syncs, the dam horse is just gonna lay there....dead... without recieving a proper beating!!
We can't have that....

My understanding and thoughts on oil are this:

Don't use car oil. It's not the right weight, and it has friction reducing additives that play hell on wet clutches.
Diesel oils are heavier weight, and most (if not all) do not contain these anti-friction additives. I think any oil over 40 working weight is not required to have these additives, and most don't. This is why you see so many bikers using the diesel oils. They are a good bit cheaper (I get Rotella for about $9/gal), and they work.

Are synthetics better? Well, I'm not gonna go there. I have been running Amsoil in my CBR, but that's gonna change because it's so dam expensive.
All I will say is that I believe many people are misled into believing that when you use a synthetic oil, you can double or triple the change interval. This is not a good idea unless you've had extensive lab testing done on your oil at different change intervals and can say that it's still in good shape. (It most likely won't be)
If I went "by the book" and by what some synthetic oil companies are saying, I could put off an oil change on my other bike for about 16,000 extra miles. That's complete BS! All oils break down, and they do it especially quick in bikes with wet clutches. There is no magic oil that you can run extensively that won't break down for thousands and thousands of miles. I change mine between 1,500-2,500miles no matter what I'm running.

 

Yeah I agree with Sir Trout , synthetics are no 'Magic Bullet', change it often . I normally change oils and filters at about half the specified mileage both on my car and bike . It's cheap and easy preventative maintenance

 

Here we go

RedLine 20w 50 (summer) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RE...4/?image=large
" 10w 30 (winter) Does be cold up here in Maine AYUH ! -20's F sometimes

Don't do much winter riding road salt eats the pipes !


AYUH a Mainerism

AYUH .........explained # 4 explains it best !

Wish I could change my forum username to AYUH

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ayuh