I'll not slate you mate, I use the fully synth stuff from Halfords in my track bike (SRAD 600 *cough*) and it's been good as gold. Only £28 for 5 ltrs too.
I know I'm always banging on about it but just be very careful who you buy oil or any other significant part off, from eBay. Nothing is sacred to the counterfeiters.
If the service interval is the normal street bike mileage then I'll buy a recommended high priced oil. If it is being replaced very frequently then I can't see the value of using high end products.
according to an article I read a while back when JASO was introduced in 1999, API categories were SE to SJ to cover MA and MB type of oil. The 2005 revision changed this to SG to SM and created more categories MA, MA1,MA2 and MB. The difference between MA1 & 2 is the friction performance range. I don't know what SE~SM relate to but you can surely find JASO publication about it. I don't think it is relevant to the oil you choose, the key thing is to use JASO Mxx which is for motorcycles. There are guys who use car engine oil in their motorbike, it is there choice and their money and it is a free country
Decided to change my oil today. It had been done using Putoline DX4 (I think it was anyway) by the shop I purchased the bike from about 650 miles ago. I wasn't very happy using Putoline DX4 and I don't have any here to top up with anyway so I decided to drop it today and I had 6l of Fuchs Silkoline Super 4 here which is not the recommended oil for the bike (Comp 4 is) so I rang the Tech dept with Silkoline today and the guy said it would be just fine to use it. It is recommended as a SG / SH / SJ API rating on their website anyway and JASO MA2. Anyway, oil change done, run it up and topped it up to level then took it back out for a run. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! Smoother gear change, no big thump when selecting 1st and engine noise is reduced on deceleration and on idle. Very happy.
Yeah I put Silkolene super in my CB1 it's really good stuff I don't think there is a bad Silkolene for what I've tried they all make a big difference to the gear change whether it was my CBR6,CB1 or the Blade just excellent stuff I used Putolene during my experiment last year with oil! Putolene for a few weeks then changed it with Pro4 Energy to compare obviously with a huge difference in every area when I changed to Silkolene! Hence why I'm always banging on about it!
I will be going to the Pro 4 E when I do the next one. I like the idea of free power and more MPG. I don't do huge mileage per year but don't have an issue changing oil after 1000 or 1500 miles. I'd rather have a good engine due to more oil changes than neglecting it due to too few. I asked the guy in the Silkolene Tech Dept earlier about the Pro 4 E and he said it was developed to enhance MPG figures and does genuinely give more horsepower. Result eh?
