Is Valvoline Synpower 20-50w any good?

[DClark]

I got a case of 12 of this stuff real cheap a while back (with rebate around $1.80) and I thought I might as buy it and find a use for it later.
Will it work ok in my bike? I once tried some Quaker State synthetic and it shifter like ****.
Right now, I have oil in there that is about a year and a half old. I have a qt of Redline 5-30, qt of Shell Rotella synthetic 5-40 , Mobil 1 5-40 Delvac and a little Mobil 1 5-30.
The reason for this electic mixture is because awhile back, I lft th fuel petcock on prime, filling up the crankcase with gas. I dumped the oil and rather than go to the store, I looked in my garage and those were the oils that that I had laying and that is what I put in!

[gaillarry]

Is it rated as motorcycle oil or car oil? I'm not in favour of car oils in bikes as motorcycles use a wet clutch. If its rated for bikes I would use it.

[DClark]

Is it rated as motorcycle oil or car oil? I'm not in favour of car oils in bikes as motorcycles use a wet clutch. If its rated for bikes I would use it.

Rated? is there such a thing as an oil being "car rated"? I know that oils have different ratings, but not for specific vehicles. I think when they say "for V-twins" or "Suv/ Trucks", it is marketing.
This oil is API SM/SL,CF
ACEA Services A3/B3/B4
Actually, it makes no mention of whether to use it in a car or bike; It simply says "Designed for high powered engines" on the front.

[NiteMare]

over the last couple of years i've been seeing talk of "friction modifiers" having been added to various oils making them car specific, whereas most bikes have wet clutches so the "friction modifiers" could encourage the clutch to slip prematurely....

i don't know if this is true but i'd be looking at the labelling a little careful when buying new (to me) oils to try to avoid this possibility

[DClark]

over the last couple of years i've been seeing talk of "friction modifiers" having been added to various oils making them car specific, whereas most bikes have wet clutches so the "friction modifiers" could encourage the clutch to slip prematurely....

i don't know if this is true but i'd be looking at the labelling a little careful when buying new (to me) oils to try to avoid this possibility

I have read that oils that have these friction modifiers are in the low viscosity type (5-30w) oils that claim to be "energy conserving". It has been years since a car manufactor recomended 20-50w since this viscosity will cut down on mpg.I think that it can be assumed that any 20-50w oil will be free of friction modifiers.
Then again, I read that Brock Yates has a B12 drag bike and only uses M1 5-30w.

[StevieB]

Oh, Marc? You there??

[DClark]

Well I did the change. Th feels smoother and a bit quieter. Still, although it might be in my head, it feels just a bit slower. My old oil probably was probably around 30-35w and I have a feeling that this high viscosity stuff is costing me a little hp.
Oh well,maybe it will pay off when the temps hit triple digits in the near future.
According to BITOG, this oil has pretty good performance. If it is ever on sale again, I will get more, preferably in 10-40w.
A little correction- when I got this 20-50w Valvoline synthetic, with rebate, I paid a $1 a bottle! So, rather than spend $40 on Mobil1 10-40w motorcycle oil, I paid $5.
FWIW, I have used a lot of car oils in bikes over the years and have yet to have any clutch problems. The only problem I can recall was when I used some Quaker state synthetic and my tranny shifting felt real bad after a few hundred miles.
I think this is the first time in decades that i used 20-50w in a bike! The last time was back in the '80s in my old Suzuki GS 550E. i remember how that help cut down oil consumption down to nothing.
Come november, I'll probably dump it and put in some 5-30 with one quart of 5-20w, just what the old kat needs when I do late night runs when it is in the high teens!