Synthetic vs Mineral Motorcycle Oil | What's Best For Your Bike?

Is mineral, blended or synthetic oil best for your motorbike? Here are the differences.

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⚙ MY KIT

📖 CHAPTERS
0:00 Today's Plan
0:31 Production Differences
1:01 Synthetic Advantages
3:45 Similarities
4:04 Mineral Oil Uses
4:46 Semi-Synthetic
5:03 What You Should Use

[ponytrishpip]

I had an FJ1200 years ago. Thought I would be generous and use full synthetic oil. Oil consumption problems and clutch slipping problems quickly ensued. 2 oil and filter changes quickly done to return back to mineral and we had many years of happy riding. Lesson learnt

[Two_wheels_dasher]

I used Honda's conventional oil for my honda grom, I'm at 52k miles and still going strong.

[ardwivedi]

Mineral oil is the worst. I always used OEM Honda oil on my 2008 Honda Unicorn and changed it at regular intervals but the engine was a goner at only 43k kms on the odo(Play in crank bearing which caused premature wear of cylinder walls).

[Jean-Sylvain-vt]

Use the oil recommended by the manufacturer. If the manufacturer recommends mineral oil, use high-quality mineral oil. Oil change at 5000km. Mineral 10W40 or semi synthetic 15W50 for my BMW F800GS according to the manufacturer. Gear changes are smoother with the mineral 10W40.

[triangleinepitrochoid]

Been using Fully synthetic in my commuter for years with 5k drain intervals. Cloaked 50k kilometers. Still the engine feels like new.

[aorozco_roz]

Semi-Synthetic Is usually the rule to go by in Latin America, most motorcycles sold in these lands are from Chinese brands like Loncin, who sells their patents to Italika (México), Freedom (Guatemala), Tuko (Ecuador), and AKT (Colombia), their engines, are for the most part reliable, but they work best with semi-synthetic Oil, lasting between 2000 and 3500 km at most due to our harsh environments, they aren't the best but they do the trick, for these motorcycles at least, being low CC Investing on high caliber Oil is just not necessary, same with Premium fuel, due to it not being sold often usually the additives they have are either worn out and make the gasoline pretty much the same to current.

My Bike in Particular is a Loncin LX180 (Sold as An AKT CR5 180) has a 181 cc engine with 15.6 HP and produces 15 NMt. At 8500 RPM, I Use 1300 ml of Castrol Semi Synthetic, 20w50, Lasts up towards 3500 KM before needing to be swapped, but due to harsh conditions it's usually changed every 2500 km at most.. Average temperature here is 29°C - 33°C

[yveslegrand]

The oil choice is not a personal choice: like so many subjects, follow your manual! Main thing to look for is the MA or or MA2 approval if you have a wet clutch.

[gosoku]

Broke in my XSR900 with Motul 5100 semi synthetic 10w 40 then switched over to Mobil One Racing 4T 10w 40 full synthetic. Bike runs great !!

[steven-vnui]

Sorry Chaos, this is a huge subject that cannot be covered in 6 minutes.
Guys/Girls - just use what your manual says - the engineers that designed your bike engine know better than any of us what is required.

[otarsulava]

I use Castrol 10W40 Synthetic Blend on my 2015 Ninja 300, wet clutch. I got the bike new, and it now has 56.000 kilometers on it. Change oil every 4000 - 4500 kilometers. The engine still runs like a new . Did try full synthetic oil too, but noticed the engine was making slight whistle noise. Best advice will be like: See your owners' manual for what type of oil your bike needs and make sure you put the CORRECT AMOUNT... Ride safe ✌️

[panic]

And here in Vietnam with every motorcycle i own i use full Synthetic oil because of the life span. With full Synthetic oil, i change every 4, 000km whether its on the (110cc Honda Vision) or my (125cc TnT Benelli) or my (300cc BN Benelli) i use full Synthetic all the time.

[scottevens]

Kawasaki dealer service manager advised me to run mineral due to the MA2 additive that helps the friction plates in a wet clutch work. Synthetic is just too slippery, unless I was racing the bike and oil changes were happening sooner. So I change oil & filter every 4k, have 50k on my Z900, so far so good!

[qwiklok]

I have used synthetic on my 1990 Yamaha Venture Royale, basically a V-Max motor. I always had a rather noisy valve train and gear noise come from it for decades. A week ago, I talked with a V-Max Venture vet who knows these bikes well. He sold me Maxima Racing oil, a 10W-40 MINERAL oil with a ton of additives made for motorcycles. The engine instantly quieted down. The noise gear train and whine disappeared. The idle was steady and smooth. The power identical. It was like a whole new engine, the difference was that much. Blew me away. broke all the rules. It was the same price or more than synthetic but the changes were beyond belief.

[kkhalifah]

Hi from Malaysia! The problem with 'semi-synthetic oil' is that it can mean a lot of things. An oil with 95% synthetic base + 5% mineral base is a semi-synthetic oil. Conversely, one with a 5% synthetic base + 95% mineral base is a semi-synthetic oil too. And absolutely everything in between the two are also semi-synthetic oils. Together they occupy a whole gamut of price points but there's just no way of telling what you're actually paying for.

Me, if I really wanna go cheap I'd go with a mineral oil coz I know that's exactly what I'm getting. If I want the good stuff, I'd pay for a fully synthetic oil coz at the damn least I know I'll be getting a proper 100% synthetic product. I wouldn't pay for the wishy-washy stuff in the middle coz to me it's all semantics in that zone.

[A_Talented_Maori]

Full Synthetic was smooth for about 2000k's then gear changes got quite chunky, switched back to semi and gear changes feel more consistent. I'll stick with semi synthetic, full synthetic seems to break down faster.

[show-me-the-details]

The great thing about the Internet is a guy that's never been in a laboratory or testing facility in his life can suddenly become a professional YouTube comment oil scientist

[daniellang]

I run Amsoil 15w50 in my MT-10 here in Florida. It is 100% PAO oil with esters in it for great seal conditioning! Esters are key for seals and keeping them pliable.

[phengsophal]

I use Castrol active 20w-40(synthetic technology) for my underbone bike 150cc. Engine sound and oil consumption is cool. It's great for daily commuter in a city and for a long trip.

[alsnyder]

I'd consider using a blend but only if I can determine the blends proportions of conventional / synthetic. I looked into this a few years ago and found no info about it. For all I know a company can produce an oil with only 5% synthetic and call it a blend. I've considered making my own 50/50 blend but decided to stick with pure synthetic.

[thequickervicar]

I switched from a fully synthetic recommended by the bike manufacturer to a better quality synthetic made by the same manufacturer. I can't say what the difference is in terms of engine protection but the gear change became much slicker. I only use Castrol Racing now.