which oil for my kawasaki en500?..

[colb]

I have finally fixed my kawasaki en500 and put her back on the road after 2 years , before I do any serious milage or damage to the 1992 engine I think I better change the oil and filter.

Can any one advise me which oil to use?
the haynes manual specifies I should use either mineral or synthetic

A few people have told me to use semi synthetic which I have never heard of as sythetic is not suitible for standard road bikes.
seemingly it causes clutch slip

yet the haynes book says to use synthetic?!
The bike is a light custom cruiser and I am now a fair weather rider only doing approx 2k miles per year

anyone give me a definate answer which oil to use at all?

[dodsi]

Good quality 10W40 should do.

Something like Motul or Putoline.

I use sport 4 semi synthetic stuff In my bandit, its about £25 for 4 litres but its decent stuff.

[colb]

so whats the difference between semi synthetic and synthetic?

[iCraig]

Price, and the recommended application.

I personally wouldn't put Fully Synthetic in anything other than a high performance sports bike.

Semi synth is good in bikes that are 'normal' and cheaper.

[feef]

10w40 regular or semi synth.

Fully synth can cause clutch slip, yes..

a
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[Trixie]

For a 1992 engine, either mineral or semi synthetic should be fine. As people have already said, a good quality multigrade 10w40 will be fine.

Also, don't scrimp with the oil filter. There probably won't be much difference between the price of a pattern part and the original - get the original if you can, even if it is at a little more cost. Deffo worth it!
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[feef]

[stinkwheel]

I put 50k miles on a GPZ500s using castrol GTX and flogging it mercilessly, with an oil and filter change every 3k miles. The engine is still fine, just the rest of the bike is falling apart now (crashed too often, never washed and ridden through the winter). Same engine as yours but tuned to produce 10% more power.

Gericke do a deal where you get a free oil and air filter when you buy 5 litres of Motoul engine oil (about £24 all in). Worth having, and motoul is a pretty well regarded make of oil.
As a point of interest, the original kawasaki oil filters are often cheaper than the pattern ones. Strange but true!
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[sickpup]

[colb]

[stinkwheel]

Engine bars usually bolt to the frame rather than the engine itself. The frames are different.

Oil, any good quality 10w-40 or 20w-50 engine oil should be fine providing: a) You change it every 3,000 miles and b) It doesn't have fancy additives (eg magnatech). They have been making those engines for the last 22 years, pretty much any oil you buy these days will be higher spec than the stuff it ws designed to run on.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[colb]

thanks stinkwheel, that pretty much simplifies it for me.

[feef]

[G]

Apparantly EBC clutch plates are less resistant to different types of oils, when the bike doesn't normally take that type in comparison to most OE plates.

[sickpup]

[feef]