oil type

hey guys i'm edward i have had a 78 kz 650 for about a year now. my bike has 49,000 miles on it and i'm about to do an oil change on it to get it ready for riding. my question is should i use a certain type of 10 w 40 or is just your standard valvoline ok? thanks

Just maaaake sure its motorcycle oil. Car oil no dice, it has crap in it that your wet clutch wont like too much.

ok thanks for the info. i just didn't know if with it having that high of milage if i should use a certain type?

You don't have to use a motorcycle specific oil.
Shell Rotella-T 15W-40 would be a good choice - it's a heavy duty oil having a fair amount of ZDDP which is a Zinc-Phosphate additive. The phosphate in ZDDP is a metal-to-metal protector. Some manufacturers list the amount of zinc-phosphate in the MSDS for the particular product.

Motorcycle specific & Racing oils have more ZDDP than car oils.
I don't know if they have more (or significantly more) than the Rotella-T or similar oils marketed for use in diesel engines, such as Cheveron Delo.

Avoid oils that have Energy Conserving on the API service seal - those have friction modifier additives that supposedly make the oil too slippery for the clutch; I'm not sure if any 10W-40 or heavier oils have the designation. The Energy Conserving oils have less ZDDP. Most (all?) car oils have less zinc-phosphate than they did 4-5 years ago.

Take a look at the following for a good discussion on oil:

OIL

+1 on all the advice given. +2 for using Rotella. I used to use bike specific oil, I was running BelRay synthetic that was hitting me like $7 a quart or something stupid like that. Once I heard about Rotella being good in these old air cooled motors I checked it out. $10 for a gallon at WalMart and both my bikes love it.

ok well thank you. i had read the aticle on this a little bit ago about how they have reduced the amount of zinc so thanks for explaining it a little better for me.

Shell Rotella 15w40 works fine, but it has to be upwards of 40 degrees out or too thick to start. Pretty much every 10w30,10w40, 20w50 designed for cars is now energy conserving so instant death for a wet clutch:laugh: Although not recommended by the masses, being bad for a wet clutch is a really broad thing. Not all wet clutches are the same, one motorcycle may have a marginal clutch to begin with and energy conserving could send it over the edge. I've found in my riding style and with my Kawasaki's at least energy conserving does not hurt a thing. I've run it in the winter months for several years. I'm going to switch to 10w30 Rotella next winter that is not energy conserving, but very hard to find.

I thought car oils being bad ahd something to do with more detergents as well?

I use Castrol 10W40 4-Stroke Motorcycle oil in my bike, does the job beautifully, and no worries about having the wrong oil.