Things you probably already know about "Rotella T"

[alanmcorcoran]

I put a quart and half of Shell Rotella T into Suzi's innards this afternoon.

Although this was my first motorcycle oil change, it's a fairly simple process mechanically. My only advice to my fellow newbs is to do a little reconnaissance on the drain plug before you plunge in. It is not located for convenient access. You can sort of get a grip on it with the short 17mm crescent in the official tool kit (longer ones probably will be thwarted by the undercarriage.) If you have a jack stand of some sort it may make things easier - I did mine solely with the side stand. I found a 17mm socket would just barely clear the exhaust and frame. I had my wife hold the bike tilted back on the side stand and the rear tire to get my face under there (I have really bad eyesight.)

No, changing the oil (and filter) is pretty straight forward. The real problem I had was my relative ignorance about the OIL ITSELF! I know a 10w-40 from a 30w, but I was not familiar with Rotella except for the mention on here by primal. As it turns out, I'm pretty sure I did not use the same oil as primal. If you are interested in this oil, here are some good things to know before you go shopping:

Rotella T is NOT the name brand of Shell's synthetic.
Rotella T is the brand for Shell's heavy duty (diesel engine and the like) oils.
Rotella T comes in conventional AND synthetic.
The 15w-40 (recommended weight for MC) is NOT synthetic.
The multigrade 5w-40 (probably what primal used) IS synthetic.
The 15w-40, according to several sources on the Internet has been tested and exceeds the JASO-MA friction test.
The 15w-40 does NOT have "excessive friction modifiers" according to the esteemed source of info known as Wikipedia.

I used the non-synthetic 15w-40. Primarily, because I had already made three different trips to oil stores and, did not really fully understand all of the above until after I'd returned from store #3 with the 15w-40. The synthetic stuff was at Pep Boys in the gallon jugs, so I can try that next time, assuming no one here tells me not to. At the time I spotted it, I was still operating under the impression that the synthetic stuff came in a 10w40 weight.

Haven't ridden the bike yet, but I will let you know if I can leap tall buildings in a single bound, or if it shifts funny or anything.