Anything looks good parked next to a Suzuki mate! http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

is it just me but when I use synthetic oil I always get problems with my bikes.

the main culprits are the clutch and the cam chain adjuster/tensioner. The gears seem not to be as smooth also.

Ok when Ive used it in sports bikes i can feel a tiny difference in that the engine seems to spin up a bit quicker but that is only good for track days.

Have I just been unlucky with the bikes or does/can synthetic cause problems.

A mate of mine years back bought a brand new DR200. After a careful run in (I think TOO careful), he ran it on Mobil 1. I remember him having to strip the motor at less than 30k. Everything was totally stuffed. He was the type who really looked after his bike. He even rode it during the day with the headlight off, because he didn't want to add extra strain on the motor! - that's engineers for ya.

Hi Wilgil,
the engine of your bike is designed to run on very bad oils, infact, today is very hard to find oil on marked to unfit your Tenere. That means that you can use almost every mineral oil, but always care to look for oil for motorcycle use because of aditivs added for wet clutch and gearbox. But, there is a several reasons to use better than mineral, I could say that semisynthetic oils are optimum today. If use simple mineral oil, count on longer warming up period ( around 15 km ) and evaporating of mineral base is always higher compare to sint base, so that somethimes results with higher oil consumption. I always use 15W-50 esther blend oils, mostly Motul or Silkolene, after years of researching. Also, after 6000 km on my XTZ 660, Motul 5100 seems in very good condition, no black to much, like almost nothing happend in this 6000 km, engine took no oil, apsolutely nothing. Otherwise, when use mineral oil, engine takes aprox. 0,5-1 liter / 6000 km, which is normal consumption for bigbore single. Anything you use will fit your engine, but why not better than mineral?
Regards,
AnteK