Motorcycle Repair: 2002 Honda Shadow Sprit 1100 Clutch noise, castrol motor oil, honda shop

Question
I bougt my motorcycle last year. It is a 2002 Honda Shadow Sprit 1100. I changed the oil in it the other day and put in Gastrol 4 storke motorcycle oil 20w-50. When I got up to around 40mph there was a noise coming from the clutch area. I went home and called the Honda shop. They said I needed to put the Honda oil 10w-40 in it. When I bought the oil they said they used regular Castrol motor oil in some of the bikes. I changed the oil again this time with the Honda oil and still have some noise coming from the clutch area. Someone else told me I needed to change the oil again. I have only riden it about 4 mile sence the last oil change. Should I change the oil again or carry it to the shop to be checked out? I don't think anything is wrong with the clutches because of the way it started making the noise and it still works fine.

Answer
Jerry, you can check the http://www.thesabregroup.com/ site for some tips about your bike. If Honda recommends 10-40, then that may have some bearing on the noise factor you are experiencing. You could fully warm the bike up to see if the noise goes away once everything is up to temperature. I will assume that you fully filled the crankcase and that the filter is correct for this model.
There shouldn't be too much residual 20-50 in there to be a factor in this problem, if that is truly the issue.
I would suggest that you have the shop check it out for you to determine if this sudden noise is a parts failure or just a quirk of this machine.

Bill Silver