first oil change

had my first oil change done at a shop and found out they used 20w50 I have a 2011 silverwing the book sais 10w30 will this be a problem

Probably not but.....better to do your self, so you know what went in.

Thanks I hope your right this is my first new bike I wanted to go right by the book

Normally you can use more than 1 type of oil. I have a 2001 Modell and i can use both and a few others "between" those 2 viscosities. Standartoil in germany is the 10W40 but what you can use depends on the region and the temperatures you will ride your bike. 10W30 e.g. can i only use if the temperature is between -10°C/15°F and 30°C/85°F and the 20W50 is useable between 0°C/35°F and >40°C/100°F
I don't know where you are living and which temperatures you will have there, but i think 20W50 will be the better choice than 10W30 and 10W40 (or 10W50) will be the best choice...

I'm in Florida on the east coast can be hot here thinks for the info I am feeling better about my situation with the comments on this sight thanks again

I wasn't in Florida but i think it can be really hot there
Then is 10W30 definitely the wrong Oil!

10, 15 or 20 in front of the W should all be fine
40 or 50 after the W should also all be fine

bigbird wrote:

I disagree.
20W-50 oil is too viscous.

You won't have good flow on cold startup. You will also have much more internal drag losses with that thick oil until the oil warms up.
It's likely your oil filter will run in bypass mode until the oil thins out. That can take several minutes.

Florida in the winter, even on the East coast, can still have morning temps in the 40's.
I would run a 10W-40.

Honda doesn't spec anything thicker than a 10W-30 or 10W-40 for a reason.

I pretty much agree.

I also think that 20W-50 oil is too thick for all the reasons that bigbird stated. I just looked at the shop manual and Honda's recommendation is 10W-30 OR 10W-40 for temps from 20(F) (-10C) all the way up... no upper temp listed. In the heat of Arizona I run 10W-30 synthetic, and it works just fine. 20W-50 is generally used in air cooled bikes which run much hotter as a rule. Water cooled bikes run at the same temperature internally no matter what the outside temp is. The big difference is in startup as Bigbird pointed out. The thicker oil will indeed add to internal friction and cost you slightly in fuel effeciency.

You don't have to disagree, it is nearly the same i wrote

Acc to my shop manual (for a 2001 modell) the 20W50 is useable with these weather conditions but i also wrote that 10W40 will be better.
But 10W30 isn't the right one!

A lubrication oil film that is too thin is also not good and will damage the engine due to thermal problems and broken lubrication films.

I stay at this what i said: 10W40 will be the best but everything with 10, 15 oder 20 in front of the W and 40 or 50 after the W will be working well...

Which manual do you have?
This picture is from the 2001 (US) Shop manual

Possibly there are some changes in the later years? Therefore i said that i have the 2001 manual!

But normaly the same picture should be in the owners manual and richard can check the required oil for his modell by its own...

I also have a 2011 and the manual only specifies 10w30. No mention of any others.

I think only difference with 20-50 is cold start up----multi Vis oil is same as 20W cold. Water cooled engine temps are well controlled and the 50 on the high end, that is the capabilty of the oil would never be required.

I bought new in 1990 Honda Fusion (North American Helix) Honda said 10-30 fine, yet when I bought US Helix a couple of years later 10-40 was the spec.

Just for info Japanese model Fusion ran better, was faster than US, but parts book showed no diffference-----70 plus mph, faster downhill with tailwind-----on J spec 62mph tires.