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I ran ATF in my H2 for a good 40,000 miles with no bad results.
While I do not run ATF anymore I have had the exact same long term results. ATF does clean better with little gear and clutch sludge evident or stuck to the transmission floor especially when compared to gear oil. That being said there is a need in my mind to change ATF more often due to the suspension of particles in the fluid. Lots of guys run ATF in 2T dirtbikes with absolutely no wear but it gets changed often due to running in muck and water. Automatic xmissions have splash lubed bevel and straight cut gears, roller and ball bearings, shift forks, clutches and syncros, they are often exposed to more stress than a 70 hp engine. A typical car xmission employing ATF lives longer than any triple bike I have had. As far as engine oil goes both autos and bike manual xmissions have used these as recommended by the manufacturer. How many worn out or broken and abused H2 xmissions were run on engine and gear oils is the answer, enough I say. When ATF was very popular you naturally had more failures with this product. Maintenance and care is the key and xmission oil products are often aimed with marketing. Any H2 and H1 I have run with gear oil has had a sludge build up and lets face it these things come apart way more often than a modern bike or auto ever will regardless of the oil used in the bike transmission. I simply clean it out from the crankcase traps when the cases are split for maintenance. Far be it from me to tell everyone what lube to use, I will say this maintenance intervals are important and dependent on biker usage and abuse.
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