changing forkoil

[He Man]

how often do you change your fork oil? i got about 10,000 miles and 2 years on mine. its seen lots of pot holes.

im starting to feel like the fork is getting stiff and blah. not a good feel compared to when i first got it revlaved and sprung with brand new oil.

[rockaduc]

The service guy at my local shop (Trebour in Ledgewood) has said between 12k and 18k miles usually.  But if you are noticing poor performance at 10k, then change it.  Just my $.02

[Charlief]

I was at a race shop today looking at a track bike and I was told that they use regular 30 weight motor oil in their forks   

I was like....  Huh?!?!?

Not sure if this would work for the street

these guys know what they are talking about too.... Some of the fastest guys around NH speedway. (Loudon)

[He Man]

30 wts fine if your racing in HOT HOT HOT conditions or using non catridge type forks.

5wt is what im suppose to use.

[battlecry]

30W oil on the forks?  Let's look at some numbers and see what they are talking about:

Motor oil:
0W-30 is 57.3 cST @ 40 deg. C, & 11.3 cST @ 100 deg. C
5W-30 is 59.5 cST
10W-30 is 66.1 cST

The viscosity of the Marzocchi Factory oil (7.5W) is around ~ 26.
Maxima Racing Fork fluid (7W) used by Traxxion Dynamics on my AK-20 cartridges is ~ 27.

They are telling you they are using a fluid with twice the viscosity and a different set of additives than is normally used on these forks.

Your instinct is good Charlie, I would be cautious of recommendations from those guys without some solid explanation.  What they may be doing may not make you or your bike happy.

[He Man]

whoa whoa MOTOR oil. i didnt catch that. i just thgouth you said 30wt fork oil.

dont forget battlecry, those oils you listed have 2 ranges a hi and a low. if its just 30wt, is differnet from a 0w-30.


Regardless i dont know enough to say anything about using motor oil in forks. :p

[alibaba]

The overwhelming consensus just reached on another motorcycle related group was that there was a consistency between manufacturers in the viscosity ratings of motor oils - conforming to the Petroleum Institute standards  -  but that the viscosity claims for fork oils were specious and the actual viscosity was not consistent to its claimed rating from one brand to another,

FWIW

[Howie]

You had ECS do your forks if I remember correctly.  They use a good synthetic oil that should be good for about 18-24K miles.  You want to use the same weight and brand oil they did since it affects shock tuning.  30 weight will turn the front of your bike into a brick.

[He Man]

what about time? is it miles before time, or time before miles or either or? in april it would be 2 years and ~11,000 miles according to my records.

I saw a video of the grunge that can build up in forks.  i was thinking i should really empty them and clean em out.

[Howie]

Both count.  It wouldn't hurt to change the oil a little early anyway.  Like I said, call ECS to find out what they used.  Oh, forgot.  You need to know what oil level they use too.