What's a good fork oil to use?
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I would think you should be changing it for the second time. Anyone who tells you it is not necessary probably is not a good source of information. Any suspension-specific oil will work well on a street bike...Bel-Ray as mentioned above is generally a good quality and reasonably priced.
This is also a good time to consider if you want to upgrade your valving and/or springs.
This is also a good time to consider if you want to upgrade your valving and/or springs.
The recommendations I've heard is once a year. Mine was nasty after 4,000 miles. You may want to consider using the same brand and the same weight that is coming out of the forks. My guess would be something Yamalube.
After doing a bit of research on this before I got into mine I found that 10W Honda/Showa is not the same as 10W Belray or 10W something else. The difference in weights will change dampening. If you don't want to play and dable into amatuer suspension tuning I would stick to the brand and weight you are using.
All the above mentioned brands are good quality but there is a difference between them.
Here is a link to a site that really dives into it.
http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/
Here is another one with endless links to different oils.
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-oil/
Do your homework or you may have to learn more than you want too.
:luck:
After doing a bit of research on this before I got into mine I found that 10W Honda/Showa is not the same as 10W Belray or 10W something else. The difference in weights will change dampening. If you don't want to play and dable into amatuer suspension tuning I would stick to the brand and weight you are using.
All the above mentioned brands are good quality but there is a difference between them.
Here is a link to a site that really dives into it.
http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/
Here is another one with endless links to different oils.
http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-oil/
Do your homework or you may have to learn more than you want too.
:luck:
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39,300 Posts
I would definately say that most need to do it more often. F4i is right though... it will change your suspension handling but that can sometime be a good thing. The higher end fork oils contain better lubricants/polymers. I would never put the stock "fish oil" crap back in there!
No disagreement with anything Gas is saying just a word of caution.Gas Man said:
If it is stupid ("fish oil" crap) and it works (you liked the ride feel, have good control/feedback, and you didn't crash) it's probably not that stupid. An adaptation of Murphy's Law of Combat.
The higher end stuff is better but different and you may have to adjust things to get them where you want them and that is sometimes (a.k.a. all the time) fustrating the first time you go through it. With the POTENTIAL for going the wrong way and crashing is there, just be careful when changing stuff.
Rob
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893 Posts
You want to change the fork oil once a year if you do a good bit of riding...if you're a casual rider, it can wait a little longer. Fork oil gets nasty quicker than you think.f4ilapper said:
The oil weight and amount you use will change how your bike handles. So before you change the oil,you need to determine whether you want your bike to handle exactly the same as it does stock, or if you want some changes out of your suspension...that way you can determine what needs to be done.
You'd be amazed at what just changing the fork oil and springs can do to the handling of your bike. It's not hard to do by yourself, but definitely do your research first and talk to people who have changed theirs before that way you know what issues you may encounter before you get your forks all torn apart. :dthumb:
Laura
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893 Posts
Definitely a good idea to point that out! Suspension changes will make a bike handle different, and therefore, you'll want to tone it down a notch until used to the new settings.Gas Man said:
Laura
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