Fork Oil

[rez]

Is fork oil really a specially blended product specifically designed for the application or is it simply a straight weight oil. At approx. 3 times the price of any regular/quality oil....I begin to wonder. Or is it a marketing thing.....driving up the price because of the word 'motorcycle' and 'fork' ???? Could i just use a straight weight #10 oil ??? I can't believe that the forks on our bikes are so sophisticated that such a highly priced product is required. I appreciate comments and suggestions. Someone in a previous thread even suggested using a multigrade synthetic 0W20 or 0W30 ??? I am in the process of installing progressive springs and am wondering what oil to use. Thanks! rez

[GeorgeS]

Its a special Oil, comes in 5, 10, and 15 wgt.

 

You should change it about every 3 years. Maby less depending on milage.

 

Some people never change it.

 

Every time I drain mine it looks, black and bad !!!

 

Take good care of your Front Suspension, your life depends on it !!!

[GeorgeS]

I put in progressive springs, last December.

I decided to put in 15 Wgt fork oil. Works OK, however next time

I change I will go back to 10Wgt.

 

The 15 seems a little to stiff.

[Denden]

In the early days of the Venture, there was a bulletin to dealers. it said if a customer complained of a rattle noise from the forks, to replace the fork oil with automotive 10w30.

I have Progressive Susp. fork springs, and have tried a lot of different weight fork oil. 15 wt. was a little too stiff. 10 wt. let it wallow a little in hard cornering. I was going to try mixing a quart of 10 wt. with a quart of 15 wt. to get a middle weight (12.5 wt.?). But JasonM tried Mobil 1 synthetic 0W30 and said it was a good in between, so I tried it. Been using it for years, maybe 20k miles. A good compromise, nice ride, and good for hitting the twisties hard.

Real fork oil has anti-foaming additives, also stuff to help keep the rubber seals pliable. But I've had pretty good luck with the Mobil 1 0W30. One nice thing is that it doesn't get thicker at low temps, so on a cold morning, the ride is the same as on a hot day. Regular fork oil can give you a stiff ride (at first) on a cold morning.

But I DO need to replace my fork seals now, I'm just starting to get a little oil left on the fork...the seals have been in since 1996 and have 55k miles.

[CrazyHorse]

I tried Mobil 0w-30 seemed to soft for me alot of bounce out of the fork which I did not like in turns. Now I weigh about 260 lbs I dont know if that has anything to do with it. I went with 15wt fork oil and seem to like that so far.