changing oil in forks for better performance ?

[gusss]

Hi, I've heard we can improve the performance just by changing the oil in the forks...
I've also heard about changing the springs, but I have little money right now , so changing springs is out of the question.

What oil should I put in if I weigh around 78?
How much oil?

Can anybody point me to any tutorial?
Please!!!

 

[fzme]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

I remember hearing from someone that doing just the oil doesn't have much of an effect. If you want to do it, I hope it works (tell us about it). But for some reason I remember reading that somewhere...:don'tknow:

 

[Dennis in NH]

Hi, I've heard we can improve the performance just by changing the oil in the forks...
I've also heard about changing the springs, but I have little money right now , so changing springs is out of the question.

What oil should I put in if I weigh around 78?
How much oil?

Can anybody point me to any tutorial?
Please!!!

I'm assuming you mean changing the oil to a heavier weight than stock.
It will make a difference esp. with front end dive on braking but it will not be huge. But you will notice.

At 78 lbs, I'm guessing the bike is already way too stiff for you. Maybe you meant 178 lbs?

EDIT: I saw next post Bikebiz weighing 80 lbs. Hm... I wonder where that puts your front/rear sag. Anyway, thicker fork oil will not change sag. I hope I did not offend.

Dennis

 

[Bikebiz]

Helped my front end a lot. I'm 80 and used 15w although would think 12.5w is probably the go if you can get it (or mix it). Surely there's a tutorial here somewhere, will post something if I get a chance but it's very straight forward. The hardest thing is to be able to hold the front of your bike up.

I found that it meant my front didn't dive as quickly under braking.

 

[hazy]

Need some enlightenment regarding to suspension issue.How will i know if my suspension set up is correct for me?I owned a few bikes since i am riding about 10yrs ago.But never once did i ever meddle with the stock setting that came with the bike.I am able to get Hyperpring pro locally and currently i weight about 70KG.

Thanks

 

[gusss]

I weigh 78 kgs....
when are you suppossed to change the fork oil?? every how many miles

 

[Kazza]

I'm assuming you mean changing the oil to a heavier weight than stock.
It will make a difference esp. with front end dive on braking but it will not be huge. But you will notice.

At 78 lbs, I'm guessing the bike is already way too stiff for you. Maybe you meant 178 lbs?

EDIT: I saw next post Bikebiz weighing 80 lbs. Hm... I wonder where that puts your front/rear sag. Anyway, thicker fork oil will not change sag. I hope I did not offend.

Dennis

That would be 80 kilos - we're metric down under

 

[Norbert]

Changing the fork oil if it's old is extremely important!
It's as important as having good tires.
It's your suspension system that keeps your tires planted through all those bumps and dips on the road, while you're in a turn or going in a straight line.

Plus you won't dive as much while braking, this is good while trail braking!
(You don't want to upset your suspension.)

If your fork oil is old, change it! :thumbup:

 

[leetaylor742]

I changed my fork oil a few weeks ago to 15w - i'm 6ft 2 and 90kg so needed heavier oil as got way too much dive under braking

This has made a lot of difference although much of that would prob be due to the old grey goo that I took out as much as the nice new heavier oil.

Was well worth doing for the cost though - I did myself and only took about an hour and that was first time i've ever pulled forks on bike.

Lee

 

[SANGER_A2]

Stock oil is only 5w and pretty horrible, so I wouldn't just straight into 15w unless you're pretty heavy! 10w is probably an improvement for normal people. I changed mine to 15w, but that was what was provided with my Hyperpro lowering springs.

 

[Wyotech kid]

Yep the cheapest way to stiffen the forks is change to a heavier weight oil. If you want dirt cheap automatic tranny fluid will do the same thing.

A good way to help out the forks is stiffer springs, a fork emulator, and oil. My instructor aka suspesion guru says that on my bike with 90kg springs would be like putting cartridge forks on. At 145 lbs myself thats the "hot setup" for me. Also one of the cheapest. Plus I get adjustability from the emulators.

Normal street use change the fork oil every 2 to 4 years. Race use more often of course. Also change shock oil if you have a rebuildable shock. FZ6 i believe has a throw away shock so no changing the oil but the springs can be changed. What you do to the front try to do to the rear.:thumbup:

 

[gusss]

since I still cannot find any instructions or tutorial....
Question for the ones that have done it!

First I drain through the lower bolt on the forks?
Second I unscrew top fork bolts?
How much 15w trany oil should I put in if I weigh 78kg or 171lbs?



Thanks

 

[Norbert]

since I still cannot find any instructions or tutorial....
Question for the ones that have done it!

First I drain through the lower bolt on the forks?
Second I unscrew top fork bolts?
How much 15w trany oil should I put in if I weigh 78kg or 171lbs?



Thanks

huh? there's a service manual that shows you how to service your forks.
Boneman's FZ6 Site - Mods courtesy of the bone-dawg
but i would unscrew the top fork cap bolt while it's still on the triple tree.
just enough to break the torque.
avoid using a clamp like the service manual shows you.
it's easy to dent your forks that way.

 

[djstrong]

I changed my fork oil to use 20W Bell Ray. It is quite a bit better for almost all conditions. The only small negative is very low speed going over the curb at the end of my driveway.

I think stiffer Racetech springs would be a bigger improvement, but for the general use riding I do, just the heavier oil is fine for me.

Happy Riding.

 

[foxbass]

As my bike came to me with 3 previous owners, I don't know its upgrade history.
The front feels pretty firm to me - especially over potholes - but I reckon its time to change the oil for fresh.
Can anybody tell me what I need to look for to see if I already have better springs installed? Is there a stock spring length I should measure or would the config of the coils be the give-away?
Is there a simple way to measure static sag if I'm on my own?
I weigh around 80Kg in full 'battle dress' but don't think fork dive is much of an issue, but with the missus on too, maybe I should go for 15w oil anyway.