| Author | Message | ||
     Buelldualsport |
Had to get on the front brakes hard to miss a deer earlier this afternoon, and the front end did a pretty decent nose dive. Any suggestions for fork oil? Thanks BTW Bambi's Mother got away by the skin of her white tail. LOL | ||
| Hughlysses |
Talk to Al Lighton at American Sport Bike. In the meantime, you can always adjust the forks to increase the compression damping. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Thanks Compression cranked up to 2 clicks from Max Will chat wit Al next week. Regards | ||
| Arry |
If you go to heavier oil, it will slow both compression & rebound damping. You could also increase the spring preload. I don't know how much motorcycle background you have, but front end dive on hard braking is part of the game. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
grease. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
90 weight is too heavy in cold weather Thanks | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Changing fork oil viscosity will change the damping range, but may have little effect on dive. If the overall ride is OK, stay with standard weight fork oil. To reduce dive, increase the amount of oil in the fork. This decreases the air volume inside of the fork. The airspace works as part of the springing, and decreasing the free space yields a fork which will have more resistance to dive. No need to disassemble the fork, just support the bike and open the fork caps. The wheel will need to be lifted so that the cap rises free of the fork. Run in a measured amount of oil and close things back up. Test ride. In forks with the volume of the Ulysses', I'd add 25cc at a time. Both forks equally. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Regards and thanks all for the input Enjoy | ||
| Uly_man |
As standard, for me, these bikes do dive a bit to much for road riding. I added 10ml of heavy fork oil to each fork on the 06 bike and 5ml of heavy fork oil to each fork on my 2010 bike. You will then need to reset, back off, the compression settings. This small amount should be all you need. The mix of the OEM oil, and the extra heavy oil with the slight reduction of the air gap seems to work well in all Temp and riding conditions. With a good suspension setup on the bike I can not fault it in any way at all. It also gives better feedback and control, I find, and is a dirt cheap fix at 10 bucks or so. Works for me. | ||
| Zac4mac |
At your local HD/Buell shop, you can get HD Type-E which is what came in the forks. They also should carry SE Heavy Duty(or something like that) fork oil that's a little heavier. Bel-Ray make a BUNCH of different fork oil viscosities if you feel like experimenting/fine tuning. Don't add too much oil or you'll blow the seals.DAMHIK Zack | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Uly-Man Zac Any feel for what the Bel Ray equalivint of HD Type E might be? Thanks | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Anyone know the viscosity/weight of the factory fork oil? Thanks | ||
| Uly_man |
"Anyone know the viscosity/weight of the factory fork oil?" E is sort of there own weight and a HD thing. From what I can make out it is about a medium-light. It is a synthetic oil so a mix of others is ok. Try what I said. I will be real good. No spring changes needed either. | ||
| Dave186 |
I used maxima 10wt, they advertise it as a replacement for the HD type E. I used it when I put the 07 springs in my 06. Well worth the money to help with the brake dive. Adjusting the oil level is a great way to fine tune. I set mine to the 07 spec, may raise it a few MM, as Im a fat kid too  | ||
| Zac4mac |
I have seen a chart on the weights. IIRC Type-E is around 10wt and the HD SE stuff is around 15wt. Z | ||
| Mark_weiss |
Maxima 10 here too. Green label. Excellent performance. | ||
| 7873jake |
I've always heard, right or wrong, that ATF is in the 7-10 wt range, depending on what, I don't know. If you wanted more than 10wt, fork oil is the route to go. If you wanted to freshen up or change the OEM fluid in a fork that came with 10wt, ATF was a cheap alternative to the $10-15/qt stuff. Now here's a ponderance: is it possible to open the front forks (removing the fork caps) and, using a Liqui-Vac, suction out the old fluid, measure the qty and then replace with an equivalent amount of new/fresh fluid? If you don't get all of the old out but get 80-90% of it out and then repeat the process with fresh again would that be a reasonable alternative to the whole tear down process just to replace fluid? (assuming you don't need to replace seals or do other maintenance) Just a thought | ||
| Dave186 |
There is an easier way to do that, unscrew the compression adjuster out of the lower fork leg and the fluid will come out, almost all of it. I would still set the fork oil height, but you could start with replacing exactly the amount you take out. | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Thanks for all the input. Great stuff |
