| Author | Message | ||
     Orion1  |
I've looked around here to find out the weight of the stock front-fork oil in our M2's. The manual just says "Type E". Last year some folks said it's 5W, others said 10W. Anybody really know for sure? | ||
| Rick_a  |
Type "E" is 5W, Screaming Eagle heavy is 10W, extra-heavy is 15w. | ||
| Bomber  |
I'm runnin 7.5 in my Y2K MaDeuece -- I would about 200# (no gear), and it works great (along w/1.1 kg springs from traxxion) | ||
| Orion1 |
Thanks guys. Since I'm a svelt 175# (tighty whities), I'll put the 5W back in. There's no benefit to putting in cartridge emulators &/or changing springs if I'm about the weight of the "prototypical rider", even for track work, is there? | ||
| Bomber |
well, the forks on the M2s were definatley built to a price, Orion -- not bad rapping em, mind you, but they are far from best of class forks -- emulators (I don't have em either) are rumors to make the forks much more able to cope with both small and large, AND fast and slow displacements -- they'd be on my list (especially given the fairly low cost) if I wasn't changing to S3 forks in the very near future that said, if you've adjust the forks for the right amount of sag, and you've got lots of adjustor left, you can likely leave the springs as is changin the oil is a great (often overlooked) idea, but it sounds like your doing that already -- going a little heavier may reduce the diving under breaking thing, though -- lots to consider, yes? | ||
| Orion1 |
I found out that the shop where I'm getting the oil carries "Twin Power" oil. The owner didn't know which weight is H-D "E", but apparently Twin Power considers it equal to THEIR 10W: http://motorhelmets.com/htm1/engineparts-lubricants-twin-power.htm http://www.brocktoncycle.com/eshopprod_cat_754-5997-6304_product_65866.TWIN_POWE R_FORK_OIL.htm The AMSOIL seems to be the same: http://autolube-ams.com/Products/atv/stl.html The AMSOIL site says, "Owner's manuals may refer to weights when recommending suspension oil. These weight numbers are arbitrary because no industry standard exists for classifying suspension oil." Maybe that's where the confusion comes from. Thanks again. Carpe Viam!!!! (Message edited by orion1 on February 16, 2005) | ||
| Spike  |
Not to hijack the thread, but what do you guys recommend for fork fluid in an '04 XB12R? The manual says "type E" but I was thinking of trying the S.E. heavy fluid. FWIW- I weigh a good 220lbs with gear and carry a passenger frequently. Mike | ||
| Rick_a |
I've got an S1, but even with this bike going from the stock valving to Gold Valves front and rear basically transformed the bike. You just have to valve it for your weight and riding style. Going with a heavier weight will slow your damping across the board in both compression and rebound. If you are happy with how your suspension responds but need more bottoming resistance I'd go with springs. The goal is to make the best use of your suspension travel while keeping control over most conditions. No matter how much preload you run the springs have the same rate...you're basically just adjusting where your bike rides in its travel for your weight. Using the fork adjusters basically mainly affects low speed damping with some affect over the overall damping rate. Revalving your fork can change the overall damping. The other thing is that most stock forks have pretty small, poorly shaped orifices in their valves to begin with...going to a heavy oil can make for overly stiff low speed damping and can exacerbate high speed cavitation. I'd save making fork oil weight changes to the simple damper rod forks like the Blast or most Harley forks where there's no other choice. I'm no expert I've just tinkered in these things but this is what I remember from it. | ||
| Al_lighton |
A customer in Germany needed some info on Fluid for his Works shock. I spoke with Andy at Works Performance, and he had this to say about fork/shock oil (weight specifically in reference to the Works shock, but the general info applies to all suspension fluid). I put it in quotes, but really, it's paraphrased, as I was writing notes while he was talking. I think I captured the gist of what he said, though. "Use any good 10 weight fork fluid, stay away from any stuff that says anything about fixing fork seal leaks. Petroleum based will last longer than synthetics in the suspension application, and is more cost effective. Synthetics deal with pollution better in engine oil applications, because the destruction of the oil is more to the additives needed to regular petroleum oil to make it work better in the high heat engine application where lots of combustion byproducts contaminate the oil. But the petroleum molecule is actually tougher than the synthetic molecule, and in a suspension application. The contamination and heat isn't the major worry in the suspension application, the breakdown of the actual molecule, and just plain dirt contamination is the major concern." Like I said, paraphrased, but I thought it was good info worth sharing. Al |
