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Heavier fork oil

Submitted by andrew_orr on Mon, 18/02/2013
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Commando

I'm sure I read somewhere that putting in a heavier grade oil into Roadholder forks will help avoid topping and bottoming out, also increasing the amount put in. I can't for the life of me find the article. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks

Andy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 18/02/2013

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Andrew,

On this site look at some old technical posts, notably including one from the late Gerry Bristow who knew a thing or two about the contentious subject of oils.

For what it's worth, these three changes made a world of difference on my bike:-

  1. Covenant fork conversion
  2. Progressive springs
  3. Fork top spacers

All these are available from RGM. This supplier also lists extra long fork top bushes with a suggestion that they will prevent topping out but I have not tried them.

Submitted by david_evans on Mon, 18/02/2013

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John Robert Bould does his Lansdowne fork conversion which has adjustable compression damping in one leg and adjustable rebound damping in the other. It works well. An extra 10ml up to 160ml might stop topping. 20 wt oil is pretty heavy by modern day standards.

Submitted by paul_barker on Tue, 19/02/2013

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I swapped my oil last year and put 200ml of 20w50 in them, it improved them no end, from terrible forks to just rubbish forks, but was worth doing. I bit the bullet and I'm just fitting my landsdowne dampers ready for the riding season, I thought that by the time I'd bought covenant kit £15, progressive springs £30+, extended top bushes £20+, pushrods, damper top caps etc, etc, I'd be not far off the cost of a set of John Boulds dampers, and still have rubbish forks. I might post on the results when they're up and running.

 


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