SuzukiSavage.com - fork oil?

SavageMan99 Senior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 391	Re: fork oil? Reply #15 - 09/02/16 at 09:00:32 Just chill and put a grease fifty on each fork. No more bottoming, no more leaks. :'(
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Gary_in_NJ

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Re: fork oil?
Reply #16 - 09/02/16 at 13:39:55

ATF type F works well in the Savage forks as supplied by Suzuki simply because the forks themselves do not work very well. The fact that Suzuki suggests an air gap of 75mm is a good indication of the poor damping performance.

The down side of using ATF is that you can't "tune" your forks. If you determine that you might benefit from a higher or lower viscosity fluid, you don't have anywhere to go. But given the fact that these are low-grade damping rod forks, you probably would be able to improve much of anything with a viscosity change.

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Ruttly

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Re: fork oil?
Reply #17 - 09/02/16 at 22:24:14

Oh my my how spoiled we have become. Have we lost the essence of motorcycling ? Back in the 70s when all bikes had inferior forks & shocks & flex frames , that's how you learned to ride. WOT and hang on ,can't ever remember hearing someone saying I need to tune my forks. I would bet most couldn't tell the diff between atf , 15wt , 20wt , 25wt anyways !
Just try to imagine riding a old board track racer with no suspension !

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LANCER Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Savage Beast Performance Parts Posts: 10667 Oklahoma Gender:	Re: fork oil? Reply #18 - 09/03/16 at 03:51:01 Yep, the good old days, sagging front forks, rock solid rear shocks and at least 1/2" of packing foam under the seat cover. Yep, love them days.
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Ruttly Serious Thumper Offline Thumpers Rule Posts: 5109 Manteca , CA Gender:	Re: fork oil? Reply #19 - 09/03/16 at 06:32:23 I can't tune my forks , But I can tuna fish !
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Ruttly

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Re: fork oil?
Reply #20 - 09/03/16 at 07:13:29

Yeah we can't adjust our compression or rebound externally, we don't have anti dive braking system , it's just a set of forks. But what I found is the stock spring is junk , too soft = slow reaction no matter what oil you use. I installed the Progressive fork springs and spent some time trying different spacers cut from pvc to get my sag set where I thought it would be nice,remember I'm using the Ryca lowering kit, found nice feel with my pvc spacer then cut my stock spacer , removing about 1 inch maybe a tad more then filled fork as per instructions "that most people toss out"that came with progressive springs. Fork adjustment is a personal preference so what I like you might not. I think it's a very nice fork with some work for a outdated design , however I wish it had air caps for alittle more adjustment. But I advise installing a fork brace it turns that outdated fork into a different animal. For my riding style I'm very impressed with it !

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Armen Serious Thumper Offline Half-Witted Wrench-Jockey from Jersey Posts: 1452	Re: fork oil? Reply #21 - 09/03/16 at 07:47:25 FWIW, air caps are crap. Too difficult to fine tune the pressure, and the added air pressure under the seals adds stiction. Very early '80s think. Crap. Better to play with the oil level and the spring rate. I bought adjustable fork caps on Ebay to play with preload.
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HovisPresley Serious Thumper Offline Good Vibrations! Posts: 991 Midlands, UK Gender:	Re: fork oil? Reply #22 - 09/03/16 at 07:59:44 I had a GS1000 front end on my old GS750. The air-assisted forks were more of a novelty rather than making much difference. My step-father felt the same about those on his CB900. YMMV
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Gary_in_NJ Serious Thumper Offline LS650 Cafe Racer Posts: 2633 Amongst the Twisty Roads	Re: fork oil? Reply #23 - 09/03/16 at 08:10:28 Armen wrote on 09/03/16 at 07:47:25: I bought adjustable fork caps on Ebay to play with preload. As designed by Suzuki, the fork caps are used to clamp the forks to the upper t-clamp. You can only use adjustable caps if you have modified a lower t-clap to work as an upper ot you purchased RYCA's alternative t-clamp.
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Ruttly Serious Thumper Offline Thumpers Rule Posts: 5109 Manteca , CA Gender:	Re: fork oil? Reply #24 - 09/03/16 at 11:13:17 Just drill & tap , thread in some shrader valves , using the oem caps I tee mine together and only use 1 shrader valve , no fine tuning needed just add no more than 5 psi !
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Gary_in_NJ

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Re: fork oil?
Reply #25 - 09/04/16 at 06:47:32

Ruttly wrote on 09/03/16 at 11:13:17:
Just drill & tap , thread in some shrader valves , using the oem caps
I tee mine together and only use 1 shrader valve , no fine tuning needed just add no more than 5 psi !

Adding air pressure has the same effect as decreasing the air gap. Adding oil in 5mm increments givings the rider some control over damping, but in the end a damping rod design can not overcome to poor dynamics of a fixed orifice. By design a damping rod fork will always blow through it's initial stoke at slow speed and become rigid at high speed movements.

Regarding the comment about being spoiled; I don't think I'm spoiled by wanting forks that provide a compliant ride while at the same time providing predictable handling, linear fork travel and good feedback. Just because this was difficult to achieve back in the "good old days" doesn't mean it wasn't desirable. I can clearly remember me and my riding buddies tuning our suspensions back in the 70's, so I guess we weren't riding on the same tracks and trails.

To me, having a good suspension is the essence of motorcycling.

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A life-time student of motorcycling.
LS650 Cafe, DRZ400SM, FZ6N, SV650S, CB900C, Ducati ST2, CB550F-SS
My LS650=> http://suzukisavage.com/yabb2.2/Attachments/Left.JPG

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Armen Serious Thumper Offline Half-Witted Wrench-Jockey from Jersey Posts: 1452	Re: fork oil? Reply #26 - 09/04/16 at 07:38:57 Gary stated: As designed by Suzuki, the fork caps are used to clamp the forks to the upper t-clamp. You can only use adjustable caps if you have modified a lower t-clap to work as an upper ot you purchased RYCA's alternative t-clamp. Guilty as charged. I modified a bottom tree to use as a top tree.
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Ruttly Serious Thumper Offline Thumpers Rule Posts: 5109 Manteca , CA Gender:	Re: fork oil? Reply #27 - 09/04/16 at 16:14:13 My RYCA handles fine without modding my caps with air fittings. No more weight will be added to this bike except paint ! Short of using a gsxr or r1 front end , this fork works just fine for the size , weight , power of this bike !
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