SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550

Fork oil

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HondaFour:
I use ATF or AQF in my classics, but I don't do any scratching with them so the soft suspension suits me :)

K2-K6:
From my experience in playing about with different grades, once you get above 20 then it seems you'd have to have a particular reason to go that way.

If you go higher with a standard fork and springs you just overwhelm the spring rate and the fork is reluctant to move and respond as it was designed.

10 always seems a good start point as with the oil in good condition you get a good idea of how it feels before forming more of an opinion for your own use, usually it's pretty good at this point.

You'd probably get a little more adjustability by varying the level to the top of the forks (changes the volume of the air space inside the fork) to give a small amount of increased support with higher level or a bit softer by going down in volume if you felt the need to move away from std at all.

HondaFour:
 I think ATF is about 10 and I agree with K2-K6 that with 20 you would need modified fork internals. A while ago I had 20 in my 750K4 and it was very hard almost as if the forks had locked up a bit. Honda specifiy ATF for many old classics and its good for the seals but a good fork oil 10wt or at most 15wt would be a more expensive but a step better option.

I use atf because it works well with a good mix of softness and damping, its very cheap compared to bike fork oil and i cover just a thousand miles to fifteen hundred miles on my classic hondas every year

popwud:
Thanks all.....got some fork oil from Halfords 10w.

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