Fork Oil..

[electric_monk]

I'm having the bike serviced this week for the first since I bought it and amongst the jobs to be done is the fork oil.
I was wondering if anyone has any feedback on the different grades of oil and their effects. I would like to reduce the softness in the front a little bit...

 

[patzx12]

As far as I know the oil does nothing but lube the bushes. I have stripped a set of forks and they do not have any damping mechanism. Just a tube running in bushes.

 

[Voyager]

As far as I know the oil does nothing but lube the bushes. I have stripped a set of forks and they do not have any damping mechanism. Just a tube running in bushes.

That is certainly the case with the telelever forks but the Airheads have damping - rebound on one side and compression on the other (now you're going to ask me which is which ).

I put Halfords synthetic 10sae oil in my 1989 100GS and it stiffened up the action a bit.

I used to have a 1988 R80RT that did a nose dive whenever I braked hard. I replaced the front springs with 'progressive' springs and sae10 oil. It was a lot better after that. Haven't considered changing the GS springs though.

Bob.