Adjusting RVF fork oil levels - help please

[J.B.]

I've recently had the forks on both NC35's serviced - one pair by Matt from Tyga, the other pair I did myself. Fork internals are all stock, both pairs were filled with 10w oil to a level of 74 mm as per the manual, I'm about 175 kgs.

Neither pair of forks get's near the limit of travel under heavy braking, even with the preload backed off. Other than that both pairs are working fine. So my question is - should I consider reducing the oil level slightly?

[Drunkn Munky]

Im a lightweight @ barely 11st and find the stock setup to soft. My weight converter says 175kgs = 27st so that cant be right?
Ive used rick olivers upgrade kit in the past and find that very good but not sure what weight oil and springs are used.

[J.B.]

Correction 75 kgs or 11.8 stone. Sorry, I do like to exaggerate but usually not by that much :-)

[skinnydog0_0]

Hi,
How much travel do you have left in the forks?
Have you dropped the forks through the yolks?
Do you have an after market rear shock?
I run standard internals in the forks and 74mm from top oil level but 5w oil (this lighter oil makes the damping more reactive) I run the HRC settings as a base for the front forks, pre-load 4 from top and 6 clicks back from full on the rebound. I am braking as hard as anyone with this standard set up and i ussualy have about 15-20mm travel left.
I think that if you have less than 10-15 you will find the forks are bottoming out and thats not what you want.

[J.B.]

About 40 - 50 mm travel left in the forks. I thought ideally it should be around 10 - 15 mm.

Rear shock is standard on the street bike + 3 mm shim & an Ohlins on the track bike which is + 4 mm IIRC. The forks are not raised much in either bike, about + 5 mm.

I wondered about the oil. I'm using 10w Motul. Changing to 7.5w or 5w as you've done might be an option instead of reducing the volume.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[skinnydog0_0]

About 40 - 50 mm travel left in the forks. I thought ideally it should be around 10 - 15 mm.

Rear shock is standard on the street bike + 3 mm shim & an Ohlins on the track bike which is + 4 mm IIRC. The forks are not raised much in either bike, about + 5 mm.

I wondered about the oil. I'm using 10w Motul. Changing to 7.5w or 5w as you've done might be an option instead of reducing the volume.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess it depends on what sort of riding you will do and how you like the bike to feel. If you use 5w oil you will have less damping.
Have you set your static sag and rider sag? If you have, and have 40-50mm travel left and you are braking as hard as you want to then you are about right. I would always rather to have 20+mm, left than needing another 20+mm as the latter means you will probably be picking bits of fairing up after a couple of corners
Sorting suspension is a personal thing, and what might feel right for 1 is way off for another.
Best thing is to go down a road you like, or have a trackday and make small changes 1 at a time and see how it feels. keep a note of how the bike feels so if you change something and you dont like it you can always go back. Mr Honda spent lots of time and money getting the handeling right on these bikes, and i think you can get what you want from adjuting the standard set up (rear shock not the best though).

[J.B.]

I should have been more specific - I have about 40 - 50 mm of travel left after heavy braking. I put a zip tie loosely around 1 fork leg and this is where it ended up after extensive riding.

[skinnydog0_0]

I should have been more specific - I have about 40 - 50 mm of travel left after heavy braking. I put a zip tie loosely around 1 fork leg and this is where it ended up after extensive riding.

If the bike feels okay other than the amount of travel, i woudl try braking harder to see if you can reduce the amount of travel you have left.
Do you have the rear wheel off the ground when you are braking hard?