New Fork Oil

I was starting to put the motard back together today and made it as far as installing the fork tubes. I picked up one of them and as I tipped it up the fluid sounded like water sloshing back and forth. I figured it probably is supposed to be a bit thicker sounding and that it didn't make sense to not do it while I had things apart.

I only made it as far as disassembly because the project didn't occur to me until after all the local shops were closed so I couldn't buy new fork oil. It ended up being an easier job than I thought. Since this thing is being used for street only and the forks are a little on the soft side I'm going to go with slightly thicker fluid and probably raise the fluid level slightly.

Word on the street is that stock the XR650R came with fork oil that looked like whale snot and left bits on the inside rusty basically right off of the showroom floor. Mine had some really nice looking blue fluid,, very nice shiny bits, and sweet set of Eibach springs. Good thing because I was told that's what Precision Concepts uses in there so the story still matches. The fork caps are engraved "PC 62" which I think I can safely assume was done by Precision Concepts.

If you take pics in black and white they automatically become art...

Can you just adjust your damping, and still use the same fork oil? My guess is that's the oil weight/type that was spec'd when they modified the forks. The Ohlins fork oil is really light, clear, and looks like water also.

Hmm, I guess I'll call PC before I put it all back together.
In all reality it probably should have stiffer springs but I was looking for a budget improvement.

Wow, I didn't realize the XR's had conventional forks

Really you might need different forks all together for what you are doing. When we were talking about geometry and lowering fork tubes I found that you really need to soften them up to get enough drive on the front end, otherwise the front end skips. I know you were saying they make different tripple clamps to lower the tubes past the bars, but I'm wondering if they make shorter forks all together to achive the proper stiffness, as well as proper ride height? Maybe just shorter springs? One good thing is that we have more than a foot of travel to work with.

Ask bwhip which way they went with his custom motard suspension. It wasn't softer. The bike actually has amazing damping control and adjustability (that's what $3k worth of PC work gets you) but they are a little too soft. Ideal would be to shorten the tunes an inch to bring the geometry closer to where it should be for street only bit I actually still use mine on and off road at times. I happen to know that this thing is amazingly controlled over a bumpy dirt road a triple digits. The high speed dirt stuff is Precision Concepts specialty. They have dozens of Baja wins to their credit. I just lucked out that Campbell was quite a bit heavier than I am so his dirt suspension works very well for me on the street. I'm just looking to fine tune a bit. I'll never be turning 30's on this thing so my suspension needs won't be quite the same as yours.

Can't you just put some oh-leans bits on there and call it done?

I have no idea really, just more less thinking out loud. I know you want it stiffer for the street, I was just meaning softness as to achieve lowering the front more. That's why I was thinking shorter forks or springs so you can upgrade to stiffer springs without killing your geometry. Really there needs to be a happy medium that creates the stiffness with a lower front end without putting too much load on the front. (I'm not sure what that happy medium is yet) I'm assuming the XR's forks doesn't have adjustable preload, only compression and rebound? PC set it up for the dirt, which isn't really what you are doing is it? So maybe find a company (maybe PC would know, but like you said, they specialize in dirt) that specializes in motards and ask. If yours is set up anything like mine, I'd think putting either thicker oil or stiffer springs without doing anything else would cause front end issues. (like losing the front) I have my tubes about as far up as I can go, along with softening the front I'm I'm still way off in geometry. Also Bwhip's Ape doesn't really count because those were designed with road race in mind from the beginning, so I'd think they'd have a little different valving and geometry.

I would think to get the road handling you guys want you'd have to switch to a different offset triple clamp but that would kill you anytime in the dirt.

Just got off the phone with PC. The fluid was 2.5wt Silkolene so it probably will sound watery. The stuff I emptied out was a little more gray and sludgy at the bottom so I'm sure the refresh will be worth it. When I called I told them that I had a bike with their suspension and wanted to know what fluid to use. I was sure that the girl who answered the phone would have to transfer me to someone else. She said, "do you know the name of the original rider?" When I answered, "Johnny Campbell" she just laughed and rattled all the specs right off the top of her head including the original oil height.

Wow, this stuff is expensive...and nobody has 2.5W anything, let alone Silkolene, anywhere in Northern Ohio. I honestly don't know why I even bother walking into a dealership. I can't think of a single time in the last five years that they've had something in stock that I needed or wanted.

Just mail order it.

Thanks for the intel. CAH had one bottle of 2.5wt, I'd need two so they'd still have to order it, and it wasn't Silkolene. The guy at MPH was mostly just annoying, "Why do you want 2.5wt?" "Because that's what I have in there now." "In 15 yrs of doing this I've never put 2.5wt in anything." "It's custom suspension built by Precision Concepts and that's what they use." "I never use it." "Well that's what's in there and that's what I need." "I suppose I could order some but it's not what I'd use." "Don't bother." That was more or less how it went. He was very condescending the entire conversation.

I was willing to pay inflated shop prices to have it now. I'd love to put these things back together tomorrow or Saturday but I guess that's out. I was going to just order some last Monday while I was in the airport but decided to give the local shops the benefit of the doubt.

Blorton, I've always tried to support my local shops, that's why I hadn't gone with mail order initially. It's getting harder and harder to support them as they never have anything in stock and when they do the prices are outrageous. I had a good relationship with a Honda dealer in Des Moines. I could just call in, give them my name and tell them what I wanted, it'd be there in two days usually and they'd always give me 10% off. I haven't found any of the shops here to be even the least bit accomodating (though I do like the guys at the Ducati shop but it's 40 minutes away) so I'll probably go mail order only from now on.

Sorry Will. I know where you are coming from and I would like to be the same way, but the truth is, a lot of the local guys don't earn the business. Damned shame, really.

I know what you are saying. Seems like the local people are more less pricks also because of the whole "on line" purchasing as well, which makes it harder. I try to get tires changed local and they literally complain because I didn't buy the tires through them. I explain that I get them through Pirelli for around $400 and go through them in a day, when their prices are over $600 for the same exact thing. Then they want $60-$80 to mount them when I can get it done at the track for $20.. I'm the bad guy. Can't find the right spark plug, then they try to sell you the non iridium. No simple light bulbs. You know how many shops I went to, or called to find Motul? Almost not even worth trying any more. I think soon most will close except for the mega shops and those that supplement with internet.

I checked out CAH today. Nice shop. I was impressed with all the brands under one roof. Yamaha, Honda, KTM, Triumph, and Ducati. They even had all of the KTMs that no one ever seems to have in like the RC8, Super Duke, SM690. I was checking out the Triumph Tiger XC and they were trying really hard to get me to take it for a ride. If they'd been pushing the Multistrado or the Monster EVO I wouldn't have declined.

I didn't find any V4s though?