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fork oil dirty

One other thing, there is only 11 or 12 ozs of fluid in each fork slide on my Sporty, being squeezed and stressed through tiny openings maintaining a certain viscosity so the fork action does not degrade. With all the random vibe and pounding a fork goes thru with the stiction from being compressed by angular stresses of the fork (it is not being pushed straight down) there has got to be serious wear and degrading of the fluid going on. As I said earlier 20,000 miles is on a "lighter weight" less angled stressed fork of a sport bike, so it is not just math that I chose, but a bit of rationale and prudence.
 
smitty901 said:
This is one we disagree on, I will let you know in another 40-50K how it works out.
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There's no substitute for clean/fresh oil in the forks regardless of what is printed in the manual. Clean oil means less wear on internal parts so saving 3 bottles of fork oil will cost in the long run.
 
Soft tail was easy to change, large plugs and spring compression was not an issue like the sportster has. So based on the ease of the soft tail i cant see a reason not to do a more often change. Sportster was not that bad but a little more of a pain

Will still state frequent change is not over kill, more cheep insurance and also a way to monitor how things are doing such as metal flakes and or water instrusion. If you waite for 50k or so then you may be running with water and causing wear.

I did change to amsoil 10w fork oil. Dont notice any difference with breaking but on small bumps it is stiffer. Dont think i will go any more than the 10w.

Now how important is it to be exact on the amount. Sportster holds 11.6 each side. Measuring cup was not graduated that exact so I eyeballed it between 11 and 12.
 
Sportster XL1200C holds a bit more 11.6 oz, then the XL1200R which is 10.2 oz "Dry", so because it is almost impossible eliminate all the fluid, you are probably fine at 11.0 and 9.5 respectively...it is not THAT critical.
 
I used Bel Ray because it came in 7.5 Wt (wanted to stiffen the ride just a bit) and local (at the local Cycle Pro shop, as well as most Metrics)...HD one is good too, just did not want to mix and match due to limited selection. If your sticking with 5W (stock) or 15W (SE) then you can go that route without issue.
 
Jayson459 said:
Good Question although havn't an answer.. Could it be that the Fork Leans more left when parked?? Responded just so could see some answers..
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On bikes with only a single disc. on front, the forks will twist slightly to the side that the disc is on. Easy to see and feel just by straddling and rocking the bike with brake applied. I would surmise (been waiting a long time to use that word), that puts a little more friction on that slider and internal components.
 
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