Shock and Fork Stanchion Oil?

Hair Trigger

Hi Peeps,

Just a quicky, I'm looking to buy some oil for the occasional wipe of the stanchion on both my forks and shock. I'm told that this has to be a particlar oil to stop the seals swelling, so can you lot give me ponters as to what I should buy?

Thanks

Tim

nicklouse

what forks and shock?

Hair Trigger

RockShox Pike 454, dual air U Turn 140mm Fox RP23

Hair Trigger

Anyone?

ricardo_smooth

5w fork oil (any don't fall for the bike component fork oil at inflated prices) for the main damper and 15w oil for the lower chambers if you go by the book. i'll however be going 5w all over. not buying 15w stuff for 20 bloody ml of the stuff! people have used 5w all round with no ill effect

Northwind

I recommend Silkolene as it comes in pretty colours. The 15W especially is a lovely royal blue.

Whatever you get, get it from a motorbike shop as it'll be half as expensive. Strattons isn't a bad place to go for their cheap PJ1 with free postage.

coopsman1

Hair Trigger wrote:

Hi Peeps,

Just a quicky, I'm looking to buy some oil for the occasional wipe of the stanchion on both my forks and shock. I'm told that this has to be a particlar oil to stop the seals swelling, so can you lot give me ponters as to what I should buy?

Thanks

Tim

I think everyone has the wrong end of the stick

From what you have asked I assume you are after something to wipe the stanchions.

If this is the case you can use wd40 or a good silicone spray, that way it helps to prevent sticky stanchions and makes it easy to clean next time.

getonyourbike

Fork Juice as something to spray on the stanchions to stop stiction, keep cr@p off and keep the seals good. It smells nice too. Its a silicon spray.

Northwind

coopsman1 wrote:

I think everyone has the wrong end of the stick

From what you have asked I assume you are after something to wipe the stanchions.

Yup, and fork oil is perfect. WD40 is not- stoddart solvent can swell or embrittle some materials (whether it will or not with the specific materials used in your seals, foam rings etc isn't clear but unless you know it's safe, best not to), and have very high penetration which means you're fairly likely to get the very light mineral oil and solvent carrier past the seals into the fork.

Silicon spray is fine though. Though very easy to get on brakes.

getonyourbike

I remember reading on the rockshox website before not to put WD40 on your forks.

supersonic

Do not use WD40 or GT85 on forks - this is a solvent with a thin lube, and will actually dry the seals out and possibly damage them.

Teflon chain lube works fine though.

Hair Trigger

Thanks guys, fork juice sounds just the job and exactly the answer I was looking for. And thanks for the warning on WD40, I was just considering reaching for it and my trust GR85 as your post came in!

Thanks once again.

Tim

zeroseven

Any automatic transmission fluid.

kevolution

U B trippin 0 7.
Transmssion fluid is mineral based and formulated for a specific use in hydraulic hoses for use under extreme pressure with specific seals.

Fork oil is synthetic and formulated for consistent viscosity performance and lubrication.
Fork oil is better for the seals than teflon lube, but it will attract dirt more than teflon based lubes.
There's no substitute for regular servicing though. Then you don't need to use lubes on the stanchions as the fork oil in the foam rings acts as a constant loss lubrication system, and suspends the crud on the stanchion away from the seals where you can just wipe it clean.

zeroseven

kevolution wrote:

U B trippin 0 7.
Transmssion fluid is mineral based and formulated for a specific use in hydraulic hoses for use under extreme pressure with specific seals.

ATF comes as mineral or synthetic and has for probably 20+ years

Its been used forever on motorbike race forks where you need to change the oil every 3 or 4 meets (MX) or with the SBK Ohlins race forks every ******* race.

I ran a bike at ACU nationals and the majority of people ran ATF, its around 10wt though so be a bit heavy for MTB fork internals I would think. We used to rub everything down with it, especially at a mud track to prevent the mud sticking to the bike

Google ATF fork oil and read for yourself

Matt 24k

+1 for Fork Juice. It's not cheap but is specifically formulated for the job. Here's some sales blurb:

Rave reviews throughout the mountain bike press, this is one of our top selling products.

Fork Juice is a quick, no-mess, easy to apply and great value suspension fork lubricant that prevents wiper seal stiction, protects your fork stanchions and keeps them running super smooth. Which is exactly how you want your forks to be, right?

Now, most people at the moment fall in to one of 3 camps when it comes to fork maintenance between services – they either 1) drip some chain lube on to the uppers, 2) smear some grease round them or 3) do nothing at all and say “they feel OK to me”!??. Well read on to find out why the growing number of racers, mechanics and riders using Fork Juice think that it is a better alternative to all 3 of the above.

Its a spray – so you get even and complete coverage quickly and easily, without getting it all over your fingers or it running down the legs.

It sets up dry almost immediately, unlike chain lube or a grease which are both sticky. So, when you are on a charge down your favourite trail and crap is flying everywhere, it is far less likely to stick to the stanchions and get dragged through the seals to the internals. Less muck in the internals means better performance between services. Quite simply, crud doesnt like sticking to anything that has been sprayed with Fork Juice.

It is superb at helping get top performance from brand new forks during the bedding in period when the seals are at their tightest. Its effects are particularly noticeable on large diameter stanchions where there is a greater contact area between the uppers and seals which makes the stiction worse. New Forks feel great straight out of the box and keep feeling great.

It is not carbon based, unlike PTFE (Teflon). Some forks have internals components that are coated in PTFE – if you add more PTFE to the mix in the form of a lubricant it can upset the balance and quicken the wearing out of those parts. Whether you know if your forks have any such components inside them or not, its easier to play it safe and avoid carbon based lubes.

It is also an excellent bike polish. As we said in point 2 – crud doesnt like sticking to anything that has been sprayed with Fork Juice – and this goes for anywhere on your bike. Spray it on the frame and you have a finish that makes it harder for dirt to stick to, which is going to make it much quicker and easier to clean post ride.

As used by Santa Cruz Syndicate!


"

hornbill

good info matt24k-will be getting sum asap

arthur_scrimshaw

Bought some of this on a whim from CRC



Seems to work well

supersonic

The trick is to wipe the excess oil off the stanchions. Then hardly anything will stick. We all have our methods and reasons, I have actually seen manufacturers in the past saying to avoid silicone. But wd40 is a definite no. Most fork oils are mineral oils.

zeroseven

supersonic wrote:

Most fork oils are mineral oils.

Really? :shock:

Are you very very old? Do you still light a small fire under your diesel tank on cold mornings?

supersonic

look up torco rff and who uses it. Is mineral based with synthetic additives. Though the latest incarnation is fully synthetic I believe, but it hasn't been in the past.

zeroseven

I didn't dispute there are Mineral oils still out there, but I would go as far as to say 'most'

And you should be very careful about believing who uses what, just because they are supplied and or sponsored by somebody means nothing.

In the 90's lots of teams were sponsored by the infamous Rock Oil (including Team Green the official Kawasaki MX team), but nobody used it.

I'd say 90% of the Britisjh Superbike teams in 2005 used Motorex, but I dont recall many of those teams being linked officially to them.

supersonic

RS rebrand Torco, rather than are sponsored by them. They reclassify all the weights too! Mineral is usually cheaper, so to people looking to buy fork oil, always check the label - lots of cheap mineral castrol out there. I use Fuchs synthetic15 wt for lube, and chain oil on the stanchions if in a rush. But as we all know weights vary too... Drip test!