What's the word on fork oil? Stay with the recommended 10w or go up to a 15w? Any schools of thought?

Do you have a specific reason to go with a different wt. oil? heavy off-road? Larger than average in the waist? I would probably go with what is spec'd in the manual.... just make sure to get the same amount of oil in each fork. Heavier fork oil is going to give a firmer feel to the forks..... lighter wt is gonna feel lighter and more prone to bottoming if you ride some serious off-road.

Jesse

Fork oil will change the amount of damping of the forks, NOT the amount of weight the forks will support.

I use 10w fork oil set at 170 mm in my KLR650 forks.  I have Progressive Suspension fork springs in the bike and the front end is about as good as it can get.  I'm happy as it gives me better braking, good feedback and handles both on and off road quite well.

MBD Afflicted said:

What year KLR do you have. Will the 170 mm work in a 2008?

jjewell said:

I changed the entire setup.  Stiffer Cogent Dynamic springs combined with Intiminators with 5w fork oil.  Will NOT go back to stock.  The improvements are wonderful no matter if it's rock gardens at 10 mph, sudden wash-outs at 40 mph, or carving an undulating curve at 75.

I'm not sure changing the weight is going to do much good.  You could try changing the volume in the fork tube...or, adding some air pressure to the forks (the "book" says not to, but, the fork tubes themselves have instructions on how much air can be added).

schmidtle said:

I'm fairly certain the fork oil level changed in the 08 model.  Have to check your owner's manual...

Hi everyone!
I have klr 650 c (1995). Is my fork identical to a klr650A?
And should I use any 10w20 (like semisintetic) oil or there is some special oil for forks? How much mililitars should i put in? tnx

I just drained the fork oil from my 03s KLR 650s forks,Im the 2nd owner,and the PO told me he never did it,Well,it looked like waste from the bilge of an old river barge,a real old river barge,almost toxic waste,so I spent more money flushing them with clean fork oil,and I could tell a difference right away,they dont dive as bad when you get on the front brakes hard,I also swapped out springs,to progressive,but change your fork oil,you know it needs it.

'92 I ran progressive with atf for many years,  oil 6" from the top.  One of my springs broke (yes spacer length was correct).   I now run stock springs with 5 psi, 5w oil and emulators.

5w because it''l pass through the stock dampening rod holes pretty much with little effect letting the emulator do the work.  If I enlarged the holes I could use heavier oil.

the 08 oil level is 135mm from the top as I recall. remove springs, collapse fork, add oil.

older bikes had oil at either 170 or 190 depending (slight change in about 96). What works the best on Gen one bikes is oil at 165-175. I stick with 10 wt (ATF). 5-15 psi air to trim.

I've done dozens of forks at tech days, NONE had even the minimum unless the owner did the work. I've done many new bikes that were 50-75cc low per leg, one was 200cc low just to get to 190. Proper oil makes a huge difference. Add a fork brace & it's pretty good.

If you want to spend more money, get the Ricor valves... they are fantastic. I mix ATF and Marvel Mystery Oil 50/50 to get 5wt they require. Stock springs are fine.

Good stuff gents.

I have an '06 bought a few months ago and I don't know if anythings been done. PO didn't know jack, but he only had it a few hunnert miles and it must have scared him.  Runs good.

Fork oil leaked out of the drain screw a bit ago.  Looked like nice clean ATF.  Tightened it, stopped leak.  Now I need to drain/fill.  Better springs and valves are in the plan if I keep her.  I'm 200# dry.  What say you on fill level and any oil recommendations for the '06?

Many thanks.

beezeer,      ricor sent me 5w amsoil with my valves.   I didn't really think they did much until I hit washboard dirt road and nothing happened.....the forks ate it up.

I'm simple with the klr, I just max the rear spring out then tune the front air to balance the suspension f to r.

ya, I got no oil with my Ricor valves, so did the honerable KLR thing which is to find a cheap substitute.


On the 06..... collapse forks, remove springs, fill to 165-170mm from the top. Top with 10psi air. Consider a fork brace, but don't waste money on different springs, go straight to the Ricors.

obviously, the forks need a good cleaning inside too

Edited by Beezerboy, 09 March 2012 - 01:12 PM.

Thank you Beezer, that's what I wanted to know.

I'm not sure about not doing springs.  I'm 200 lbs and plan to load this bike up with some armor, tools, gear for multi-day adventures into the Idaho deserts and mountains, and possibly a passeger from time to time.  The KLX250 was set up stock for a 150 lb rider.  I put proper springs in first and the difference was huge.  Then installed gold valves and it was nothing short of amazing compared to the stock setup.  I've heard great reports for both the Ricor and Race Tech valve setups and am not yet convinced that one is better than the other.  Lots of opinions out there.  Like I've heard from a number of riders to avoid the fork brace if I'll be riding off road, rough trails, which I will be.  What I want from this bike is a good, solid trail machine that can cruise 75 on the highway when needed.  Not as trail worthy and a lot more pavement worthy than the KLX.

Edited by IDRIDR, 10 March 2012 - 09:24 AM.

I out weigh you by about 40. Nice thing about the Ricor valve is it simply drops in the hole.... just pull the spring, drop it in, reinstall the spring, fill with oli, reinstall the cap.... done.

I've heard the prejduce about fork brace off road.... I don't understand why anyone would make such statements on the KLR 650

Thanks for the reply.

About the fork brace, I don't know why they say it.  I'd like to be able to try both with and without.

My fork bushing wore fast with a brace so I took it off.   If you do put a brace on pull the fork springs and run the fork through full travel to see if there is any bind.  Mine there was not perfect parallelism in the forks.

yep gotta keep it all square. I load mine down & ride it in some rough spots... 30,000 miles plus & all good. (the red one is mine)

Edited by Beezerboy, 11 March 2012 - 12:32 AM.