Fork oil type in race forks with Ohlins cartridges | GTAMotorcycle.com

Fork oil type in race forks with Ohlins cartridges

Rossi86

Rossi86

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What type of oil is recommended for race forks with Ohlins cartridges for a GSXR1000? The Ohlins manual I have recommends Ohlins oil part #01309-01, which is 7.5W. Is this the proper viscosity for racing applications?
 
I have no first hand experience with that combination but, do your forks have adjustments for compression and rebound dampening?
If you find you are needing to adjust the dampening adjusters to the maximum in one direction, that would imply you could benefit from altering the fork oil weight. If the adjusters are closer to the mid range of their adjustment you are probably right on with what you are riding now.
 
Comparative Oil Weights Table Buying the right oil for your bike is very important as it can effect performance and the amount of wear-and-tear your bike receives. So what oil should you use in your suspension? Most suspension units use approximately a 5Wt (SAE). But, due to the international SAE standard being so loose, one oil company's 5Wt can be the same viscosity as another's 7.5Wt. Here's a really nerdy table that uses the much tighter Centistoke (Cst) testing scale, so we can compare brands with accuracy.Download the chart from here https://www.bikehub.co.za/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=280564

So Ohlins 1309 has a Cst of 19 so in the chart find brands with a simmilar number of 19

Example: Bel-Ray HVI 5wt Shock Oil 19.5
Motul Factory Line - light Fork Oil 18
Maxima Racing Shock Fluid - Medium Shock Oil 20.8
 
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taximan62 said:
Comparative Oil Weights Table Buying the right oil for your bike is very important as it can effect performance and the amount of wear-and-tear your bike receives. So what oil should you use in your suspension? Most suspension units use approximately a 5Wt (SAE). But, due to the international SAE standard being so loose, one oil company's 5Wt can be the same viscosity as another's 7.5Wt. Here's a really nerdy table that uses the much tighter Centistoke (Cst) testing scale, so we can compare brands with accuracy.Download the chart from here https://www.bikehub.co.za/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=280564

So Ohlins 1309 has a Cst of 19 so in the chart find brands with a simmilar number of 19

Example: Bel-Ray HVI 5wt Shock Oil 19.5
Motul Factory Line - light Fork Oil 18
Maxima Racing Shock Fluid - Medium Shock Oil 20.8
Click to expand...

Thanks for the chart! Years ago, when I rebuilt the stock forks on that bike, the Rider's Choice mechanic recommended 7.5W for track applications, but the internals were stock so I wasn't sure if the weight would change. At that time, I ended up buying Motul light/medium 7.5W, which from your chart shows 24 cSt. While Ohlins recocomends the one with 19 cSt, which is closer to the Motul Factory Line - light = 18 cSt.

I'll be going with the Ohlins recommended oil, when I pull the forks apart I'll compare if the viscosity difference is noticeable between the Ohlins and the Motul light/medium (still have a quarter bottle leftover).
 
John from Accellerated Technologies also told me use Motul 5w in my ohlins forks which is basically the same ase the Factory Line Light
 
John at Accelerated used Motul 5W Synthetic Factory Line in my ZX-6R forks with Ohlins 30mm kit. Seems to match the above last comment.

Jeff
 
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