Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

I getting ready to have my stock suspension upgraded to ricor intiminators with .85 weight springs and 5wt oil (I'm not having my rods modded), and I'm looking for advice on what the air gap should be set to before buttoning it all back up. I've been looking around and I've seen 110mm pop up a couple of times, but I've also seen people use the stock level and as low as 137mm.

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

might not be the best place to ask this sorry, but how much would it be to do this what your doing? and how long ? (my myself ofcourse) thanks inadvance Adam

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

k1ngy, take a look at this for the process.
http://forum.svrider.com/showthread.php?t=78075

price wise, i bought the matching shock brand new so i'm already up in price be a good US$500.

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

5wt? Let me know how stable that is mid corner :smt082

Whatever air gap you want, within reason. It controls bottoming resistance, stiffness at bottom of stroke. I would start at 125mm.

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

The way I see it, 5wt is still going to be better than stock oil. So with 125mm I should be getting most of the available travel with less risk of bottoming or hydro-locking the forks? I suppose 110mm would have mostly the same effect but harsher?

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

just thought of something, is your suggestion based on a heavier weight oil? i'm thinking the heavier weight would create more air pressure on compression as it moves through the valve a little slower, or is that an insignificant difference. (noob, i know)

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

Doesn't matter, the air chamber is pretty well above the hydraulic goings on, the air spring effect is separate from the damping curves.

Yeah with 110 you will get into harshness sooner, I think it is better to have as linear as possible so feel is same and rebound too. When braking hard I found a bit of instability when using bit of travel that was becoming very progressive, similar but not as marked effect on progressive springs. I put this down to a decent low speed rebound (for rest of travel) setting ending up too fast at bottom.

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

Ok, I just checked the fluid specs in my manual. Too bad the thing was in storage when I bought the components cause you were right about the 5wt. I just decided to get whatever was recommended by Ricor when I bought the parts. And actually, I thought that the stock oil was 5wt anyway. I keep hearing it referred to as water. I'll just have the right oil put in when the work is done. Any suggestions on brand since availability is likely to be different than in the US?

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

This guy has put together a table of example real oil viscosities to choose from. Look for a high Viscosity Index (values 300+ are good). Select your oil from the actual viscosity at 40C rather than the nominal "weight".

Based on his table I have been using Silkolene PRO RSF with pleasing results so far.

He seems to like Red Line if that's more readily available.

Re: Oil level/Air gap fork question.
 

With ricor you should use thin oil, it is design for it. However you will have problem with rebound. If you use thicker oil you will have problem with both, compression and rebound. There is also problem with high speed and mid corner as Yorkie mentioned. We tried that valve but could never get feel what front is doing.
Try thin oil and closing rebound hole, may work fine.