Hop-Ups for Dummies - Fork Oil Change
by Chad Baird

So there I was, celebrating my 30th birthday alone, drinking 18yr old Scotch and reading the repair manual for my CR85, all before 12pm or was it am? Bah, I don't remember. I was needing something to keep me busy so --fork oil change! Here's a task that doesn't involve much brainpower, dexterity or operation of any moving vehicles. A perfect activity for someone celebrating a little early on his birthday.

Now the manual says, "Change the fork oil after initial break-in and again after 7.5 hr's or every three races." Hmm, no hour meter on my bike. How about 6.5 gallons of gas ago? The bike was getting harder to handle on the track anyway. The front forks were packing in, causing me take a slower lines to keep the bike upright.

I happened to have some left over 15wt fork oil from the last overhaul and it happened to be the same weight of oil I planned on using too. Honda suggests 5wt oil but that's under perfect circumstances. Namely having the correct springs for rider weight, which isn't the case for me. I weight 160 and should be using around ~34-40 spring in the front forks. Stock, this bike comes with .28 springs.

Side note: There are a few ways to measure fork oil.
1. Drain oil into a container and measure oil that came out.
2. Drain oil, pay no attention to how much oil that came out and guess.
3. Drain oil and use a factory tool (syringe with large rod/ruler) to measure the exact amount of oil down to the last drip.

In my case I choose option #1 because I've tried #2 and while I have the fancy tool to measure the oil in the tubes, these are cartridge forks and you can't just pull the springs out, everything's attached.

Okay. Now the fun part. First I secured the bike on my stand and elevated the front end. Then I removed the handlebars, seat, gas tank, and side panels and front wheel. This revealed unfettered access to the front forks and I could clean everything up real well while I was waiting for the oil to drain.

With the front fork tubes off the bike, one at a time I hung them upside down with a coat hanger from my pull-up bar. I used my 'Ratio Rite' oil-mixing cup to catch the oil draining from the forks. Turns out both forks had exactly what the manual stated; 12OZ of 5wt oil. I measured out 12OZ for each fork and poured the oil back into the fork tubes. Then I buttoned everything back up.

Total time for this job is around less than 2 hours. I took extra time to tighten the spokes on the front wheel, clean my air filter, adjust my clutch, clean my chain and wash everything up really well so it took me around 6 hours from start to finish.

Test ride (sober, two days later): WOW!! The front end doesn't dive as much and the handlebars actually feel heavier in my hands. All this equates to a more stable, confidence inspiring feeling while cornering and braking.

If you haven't changed the fork oil on your scooter, I highly recommend it. You'll be surprised.

About the Author: Chad Baird - My riding/wrenching obsession started in the summer of 88-89. My Dad got me a used $50 Sears minibike with a seized 4hp Tecumseh. I spent hours upon hours in the garage hooking up throttle cables/linkages, kill switches, changing tires, swapping engines and of course riding and crashing. Dad would hand me a repair manual, show me how to do something once (mostly how to use a tool) and then was pretty much hands off except to yell at me about loosing his tools. He would also cuss me out for taking off without making the bike 100% ride-able or fixing something half-assed. So that's basically how I learned, lot's a trial/error and getting yelled at. heheh.. Now my whole life revolves around working on, riding, talking about and teaching others who are interested and even some who aren't, how to do the same.

Motorcycle Missionary? or just an annoying biker with a tendency to pontificate? You decide...