Forum menu
Next week I'll be pulling the lowers on my 2012 RS rev RLT, in order to reduce the travel down to 130mm. Setting about ordering the oils I'll need to rebuild the fork afterwards.
Just wanted to check whether I'll need just a 15wt oil or the 5wt as well?
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
A I right in thinking that I'll just have to pull the lower and remove the air spring, not touching the damping side and hence won't require any 5wt?
You answered your own question - all the damping stuff is in the other leg and the 5wt should stay happily where it is even with the lowers removed.
Correct. so just 15 wt needed as lower leg lube.
If the fork hasn't been serviced for a while then it would be worth doing the damping too, but if they are fine and relatively new then just do what you need to do.
The forks brand new I haven't even ridden it, guess it's not a good idea to recycle the oil though, I'll probably spill some anyway.
So 15wt and some red rum it is then.
Any other tips? I've read the sram and bike radar guides, time to go for it me thinks.
You can run a lighter weight oil in the lowers than 15wt if you are regular in your lowers services. I find it moves around the lowers a bit more especially with a bit of slick honey on the bush's it works a treat, try mixing red rum with 5wt 50/50.
Might give that a go slinkybike, though could messing with oils cause me an issue with the warranty?
Anyone know anywhere to get red rum cheaper than £17 a bottle? I know you can use alternatives but as it's a brand new fork with warranty I'm slightly reluctant....
Castrol Fully Synthetic Fork Oil 10W (halfrauds / any bike shop for around £6 for 500ml) is pretty much the same as 15w RS oil (see the big table 3/4 of the way down here [url= http://www.peterverdone.com/wiki/index.php?title=Suspension_Fluid ]here[/url]). Use the non-synthetic 10w oil to substitute the RS 5wt damping oil.
No need to worry about the warranty 🙂
Job done, thought I'd post back with some observations.
Went for Rock Oil SVI (15wt) in the lowers in the end. Got some red rum, this was thick and gloopy my comparison. Used stendec easy glide grease on the seals. (All stuff I could get from CRC) Travel now down to 130mm, easy job.
Observations:
The foam rings were pretty dry on these brand new forks. Is it Rockshox forks that should be stored upside-down?
The foam ring on one leg had been "pinched" slightly, presumably from overly hasty installation at the factory.
Just popping the lowers off, saturating the foam rings, greasing the seals slightly and replacing the fork oil reduces the stiction in the system considerably.
Old news to most of you I'm sure.
Thanks for the help people.