So pretty much stuck here on what to get. I know I need to do the seals every 15 hours (lol) so planning on fox float fluid for that – which seems to be the recommended.

Then I need normal suspension fluid for the lowers, obviously this gets a bit confusing as there is red and there is green. What is the difference between them? (struggling to find this anywhere on the net) Also, a lot of people I read are just saying to get motorcycle fluid, lot cheaper and does same job. Is this a good plan? If so, what else is out there and being used.

Also, I’m looking to fix up a pair of old coil recons I have laying about. I took them apart completely, and they’re in great condition considering they haven’t been touched in 3 years, but I also took apart the rebound damper. Does this need yet another different fluid? And can I use fox fluid on rockshox forks? All very confusing.

Some guidance appreciated!

thanks

I would happily use motorcycle fork oil in any mtb fork using the right grades.

Most forks the oil in the lowers in only for lube and can be replaced with any good lube oil, the oil in the damper its important to use suspension oil of the right grade

ok thanks for that. anything else? difference between red and green?

I’m assuming the forks you are talking about first are Fox?

click the following link and then select ‘servicing’ and then ‘oil volumes’

http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/

Be careful of oil grades. One man’s 5W is another’s 10W

Its the Cst@40 deg that is important. The old school 7Wt oil used in my forks was 32CST ish so I used Rock Oil 10W which is about the same.

fork oil weights

nb the fox oil on that chart is the old stuff they used to use. Do a bit of googling. Fox red/ green might be more like 47? .Dunno

Be careful of oil grades. One man’s 5W is another’s 10W

Definitely! The closest I’ve found for RS (e.g. your rebas) for the lowers use Castrol Synthetic Fork Oil (10wt) @ 42 rSt vs 42.8 RS 15 wt, and for the dampers Castrol Fork Oil (10wt) @ 15 rSt vs 16.1 RS 5 wt. If you want to be exact use 1 part synth and 11 parts non-synth.

No idea why the two Castrol 10wt’s are so different 🙂

The 15 hours fox mention means you just clean / lube (fork oil) / cycle the forks / clean. You can mix fox / RS lubes and I use general grease on the seals with float fluid on the stanchions then wipe off excess when done. I’ve used all sorts of random oils and its been fine.

It sounds difficult but don’t worry about it. The lowers oil is just for lubrication. You need to be a little bit more careful with the damper oil (volume is IMO more important then viscosity) but the worst that’ll happen is they won’t compress quite as well, so you’ll have to take the forks apart and add more thinner oil.

Go to a local motorbike shop (and ask if stuck), you’ll pick up both oils for around a tenner.