As always, great writeup w/ feedback.

 

Great post. At 15K one of the mechanics suggested servicing the forks I told him I'd wait on it til 25K after reading the recommended is at 50K. I stopped taking in my bike after the warranty expired. Now I'm at 30K I was considering taking it in to get the service done ... no need to now. Thanks.

 

Set out today with rain in every direction, got about two miles and had to turn back. Still haven't accomplished a good test, but on moderately smooth pavement the SE Heavy feels no different from the stock Type E fluid, which I consider a victory. We don't need a rougher ride for no reason, but am looking forward to a more controlled ride with less bottoming, as has been described by others. Will try again tomorrow for a more thorough test, as I'm anxious to find out more myself. Bear with me, as the weather around here lately has been awful. At least the rain is cooling things down, though.

 

Glad it helped. I'm certain the factory fluid is not normal fork oil, and I'll bet it would be black if you drained it after 10 miles. A friend who formerly owned a Suzuki dealership said this black stuff was common in Japanese forks, but he didn't know the composition either. Showa (Japan) has made HD forks for many years.

 

I took a longer ride this morning before the afternoon monsoons set in, and have some impressions on the SE Heavy fork oil. First, it firms the forks up a bit, but not to the point of being harsh and unnoticably on normal surfaces. Overall control seems better and I felt no bottoming like I occasionally incurred with the factory fluid. This bike didn't bottom that often, so I'll reserve judgment long enough to give it a longer-term test. With the factory setup I did feel like the forks were too loose and that they needed heavier oil.

I would say that using the SE Heavy would be the preferred alternative over the Type E, but I don't think there would be any benefit to going heavier with the SE Extra Heavy. One guy mixed SE-H and E equally, so if I decide it needs to be softer I may try that next time, but for now I'm happy with the result. OTOH, I always used Type E in my old RK and had no complaints, but those were air forks and I always had at least 15psi in them, which helped to control bottoming.

 

Sounds like you guys are changing the fork oil before what is recommended. What made you change so soon? Sounds like the oil was pretty nasty but were you having problems? I have 11k and wonder if I should be doing this. What makes the oil turn so nasty so soon.

 

I changed mine at 7500 mi. just cuz I put on the chrome lowers, the oil was nasty.

 

My old RK's air forks specified 12k miles as the oil-change interval and I did it every 10k (easy on that bike), and it goes against my grain waiting 'til 50k, which is by-the-book on my '07. My dealer claims they do it for every 20k service and my bike had 21k on it. I usually keep a bike for the long haul (106k for my last one), and I want to do what's necessary for things to last.

Now that

 

Great post! I wish more people were so informative and detailed. I was worried about servicing my front forks, but now I feel like it's a piece of cake! Thanks!

 

It really is easy, and I can't figure out why the Moco dictates such a drawn-out procedure in the service manual. I suspect it is because they can charge three hours for fork oil changes, then use the top and drain plugs to complete the job in one hour. Otherwise, why would they retain the drain plug in the forks? There is no procedure than I know of that requires their use, so why spend the extra $2 to have them installed at the factory in Japan?

Since all the old oil can be drained, I see no downside to this abbreviated procedure.