alternate oil for fork

[pedro]

is it safe to use any type of oil in a fork, as long as it is thin enough?

My fork needs some oil and there is'nt any "fork" oil around in my hometown.

[jimbo]

See if there's a motorcycle shop in your town.  An automotive store might be able to order the oil.  Redline products are made for both cars and motorcycles.  They have a line of suspension oils.

It's best to stick to fork oil.  Other oils might have additives that might damage the rubber and plastic seals parts.

[TCP]

most any fork oil from a bike shop works.  If you are using motorcycle fork oil, make sure it is cartridge fork oil, WITHOUT seal swellers in it.  marzocchi fork oil is golden spectro 4 motorcycle cartridge fork oil in a 7.5 weight(shown as 125/150 on the bottle) and is about $15/liter at motorcycle shops.  rockshox stock oil weight is 5. silkoline is supposed to work as well.  I personally use Golden Spectro 4 in all six of our forks and it works well (duke SL, manitou SXR, xfly100,z2 atom, z3 air and EXR).  i buy it by the liter and it lasts about 6 months with regular oil changes.

[rapiddescent]

just to backup TC's comments - we have  motorbike shock oil in various weights for marzocchi forks mostly.

DO NOT, however, take a Noleen NRx fork apart.  I heard a story once that the little pin inside came come out at high velocity and once punctured a car roof in a race car park....

callum
rdi

[pedro]

somebody in mtbr (ray) suggested "transmission oil" which is about a "10" in "weight". Said he has used it in numerous forks for a couple of years.

[TCP]

Although i've heard of it being used with some success, i would stick to a fork oil.  ATF and related products are meant for high pressure gear related contact and contain friction modifiers and other things that help automatic transmission clutch packs engage properly.  the base fluid of ATF might be fine, but the additive's may cause problems in the long term.

[Matno]

I use Honda 5wt fork oil. $6 a liter at my local motorcycle shop. Works like a charm. You can also often get Maxima fork oil from motorcycle shops, which their web site says is EXACTLY the same oil as their bicycle fork oil (but a heck of a lot cheaper).

[Ionit]

your question is interesting pedro. But I would like to know if this oil is for the internals or if it is to be applied to the pivots if you have crosslinks or wippers. I've used everything form natural soft wax for wet conditions to WD 40 for the quick pre race lube. But my favorit would be Shimano's light weight grease. Personaly I would like to know how to put oil inside  my NR 4.  Has anybody taken their NR 4 appart. to clean the inside. Then how would you put new oil back in.

[kiwi]

the noleen shocks are pressurised with 200 psi of nitrogen,(well they were when they were new).You can pick up a refill kit here but i am not sure that they are user serviceable.As callum says in a post above 200 psi can generate some impact so be careful.Otherwise you can send your nr4 back to k2 for a sevice or to noleen itself