Forks

[Monterey10]

The roads in Santa Cruz county are pretty rough. The Strom I used to ride ate up the bumps. The NC is quite a bit firmer. I'm wondering if a lighter fork oil, or one of the oils with "Friction Reducers" might reduce the damping. Any opinions?

 

[Old Can Ride]

Changing the oil weight would not be the answer. Adventure bikes do have heavier springs to handle the sometime dirt road riding. I really do not know what Honda has in the NC700. Check with progressive to see if they offer lighter springs, but you might find yourself bottoming out from time to time if you do dirt roads.

 

[670cc]

Install Racetech Gold Valve Emulators to improve the forks. Several members here have done so, myself included. Search the forum mods section for relevant posts. http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-technical/2485-front-suspension-upgrade.html The cost is under $150 if you do the work yourself.

Lighter oil is not the answer. You will end up with a springy, underdamped fork and worsen your handling. The Emulators work by allowing the forks to react better to sharp bumps while not compromising the dampening qualities needed for control.

Greg

 

[Oldenuf]

The day you posted, I had just changed the fork oil, so I needed to put a few miles on, to answer. First, the NC just turned over 6K miles. The oil drained was as black as a tire, so there seems to be a lot of wearing in with the forks. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that if I want to change the travel, I look to a different spring, If I want to change the dampening I change the oil wt. More dampening, heaver oil. Stock fork oil is, I believe, 10 wt. I weigh in around 205 lbs. and the springs seem OK. Not plush, but OK. So I went with ATF, which generally is a 10-15 wt oil. The results are a small change in the small bump dampening. Those cracks in the road and small sharp edges on the road are taken better. Not plush, but a good match for the springs and travel of the stock forks. I would say if I went with a specked fork oil I would even consider up to a 15 wt.

Art