Synthetic fork oil ok?

[Gallinazorey]

Gentlemen,

I am about to change the fork oil for the first time. In my local store they only sell Synthetic Suspension Oil SAE 5W, but it says in the back for competition purposes.
What viscosity would you recommend? Is synthetic oil OK?

As always, thank you very much for your valuable input.


Eric
1979 R65, London UK

[Bob_Roller]

Standard BMW fork oil for our bikes is 7.5 wt.

5 wt. might be a bit on the light side.

Personally, I think I would go with a slightly heavier oil like 10 wt. , before I would use a lighter oil.

[montmil]

Get thee to a different store!

Synthetic oil is probably OK. But if the front forks ever get hot enough to benefit from the expensive faux-dino then your hair is likely to be on fire and it's time to eject.  

I'm with Bobber. Try a 10wt. Different brands are like matching apples and oranges.

Monte "My KTM had air forks" Miller

[MrRiden]

Eric,
I agree, source your oil at another shop. Also, you should know that one brand of 5wt fork oil is not going to be the same as 5wt of another [Monte's apples & oranges quip]. C'mon your in London, I know there are other shops. BMW's 7.5 or higher is recommended [like Bob said]. Can't vouch for other brands / weights.
rich

[Yikes]

When I replaced my weeping fork seals last year, I bought a bottle of 5 and a bottle of 10 (non-synthetic 'cause that's what the shop I went had) and mixed them to hit the 7.5 and had a little left over for later.  I'm not an experienced enough rider to tell whether it "feels" right or not.  I'm just happy it's staying in the tubes now and off of wheel and caliper.