How much oil do motorcycle forks hold?

Do you feel that your forks are challenging even though you have not changed anything in the ride setup?

Depending on the size, it varies from motorcycle to motorcycle. However, an average motorcycle contains 200 ml of fork oil in each fork, which should be changed periodically to prevent the forks from becoming hard. 

How much oil do you put in a motorcycle fork?

The service manual will tell you the entire volume of oil for each fork. When you realise you can’t get all of the oil out of the fork, the problem comes.

Unless you do a complete strip-down of the forks and service every component and make sure it’s dry, there will always be a residual amount of oil in the forks.

No one has the specialist tools to complete this service other than specialised shops, so do we go with volume? What comes out goes back in?

Well, you can work on oil height as a more accurate way to replace the oil and get the ride you want.

If you want a firm ride but slightly more oil in the forks, this will prevent the fork from completing its full stroke. If you enjoy a more comfortable ride, then use slightly less oil, so the fork’s stroke travels entirely.

How do you measure motorcycle fork oil?

Two ways effectively. You can measure the volume of the oil that comes out of the fork and replace it like for like. This should give you the same ride characteristics.

Keep in mind that what the service manual says will be inaccurate due to the residual oil.

More and more service manuals also heighten the oil, which is much easier to get to grips with.

However, when increasing oil, the number will get smaller because you measure the gap from the oil to the top of the fork.

How much oil does a dirt bike fork need?

It depends on the dirt bike, but the suspension forks are often much beefier than road bikes, so that you can expect 300 to 350 ml in each shock.

By far, the best way to be accurate with dirt bike forks is to measure the height of the oil in the forks.

If you ride your dirt bike a lot, you could be going through this process every 40 hours, so it’s essential to get it right.

What happens if you overfill fork oil?

Your suspension will become rock hard as the oil does not compress and allow for suspension travel on the front forks.

It’s a similar feeling to ignoring service intervals.

Overfilling may cause your seals to blow out and dump the fork oil over your brake calliper. You don’t need to be in this situation.

Follow the service schedule for a comfortable ride.