Vegetable oil?

[pete]

OKay who's tried vegetable oil in their older marzochis? I've been running a vegetable-canola blend to get the perfect viscosity. It works awesome compared to regular fork oil, much less foaming and smoother travel. Plus very environmentally friendly.

Dicuss.

[TheGiggler]

this is what you're doing instead of riding :nerd:

[corey@nsmb.com]

I wouldn't do it.

Fork oil is designed for use in cartridge forks. It contains anti-foaming agents and is designed to last (not break down). The technology going into fork oil is developed around its use in a specific product.

Vegetable oil is for cooking. I don't know if its going to adhere to all the metal/friction areas in your fork, and you don't know if its going to foam and cause cavitation in your fork. You also don't know how long it will last before its viscosity breaks down and you are prematurely wearing your fork.

[seand]

i can just see it...

a chicken frying stand on the side of a-line with your fork oil that has come to a boil from 33 degrees and rapid lapping all day long...

[pete]

I wouldn't do it.

Fork oil is designed for use in cartridge forks. It contains anti-foaming agents and is designed to last (not break down). The technology going into fork oil is developed around its use in a specific product.

Vegetable oil is for cooking. I don't know if its going to adhere to all the metal/friction areas in your fork, and you don't know if its going to foam and cause cavitation in your fork. You also don't know how long it will last before its viscosity breaks down and you are prematurely wearing your fork.

No no, I routinely open my fork up after every ride, and i'm on week 3 right now with no oil break down.

As for the foaming, you feel it on the trail. After riding hard for about 20 mins nonstop older marzochis kinda stiffen up and the damping sucks due to foaming. No problem with vegetable/canola blend!

I fully understand that fork oil is made for forks, all i'm saying is that vegetable oil offers comparable performance. Personally I know lots of guys running automatic transmission fluid in their monsters, etc. I'm just experimenting with different oils now and I believe vegetable oil is a candidate.

[atari_]

I'm kind of interested in this. Keep us posted on how it all works out.

[TheGiggler]

pete, you shoudl join rat and i on eagle on sunday

[Jack Daniels]

I'm not sure whether this would be relevant or not but I wrote a paper on Biodiesel last year, which is pretty much just vegetable oil that is used in diesel engines. Basically what was found was that pure vegetable oil worked, but had a bunch of effects on the engine. Currently vehicles that use biodiesel use a 20% vegetable oil, 80% diesel mix because this reduces the effects of the vegetable oil. What happened was a gelling occured around the fuel injection nozzles, poor lubrication over time from lubricant dilution led to some wear, and reactions with elastomers in the engine and fuel delivery systems caused the rubber components to break down. I'm thinking this last one would be the most pertinent to a fork. Any rubber in the internals - seals, bushings, o-rings, etc. would break down because they're designed to react with petroleum based products. Personally, I'd just pay the ten bucks to get fork oil from a motorcycle shop and run that.

[Moocowsia]

I'm playing around with pump oil in my DNM and it seems to be working fine right now too :P The seals are gone though.

[0_o]

Personally I know lots of guys running automatic transmission fluid in their monsters, etc.

I have personal experience running ATF in a 2002 Shiver (2000'ish Team Issue with 2002 internals).
Using ATF in the Shiver allowed me to lower the oil height which gave me a greater range in 'usable' travel but still soaked up the big hits due to it's higher viscosity.
The great thing is it was the same colour when it came out as it was when it went in.
This is after about a 1000 runs down A-line.
No accelerated degredation in the seals or other internal bits compared to regular fork oil either.

[pete]

I have personal experience running ATF in a 2002 Shiver (2000'ish Team Issue with 2002 internals).
Using ATF in the Shiver allowed me to lower the oil height which gave me a greater range in 'usable' travel but still soaked up the big hits due to it's higher viscosity.
The great thing is it was the same colour when it came out as it was when it went in.
This is after about a 1000 runs down A-line.
No accelerated degredation in the seals or other internal bits compared to regular fork oil either.


you know it baby!

[FreaK]

this kind of thing is, as they say, 'teh kool'.
What particular oils are you using Pete?


calling biodiesel vegetable oil stuck me as simplistic of the highest order so i went and researched a bit -first site on google under 'esters biodiesel'- and found:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make2.html#howprocess

basically you get a rundown of what's in vegetable oil and what's in what you're going to use to run your car/bus what have you. essentially biodiesel fuel is methyl-ester.