Nitrogen in the forks?

[txironhead]

cberkely's post gave me an idea. I've read up on the advantages of using nitrogen in car and motorcycle tires instead of air. Better pressure retention, cooler operating temps, longer tire life, etc. But I can't seem to find any info on using nitrogen in the front forks. I've seen the nitrogen-charged shocks used on performance cars and off-road trucks. Does anyone know if nitrogen will react adversely on the fork oil? Since it's used in shocks that (I assume) use the same or similar oil I wouldn't think so.

Also, has anyone used synthetic fork oil? Pros/cons?

[KGB]

cberkely's post gave me an idea. I've read up on the advantages of using nitrogen in car and motorcycle tires instead of air. Better pressure retention, cooler operating temps, longer tire life, etc. But I can't seem to find any info on using nitrogen in the front forks. I've seen the nitrogen-charged shocks used on performance cars and off-road trucks. Does anyone know if nitrogen will react adversely on the fork oil? Since it's used in shocks that (I assume) use the same or similar oil I wouldn't think so.

Also, has anyone used synthetic fork oil? Pros/cons?

In shocks, rear shocks the nitrogen does not contact the oil.
There is a diaphram seperating the 2.

I've never tried nitrogen in my tires, so I can't spek to it.

Nitrogen in the front end amy make it feel lighter :-D

[Jethro]

If you are interested in nitrogen, I'd suggest looking into some cartridge emulators in the forks. Ask Joe Nardy about them, he has a set. Supposed to make the forks perform as nice as anything you could buy today.

[crag antler]

If you are interested in nitrogen, I'd suggest looking into some cartridge emulators in the forks. Ask Joe Nardy about them, he has a set. Supposed to make the forks perform as nice as anything you could buy today.

Even a FZ????

[waterman]

I am not trying to be nasty but the air you put in the shock is mostly Nitrogen. If I remember from school correctly, the composition of the air we breathe is about 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% other. As for hurting fork oil, doubtful. One negative of air is the oxygen, in that it facilitates oxidation which can break down organics. Don't want too strain brain on old college chemistry.

Whether the oxygen in the air affects fork oil and to what degree I am not sure but it can't possibly be too bad since we don't need to change fork oil as frequently as engine oil. Just my .02.

[bwringer]

Completely pointless.

Besides, using air (or nitrogen) pressure in forks is a bad idea in the first place. Install good aftermarket fork springs (like Progressive) and experiment with fork oil weight and preload spacer length. Preload spacers are far more reliable, consistent, and less stressful to the fork seals than air pressure.

[focus frenzy]

I am not trying to be nasty but the air you put in the shock is mostly Nitrogen. If I remember from school correctly, the composition of the air we breathe is about 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% other. As for hurting fork oil, doubtful. One negative of air is the oxygen, in that it facilitates oxidation which can break down organics. Don't want too strain brain on old college chemistry.

Whether the oxygen in the air affects fork oil and to what degree I am not sure but it can't possibly be too bad since we don't need to change fork oil as frequently as engine oil. Just my .02.

true but that 21% oxygen also helps the oil to foam up, removing it keeps the oil from foaming up. that is why they put straight Nitrogen in shocks.

nitrogen will work fine in the forks.

[Thomas Kenny]

We have been using nitrogen in struts and aircraft tires in the airline business for decades. Nitrogen is an inert gas and in tires is great to fight corrosion to wheels and also to fight corrosion inside nitrogen/oil struts, i.e. BIG shocks. I would'nt be afraid to put it in your struts and tires if it is available to you.

[bonanzadave]

We have been using nitrogen in struts and aircraft tires in the airline business for decades. Nitrogen is an inert gas and in tires is great to fight corrosion to wheels and also to fight corrosion inside nitrogen/oil struts, i.e. BIG shocks. I would'nt be afraid to put it in your struts and tires if it is available to you.

Dito for little airplanes. If you cant find nitrogen go to any little airport with a fixed base operator. He will have it.

[Bill Alexander]

I agree with most of the contributions above (except I have never tried progressive springs, so can't comment on that option). In the days when my GS was in use as a daily driver (more yrs ago than I care to admit) I was involved in an industry where I had ready access to nitrogen and used it in my shocks and tyres as a matter of course. I cannot say I noticed any great performace benefits over air and would not go off trying to find a source of the stuff if it wasn't readily available. There is certainly no harm in using it. The greatest benefit I found from my days of using it, was the ease of getting the pressure right - that was through use of a regulator which would work with air too anyway.

[paco13]

Hmmm
Both my 1980 GS' have a sticker on the fork that recommend using nitrogen gas or air.
I would go the better springs with no air route though.

[Nerobro]

true but that 21% oxygen also helps the oil to foam up, removing it keeps the oil from foaming up. that is why they put straight Nitrogen in shocks.

nitrogen will work fine in the forks.

erm.. where did you get that information?

They use straight nitrogen in shocks becasue oxygen has this nasty habbit of behaving BADLY under pressure. It also oxidizes thing, and given that shocks get hot, they'll oxidize quickly. The other problem is that after Nitrogen, CO2, and O2, our atmosphere contains some lighter (read smaller) elements as well. And those have a wonderfull habbit of leaking past seals, or even straight through the metal!

Nitrogen is available.. but why bother? Your forkseals aren't perfect, and you will need to top up fairly regularly. The real solution is to have your forks at, or nearly at atmospheric most of the time. Short of the gas charged ohlins units you see on motogp bikes, every modern fork runs at atmospheric pressure untill you put a load on it.

[Road_Clam]

erm.. where did you get that information?

They use straight nitrogen in shocks becasue oxygen has this nasty habbit of behaving BADLY under pressure. It also oxidizes thing, and given that shocks get hot, they'll oxidize quickly. The other problem is that after Nitrogen, CO2, and O2, our atmosphere contains some lighter (read smaller) elements as well. And those have a wonderfull habbit of leaking past seals, or even straight through the metal!

Nitrogen is available.. but why bother? Your forkseals aren't perfect, and you will need to top up fairly regularly. The real solution is to have your forks at, or nearly at atmospheric most of the time. Short of the gas charged ohlins units you see on motogp bikes, every modern fork runs at atmospheric pressure untill you put a load on it.

Not quite sure what you mean by "behaving badly", but air, when compressed, heats up, and expands (pressure rises). Nitrogen is far more stable when compressed, and the pressure remains far more consistant. NASCAR teams uses nitrogen in their cup car tires for just this reason.

[ScottMc1100L]

We have been using nitrogen in struts and aircraft tires in the airline business for decades. Nitrogen is an inert gas and in tires is great to fight corrosion to wheels and also to fight corrosion inside nitrogen/oil struts, i.e. BIG shocks. I would'nt be afraid to put it in your struts and tires if it is available to you.

Around here any how, Costco Wholesale Club uses it in all new tires you buy from them. I like the idea aboout helping against corrosion but wonder how much of a difference it really makes. Then, down the road & you need a shot of "air", then what? got to go all the way back to Costco, wait in line etc.etc.? Not really worth it.

I like this solution for the forks:

Completely pointless.

Besides, using air (or nitrogen) pressure in forks is a bad idea in the first place. Install good aftermarket fork springs (like Progressive) and experiment with fork oil weight and preload spacer length. Preload spacers are far more reliable, consistent, and less stressful to the fork seals than air pressure.

Makes sense to me...

[morthrane]

In the ultra tech that is racing, nitrogen charged forks are pretty standard stuff, but you're talking about $10,000 roadracing forks. Not exactly the kind of thing you'll see on bikes like these