oil change front forks

[Big Al]

hi all, been fiddling with me bike and wanted to know if you have to remove the forks JUST TO CHANGE THE OIL or if it can be sucked out the top using syringe/pipe etc. Have got no leaks from the seals and all working ok, but, bike is 17yrs old now and oil has probably never been changed and i'm a big lad at 6'1" and 84kg (yes i can fit on me zx no probs) so thought would be in my best interest to change it. Any advice will be much appreciated, cheers.

[edl]

hi, best to take em out to drain as even sticking em upside down takes bout 15mins for them to drain completely

[Big Al]

thanks for the advice edl. Will get busy once it warms up a bit. My garage is like an ice box at the moment and i'm sure the fork oil is like treacle right now. Any ideas on best / most used makeof oil to put back in. will stick with oem weight but don't know best brand. Using the bike for mainly road with the odd track day thrown in. Cheers. HAPPY CHRISTMAS

[edl]

yeah my garage is too cold to work in for long, use 7.5w oil, putoline im sure others do but theres is very good . because of the weak internals in the forks it's not really beneficial to use heavier oil, a cheap and reasonable fix would to stick some hagon springs in bout £65, and 7.5 oil and play around with the air gap to suit your riding,dont get pulled into the needing complete fork rebuild with k-tech or any other of the suspension specialist's it really isn't worth it, not for the occasional trackday. most riders seem to become obsessed with making there bike go faster and handle better but have nowhere near the ability to get the best out of a standard setup, but if you suspension is old and shagged then it's upto your budget, but we aint gonna make a 20 yr old design handle like 2010 bike!
happy x-mas to all