I can not find in the manual for the Terra what sort of oil and the amount in ml. it will be in the front fork legs. Where can I find it?
The word I got from the distributor was to use the distance from the bottom of the cap threads to the oil surface with the forks fully compressed and use about 100mm. The springs are in the way so you need to make something like a flat "T" piece to measure down the side of them. 5 weight FORK oil ( viscosity of fork oil is measured differently from other oils including transmission fluid, so get FORK oil) Left and right fork legs work differently . Check this forum I posted which leg did what, but I have worked on a few forks since so forgot which was which. Left I think was compression and some rebound, right was rebound only. This allows you to tune you compression damping separately from the rebound by varying oil viscosities. There is also some pics of how to make a spring seat so you can work on the forks more easily.
Thank you very much for the answer. Strange that there are nothing in the manual about the oil and the oil level.
From the Race-tech website for the Terra: 0.7 spring rate on the forks and 0.77 is the max they can make. Fork oil level 130mm, 5 wt, spring preload 7mm. They make some valve kits. Running their spring rate calculator suggests 0.5 for me.
Terry at Shock Treatment replaced my valves with Racetech Gold. No other changes. Forks are now an improvement on what was not too bad from factory. All in my opinion....
IME it's always worth getting the suspenders tuned if you push the bike at all. Match them to your load, roads and riding style. Many riders don't even adjust the sag when that's possible, and then load up the rear and turn the bike into a disaster waiting to happen. In Melb I use ProMecha. Peter Clements is one cluey guy plus you'll get a lecture for free.
I don't know much about suspension but have noted the following with the Strada: - it's well setup for road riding - firm, not too harsh, seems well balanced fore and aft. - it works well for flowing relatively smooth gravel roads. - on lumpy and corrugated terrain it seems too stiff but at the same time prone to bottoming out when getting too enthusiastic. What is the likely cause and solution? I assume a softer spring will only make it more prone to bottoming out. Is changing the damping rate the best approach to reducing suspension chatter and bounce? Is assume the Strada and Terra suspension setup/damping/spring rate are identical? Any information to confirm this one way or another? Ziggy, I'll have to check out ProMecha as I'm Melbourne based too.
Re model differences it's hard to find the data for the Strada. The fork spring rate feels distinctly higher than my Terra but then I can't be sure the Terra is stock.
At 76 kg I find it distinctly firmer than necessary. There may be a Strada/Terra difference. Recently rode a Nuda. Similar deal - firm, harsh on corro.