I would like to change the fork oil in my 98 techno, how easy is it to do this?

Andy.

It`s just removing the forks. Remember to loosen the top triple clamp first and then loosen the top fork caps before you remove them. Make sure the forks are drained completely. It is good also to flush them to get all the crud out. The hard part is to get the correct amount back in. There was another post about this I`ll try to find for you.

Beta Techno`s also ran the Paoli`s from `96-`99. Straight out of the Paoli service manual. 360cc per leg, both 5wt. That is with a complete rebuild.(dry) Measurements were with the forks collapsed no spring. Left fork air gap 125mm and 70mm on the right.

I think the Techno has drain screws on them, if you are not changing seals you don't even have to remove the wheel let alone the fork

Like mentioned, loosen the top clamp before you try to remove the cap

You have to have the forks off to correctly set the levels. You are right about the drain screws, but if you want the forks to work properly they need to be drained, flushed, and pumped of all air to be set correctly.

Yes mine has drain bolts at the bottom of the fork legs, do I just drain them and undo the tops and refill with the required amount of oil. What difference would 10 wt oil make as they seem really soft to me?

Trials suspension is soft so you can maintain traction. You would have to be over 250 lbs to need 10wt and then you would need to do something with the rear spring. Here is the right fork. The left is similar, just remove the spring for proper measurement.

http://www.shercousa.com/pdfs/Sherco_Fork_Oil_Change.pdf

I have now drained the forks and taken the parts out of each leg and cleaned out the insides. I have put everything back together and refilled each leg with 360ml of 5wt oil screwed the caps back on and bounced the forks up and down as it says in the manual, it then says to unsrew the right hand cap to release the trapped air. I have done this but couldn't hear any air coming out.

Am I doing something wrong!

Andy.

I have not heard of removing the cap again. The right fork the most important thing is you pumped all the air out of the bottom using the rod. You can see this in the Sherco link above.

I have taken the right hand fork leg off today and copied what the Italian link showed and reassembled the bike and it feels so much better. I think the old oil wasn't doing its job as it feels like I have proper damping at the front now.

Thanks for the advice.

Andy.

No problem, I`m waiting for my shop to warm-up to do my son`s forks. I just need some ambition!

I have now drained the forks and taken the parts out of each leg and cleaned out the insides. I have put everything back together and refilled each leg with 360ml of 5wt oil screwed the caps back on and bounced the forks up and down as it says in the manual, it then says to unsrew the right hand cap to release the trapped air. I have done this but couldn't hear any air coming out.

Am I doing something wrong!

Andy.

Seals are more like a one way valve, they keep the oil in the fork but they are not real good at keeping stuff out so after a while they tend to suck air in and a slight amount of air pressure develops, it's like adding spring preload

So you bleed the pressure off

I don think it's much of a deal on a trials bike but dirt bikes it's pretty important, old bikes had Schrader valves on the caps, you can buy bleeders for new dirt bike forks, some have a little screw