by Old Dude » Sat Jun 04, 2011 12:06 pm
welcome to the CRFsOnly family.
The 230 suspension has been discussed at length, regretably not as much on this site as others, and sadly there is no simple fix. Yes adding a little more oil will help with bottoming. Increasing the wt of the oil (thicker oil) will also help. BBR HD springs are also available. BUT when you goof with compression (with oil and springs) you also change rebound. Fine tuning compression and rebound on these forks is a nightmare. The only real fix is to swap the forks for better forks or rebuild them with a system that addresses both their poor dampening and compression. .
I did a fork swap CR250 USD (upside down) forks. An outstanding upgrade but expensive and not as simple as it sounds. Some have swapped the 230 forks for CR85 of CRF150F. This option is also relatively pricey but a big improvement. XR250 forks, similar to the 230 conventional fork configuration, have also been swapped with good result but availability can be an issue. RaceTech makes a fork rebuild kit for the 230 that has been given excellent reviews. Called Emulators, they address all aspects of the 230s OEM poor performance and they are reasonably priced for the improved fork performance.
Know that when you fix the forks you magnify the weak rear shock performance. I opted for the expensive Works Performance fully adjustable unit. Loved it. Others have had John Hliebo revalve their 230 shock and love it. The cost is reported to be about $200.00 compared to $500.00 for the Works.
Alot depends on how much money you want/have to spend and what type of riding you do. Based on my research it appears that the RaceTech Emulators and the Hliebo rear shock rebuild is the best cost to benefit option. Good luck and again welcome aboard.
O.D.