Rokshok Toras not performing

Yellow wing

I have a set of these on my Spesh FSR XC. The bike is just over a year old and to be fair they are no better or worse than the day I bought it. I've done a few hundred miles on the bike and was hoping they would loosen up with use. Not so. As far as I am aware they have the standard rate spring fitted, but the forks just refuse to move smoothly. I have preload set to minimum, but still find the front of the bike bounces up and down rather than the fork moving over the bumps, unless it's a particularly big bastard. I have cleaned the stanchions with isopropyl alchohol as per the manual and tried coaxing some lube past the dust seals. This improves the stick-tion, but only temporarily. By comparison, the rear shock works very well and responds well to changes in setting and air pressure. I weigh about 13 stone, by the way.
Has any body else suffered similar problems, or am I the only unfortunate one?

I need to add that they are 302 coils, with preload, rebound and lock out adjustments. I have set the sag to around 35% of full movement

nicklouse

sounds like the spring is too soft and you do not have enough preload set.

Time for a service.

drewp2008

If its not going smoothly take it for a service or try to do it yourself. Also you cant really set the sag for forks like those ones, its preset by the spring.

My toras are pissing me off but just as theyre so damn heavy and crap.

beski

Have you tried adjusting the rebound?

supersonic

Sounds like needa strip, service, oil change and rebound damper setting up properly.

These are good forks.

toasty

Mine were roughly as described above Same bike too. The rebound worked fine on mine though.

Stiction was the biggest pain in the arse for me, absolutely no movement on small bumps. I'd never seen over about 70mm either, I'm 6'6" and can weight up to about 15 stone when geared up. That's one fearsome spring.

Took the mick a bit as the Avalanche 1.0 I bought recently came with Suntour X100 forks, no one would look twice given the brand. Smooth as butter, use all their travel, rebound (although not tweakable) was perfect for me, aluminium stanchions, magnesium uppers, lighter than a coil spring set of Recons (500-600g lighter than the Toras). :roll:

supersonic

Very odd! Wonder if there was a batch with dodgy bushings? My coil toras are as smooth as silk.

rob13

I find my Toras suffer from sticking too. Have done from out of the box and are still like it now. Might have to take them into the LBS to get them checked.

Yellow wing

So Toasty, did you get yours sorted, and if so, how? The rebound adjustmnent works ok, but after 30 years of riding motorbikes I'm used to something that works properly. I guess I'll strip 'em and go for a softer spring. The sag adjustment only needs about 1/2-1 turn to get right, which seems too little. If I put any more preload on the fork just gets stiffer. Unfortunately the shop that sold me the bike couldn't be less interested in sorting the problem, despite me going there and highlighting the problem at an early stage. Strip down it is......hmmmphhhh :roll:

supersonic

Preload sets the sag, and doesn't alter the overall spring rate - that remains unchanged. Minimal preload to get your required sag is ideal as the spring is placed under less stress.

What sag are you getting, and what is your weight? Can you not get the required rebound speed in the adjusters range?

EDIT: 13 stone and 35% sag. Seems like you need a heavier spring. Seems a touch too much sag, and winding on the preload won't help matters.

toasty

Nope, I gave up and put some Rebas on unfortunately (which were fantastic and I still have now).

Followed shortly by getting annoyed at the rear shock. Specialized use custom shock sizes to stop anyone using other brand shocks, they then try to charge people £300 for their Fox Triad upgrade. It's not a bad bike, a platform shock would have really improved it though, much like they fit on every other Specialized full sus they make. Grr. I sold it second hand on here and bought the Meta.

I'd already got the Stumpjumper as an XC bike, the FSR XC was too similar so I ended up with something with a bit more travel.


In all honesty I have no idea how much sag the Toras had for me, the stiction made it hard to tell. Most weight changes would do nothing, occationally jumping down/up 2cm. I put this down to "bedding in" when they were new, it never got any better though. The stanchions were sprayed and cleaned every ride with properStendec fork spray stuff. No forks I've ever had have acted like this either.

supersonic

Sounds like a dodgy pair then, a coil fork should always be smoother than aan air fork.

BTW I wouldn't use an aerosol spray on my fork, and not silicone either: teflon oil dripped on, or fork oil.

Yellow wing

Hi Supersonic, the sag seems in line with the manual and isn't really the area of concern. The issue is that the forks don't compress under normal loads. This also means that whatever rebound setting I use is academic because the forks need to compress to rebound. I'm a little bit mystified how you conclude that I need a heavier spring.

supersonic

Stock spring is for a 10-12stone rider, and ideal sag on an XC trail fork is 15-30%. 35% is too high in my opinion. But as you say, if the fork is not compressing to give full travel, then there is a problem elsewhere, probably too tight bushings or a problem with the damper. I would have them serviced, see how they feel.

Yellow wing

You're right, they do need looking at. I'm a bit pissed off cos the bike is still only a year old and I feel the shop should take responsibilty cos they have been crap since day 1. What is the regular service interval for a pair of forks?

supersonic

I agree, the shop should have had a look after the 'bedding' in period, especially if they were sticking in the travel. I have 3 Toras at the minute, all have been fine (well except the air cartridge that blew up ;-)).

I can't remember if the manual says after every 25 or 40 hours of riding. Also recommended that weekly a bit of lube added to the seal area, which it seems you are doing.

I'd get back to the shop and voice concerns again. It seems the fork is willing to move to start with, ie you get all that sag, then you get a compression spike which leads me to think now the damper is faulty.

Yellow wing

Hmmm, maybe I'll go back and stamp my muddy feet then. I'll keep you posted.

toasty

supersonic wrote:

BTW I wouldn't use an aerosol spray on my fork, and not silicone either: teflon oil dripped on, or fork oil.

I used to do that, oddly this stuff was specifically bought, recommended for getting rid of stiction and cleaning seals post ride. Prior to the Tora in question I was quite content with using Finish Line Dry with Teflon :P

http://www.stendec-works.com/products/oils.asp

It's literally what it's made for. It's not a high power aerosol either, no danger of blasting stuff into the seals, it just makes a thin covering. Squish the forks a few times and all the gunk gathers up. To it's credit it works very well and stops dirt resticking, it's also massively upped the lifespan on my Dry oil, hehe.

Yellow wing

I used the last of my dry lube on them too. Worked ok for a very short while.

supersonic

Toasty wrote:

supersonic wrote:

BTW I wouldn't use an aerosol spray on my fork, and not silicone either: teflon oil dripped on, or fork oil.

I used to do that, oddly this stuff was specifically bought, recommended for getting rid of stiction and cleaning seals post ride. Prior to the Tora in question I was quite content with using Finish Line Dry with Teflon :P

http://www.stendec-works.com/products/oils.asp

It's literally what it's made for. It's not a high power aerosol either, no danger of blasting stuff into the seals, it just makes a thin covering. Squish the forks a few times and all the gunk gathers up. To it's credit it works very well and stops dirt resticking, it's also massively upped the lifespan on my Dry oil, hehe.

I might try it! Maybe I am a little over cautious lol, classically trained mechanic here: I was taught not to do that lol. But experience counts, so if it works, then cool! Never say nay ;-)

toasty

I think the problem is aerosol generally means WD40 :P

Yellow wing

Woo Hoo! Got my forks sorted! Stripped them down and they were almost dry, nice one Rokshoks! I checked out the service manual and it seemed the felt washer was missing too. However, after speaking to a representive from Sram it would appear they don't need one anyway. So I reassembled them, greased the seals good and proper and put the recommended oil quantities in and Bingo. Work a treat now.