RockShox revelation warranty problem, stanchion wear

LukeSheffield

Hi

I have been having a warranty nightmare with some Rock Shox revelations, after 8months of moderate use the right stanchion has worn through the coating down to the alloy below. So I have had to pay £198 to get new uppers, after only 8 months.

I sent them back to cyclesports UK, who were very helpful in getting them checked by a rock Shox service engineer. The 'engineer' said they cannot replace the uppers under warranty as they haven’t been well serviced enough. The RS engineer said the oil inside the damper and U-turn were too dirty and so they won’t replace for free! I had completely cleaned out the lowers and replaced the oil once (it wasn’t too dirty), but I didn’t change the stuff inside the U-turn or damper as they were working fine and my plan was to do a full strip down yearly. I always clean around the the stanchion / seal after each ride after having some bad experiences with previous forks.

I complained saying the oil in the damper / u-turn should be separate to that in the lowers, which have a direct effect on stanchion wear! but the 'engineer' said the oil mixes between the two chambers, which is ridiculous as the oil in the lowers is supposed to be 15wt compared to 5wt inside the damper / u-turn!!! So I have had to pay £198 for new uppers.

I normally use the forks for one ride of about 3hours each week, but haven’t been out so much after the last few months due to the snow. I think this is a ridiculous service requirement and the product has clearly failed before it should have done.

My brother and mates have got Pikes, some are four years old and are still working fine with very lax servicing. One set had an air leak but was fixed with a new o-ring. I have some Marzocchi Z150s bought in 2004, these have been used for 5 years (more intensively than the revelations as I was able to get out more often as a student), they had two seal changes and 4 oil changes and are still going strong.... I’m back using them.... I had some Manitou blacks in 2003, they had wear just before a year and they were a nightmare to get replaced, it cost £90 that time.... not bought Manitou since.

The stanchion wear is clearly a failure of the product (seals / stanchion coating / original factory oil bath level) and I shouldn't need to service the forks after every 4 rides!! And for forks that cost over £500 I think this is very poor.... I will complain to rock Shox...

Sorry for the essay, quite annoyed.....

Has anyone had similar experiences / got better results.... Is it worth complaining to Rock Shox / the UK importer??? Thanks for any help.

supersonic

The RS engineer is certainly wrong about how the oil mixes!

Very odd they have worn through, these are usually am RS strong point. You say you lifted the seals and cleaned, and lubed the foam wiper?

Problem here is you have accepted what they have said in essence by buying the new part, though I guess you wanted to go out riding asap.

To me it does seem premature.

Johnny Napalm

My mate had the exact same problem with Revelations last year. After five months use he had the same issues. He really looks after all his bikes, so I know it's not through neglect.

The response he got from RS was that he'd been using them in wet, muddy weather (in the UK? Surely not!), and they advised that he buy new forks. After constantly hitting a brick wall, he did buy new forks, but not Rockshox, as he has vowed never to touch that brand again after such poor after-sales service.

I've had three sets of RS forks, and never had an issue, but I would expect a better response than that should any such problem arise.

LukeSheffield

I did have quite a discussion with the blokes at cyclesports before giving up, but each time I emailed I just got another technical we know everything reply..... They even said the RS engineer has experience with 12,000 forks and so 'knows all'.....

The first time I removed the lowers, after about 4 months I noticed the foam ring on the right hand side was partially caught in behind the seal and there was very little oil in the leg. However, when I opened the fork before sending it back, the oil level was fine in each leg. I can’t prove any of this, I just remedied at the time and though nothing of it.....

I have started putting a little oil on each leg after cleaning and cycling the forks to remove any remaining dirt from the wipers, as recommended on the tftuned website.... hopefully this will help my forks last longer???

supersonic

Yes, this is what I do.

Certainly sounds like a bad attitude from RS, and a pity that the shop has to do what they say really or will be out of pocket.

LukeSheffield

Perhaps the fork manual should be a little more honest.... ‘only ride these forks in the dusty dry mountains of California.... the warranty will not cover you if you ride in the UK (especially the peak district)........’

I’m just hoping Marzocchi have fixed all their recent problems as I will be going back to them.....

Northwind

My Revs have lasted a heck of a lot longer than that, not so much as a mark on the stanchions, and they get used in all sorts of horrible conditions. I've completely ignored the serivicing recommendations, I just wipe them down and "bump clean"- lube the stanchions, bump, clean.

It does strike me that what would cause that would be dirt under the seals, no?

LukeSheffield

Thats what I thought, I cleaned them out after the last service even got some isopropyl alcohol to do it properly (just used to lob an old rag on a dowel into my marz's). So the dirt must have got in between but simple cleaning of the stanchion obviously wasnt enough. As i said many of my mates / brother run pike air's which are basically the same fork and havent had issues with stanchion wear, I know my brorther rarely cleans the bike and has never opened the forks in well over two years...... not sure what I should advise.... perhaps not knowing / not servicing at all is better!

JamesBrckmn

supersonic, what do you mean by lifting the seals to clean them? i have RS recon race 09's, and normally just lube/pump/wipe off ring of dirt, but should you take off the little circular spring that goes around the seals to get all the dirt out?

ESC

Luke I'd be on the phone to Fisher Outdoors screaming those magical words "unfit for purpose" which is basically what they are with the limited amount of use yours have had, as for dry dusty conditions only that's crap as I've already sent two pairs of 2010 revelations back this year and it's dry and dusty here in Portugal (mostly!!!).

bomberesque

the oil thing sounds like nonsense but I'm kind-a surprised that they bothered tbh. I looked this up recently because I was seeing a lot of "OMGWTF you have to service fox forks every 2 days, that's it I'm buying RS" kind of comments. I posted the results here

Pertinent to your situation, RS require that the dust seals be cleaned and lubed every ride. Not sure if this implies that the seals should be lifted or not.

they also list Stantions as a Wear and Tear part not covered by warranty, which struck me as very harsh indeed, and perhaps so harsh that they'd sooner give you a song and dance about mixing oils than pull out the big guns.

I'd write to RS. Include all correspondence, especially the spurious oil mixing argument. Keep it polite but say you're confused by the explanation as it seems not to be correct and you feel that you've been short changed on a part which normally seems to be one of RS's strengths. Nothing to lose. Sounds like one of their engineers was on an excuse rampage and once he'd rejected the claim would not go back on it.

bike-a-swan

I'm intrigued- should 24hr soloists and aouth downs double riders now start pulling over for a service halfway through

bomberesque

bike-a-swan wrote:

I'm intrigued- should 24hr soloists and aouth downs double riders now start pulling over for a service halfway through

only if they stop.
ofc fully documented service history only, signed service papers or it didn't happen

bike-a-swan

of course the current sdd record holder probably would have time for a full service..