Suspension Fork Servicing Intervals

wheezee

I recently had my three yr old Reba Race forks serviced, after they packed in (half the travel left, and bottomed out with a clonk).

The bill came to £128 inc. carriage to and from the menders, and this for a pair of forks that cost less than £400. The manual seems to suggest 100hrs riding between full services, but I wonder how much use most of us get out of our forks before they're in need of an overhaul?

Just to complete the picture, I'm a lightweight fair-weather off-roader. I'll consider going rigid, when the forks need servicing a second time.

.blitz

The Tora Solo Airs on my Rize never got any major attention in two years, and last year they went on to a Chucker winter hack bike. Apart from a couple of weeks during January, they were used off-road 2 or three times a week, 20-25 miles and they're still OK. There's a bit of play in the bushes but the suspension action is fine, no leaks or weird behaviour.

Rev Teams on the Rize have similarly received zero attention in 12 months ~2000 off-road miles. All I do is keep the stanchions clean and apply a little lube now and then.

peter413

My 32 Floats had their first service the other week since I have had them last May and ride in all weathers. Only serviced them because the seals were getting a bit worn (letting a little bit to much oil past the seals) so decided to get a full service but they didn't need it, the oil was perfect inside so just a seal change needed.

Fox's seem to have a bad rep to do with servicing but I really can't see why TBH, better than the Northwind's Rev's which blew up on the same ride my floats started spewing oil

Servicing doesn't have to be expensive. If your LBS does fork services it does wonders to get friendly with them (I was quoted under 60 quid for the full service but only got charged 20 since only the seals needed done)

wheezee

Well, I took them to my friendly LBS, but they said they either send them back to the manufacturer or TF Tune, or whatever they're called. I took this to indicate it was a specialist job. I saw the recent BR Reba service article, but that only deals with the uppers, as I understand it (a 50 hour partial service).

I have to say the forks are an excellent piece of kit, but in my case they're turning out to be quite expensive. Sounds like I may have been unlucky, though, as they've always been well looked after, and haven't had the workload that others have suffered.

cooldad

Fork seal kit around £25 and DIY

wheezee

Yep, that's a good solution, but it begs the question; if it's possible for home mechanics, why won't professional bike mechanics touch them?

But my main question is how long/far between services for you?

turboslave

I have to agree with wheeze, why dont LBS want to service forks these day's, surely its worth taking on the extra workload in the shop rather than sending customers away, I have some old RS Judy C which need an oil/spring change but are working fine, tried all the LBS and no they will send them away, If I was more compedent as a mechanic I would have a go myself as it looks a pretty straight forward job, thing that puts me off is purchasing the tools and oils required will cost as much as a service.

Even the LBS's say how easy it is to do yourself but they wont have a go :roll:

Do bike shop mechanics really fix things these days or is it all about just fitting new replacement parts.

Dave

Anonymous

Do them when they need them.

My Recons (solo air) on the front have been going for 2 years so far and still feel fine. Rear shock went the other week so just got the seal kit and serviced it myself. Though I get the impression front air shocks are more complicated. Given the cost of servicing I'll probably DIY them too when they come to it.

Keep them clean and check the wiper seals and they should last loads more than the suggested intervals. I like the tip about using some silicone spray or fork oil on the stanchions, pump the shock to drive dirt out and wipe clean. Been trying that and it does seem to work.

GHill

£128 for the servicing of a fork over three years doesn't sound awful, although probably a bit of a shock to get it in one go.

It's worth learning a bit about simple servicing, a lot of forks are fairly simple to change seals and oil - meaning you'll only need a big service if something goes wrong.

The big bill is essentially paying for the expertise of the technician, they can easily spot problems that many of us would miss.

wheezee

deadkenny wrote:

I like the tip about using some silicone spray or fork oil on the stanchions, pump the shock to drive dirt out and wipe clean. Been trying that and it does seem to work.

I do this too, fairly regularly, as it's easy. I use Finish Line Dry.

GHill wrote:

The big bill is essentially paying for the expertise of the technician, they can easily spot problems that many of us would miss.

They also replace nearly all the seals, clips, nuts and bolts, as it's "good practice". But nevertheless...

FBM.BMX

turboslave wrote:

Do bike shop mechanics really fix things these days or is it all about just fitting new replacement parts.

A simple oil and seal change shouldn't be a problem for a LBS. If it is as straight forward as that.

But then adding in any small seals, bolts, crush washers etc along the way, keeping them in stock for the many brands/variations, becomes a bit of a logistical nightmare. Sourcing these small parts on demand costs carriage.

For the quickest, simplest turnaround, accounting for any little barriers along the way, it's always best to go for TF tuned, mojo, etc. they will have everything in stock, to hand, be a lot more knowledgeable than 99.9% of shop mechannics.

Also the amount of times i've had a customer in, requesting a simple seal/oil change, then actually finding a lot more problems when you first inspect the forks, is ridiculous.

wheezee

Well that's a good answer to the Bike Shop question.

But getting back to my original question, is it possible that the forks will need servicing after x amount of time, even if they haven't been used? I heard that the oil can harden over time, and won't travel through the mechanism, stopping the fork from working properly (forgive my ignorance of how these things actually operate).

Three years and thousands of miles, sounds better than 100 hours riding.