how to tell if a suspension fork has been taken apart

naveed.ausaf

Hi Folks,

I gave my mountain bike along with a brand new Fox RL 32 suspension fork to Evans Cycles to swap my bike's stock fork with it. After a week of generally not being kept up-to-date with what was going on with the fork swap and hearing several different stories, I found out today that my new fork had been sent from one workshop to another for servicing!

Later today, I was told that it in fact had not been sent to be serviced and was "under the bench" the whole time.

I have two questions here:

1. How can I tell whether or not my new fork has been taken apart (or serviced)?

2. My bike has a 1.5'' head-tube but only a 1,1/8'' fork with probably a 1,1/8'' stem. The new fork however is 1.5''. After being told several times that they were waiting for a Star-nut to change the fork, I was informed that I needed a new headset and a new stem. Does this sound reasonable to you guys or am I being taken for a ride here?

Many Thanks,

Naveed

supersonic

What was the reason you sent it back for?

naveed.ausaf

I wanted the bike serviced and the existing fork replaced with the new one. Haven't got the bike back yet.

After hearing so many different stories from them, I am not sure which one is true. The last thing I heard was that the stem and the headset both needed replacing. Do you think this could be true? (I don't know much about forks unfortunately)

Also, does it matter that my fork has been serviced (if it has indeed been serviced)?

supersonic

You ordered and bought a new fork?

ilovedirt

Yes, you will need a new headset and stem.
Having it serviced is a good thing, and no you can't really tell.

naveed.ausaf

yes. I had ordered and bough a new fork. This I handed to Evans Cycles along with my bike so that they could take out my old fork and put in the new one. They instead have "serviced" my new fork, still not put it in and have finally said that they need me to buy a new headset and stem. (please see the specs of my fork/headtube in my original post)

thistle_

If you've had a free (but unnecessary) service of your new fork then as long as it's done properly it won't be a problem. If it's just a lower leg service, it shouldn't affect the Fox warranty. Might be worth checking that having it done by anyone other than Mojo doesn't invalidate it, but that shouldn't be the case.

It will be difficult to tell if they've been dismantled and serviced unless they've made a balls up of it. Only tell tales I can think of would be if any of the paint around circlips, bolts or nuts is scratched slightly where they've had sockets/pliers on them. They might also come back quite oily if they didn't clean them up afterwards, presumably if they were brand new the stanchions were nice and dry when you handed them over.

You're probably worrying about nothing.

naveed.ausaf

Thanks a lot for your replies. One more question: My bike has a 1.5'' headtube but a 1,1/8'' fork and probably a 1,1/8'' stem. Do you think that in order to put a new 1.5'' fork in, they need to put in a new headset and a new stem?

Many Thanks

supersonic

Yes, they have to. It seems you have ordered the wrong type of fork for your existing bike - but they should know that, and quote you the extra.

thistle_

naveed.ausaf wrote:

Thanks a lot for your replies. One more question: My bike has a 1.5'' headtube but a 1,1/8'' fork and probably a 1,1/8'' stem. Do you think that in order to put a new 1.5'' fork in, they need to put in a new headset and a new stem?

Yes.

The headset in your bike now will fit a 1 1/8 steerer. If you put a bigger steerer in, it needs to be wider. Similarly the clamp on the stem is only 1 1/8 wide at the moment.

cooldad

supersonic wrote:

Yes, they have to. It seems you have ordered the wrong type of fork for your existing bike - but they should know that, and quote you the extra.

From reading what he said, he didn't buy the new forks from them, just took them with the bike to have them fitted.

rockmonkeysc

Having new forks serviced is no bad thing. If you buy from TF Tuned they service new forks.
I had my six week old Boxxers serviced today, they feel much smoother at the start of the stroke now.