Rear shock not compressing. Carrera Banshee.

maxams

Hello, I bought a bike recently, it is a hardly used carrera banshee. It has front and rear shocks but the rear seems to not want to move. Well it moves about an inch and that only. It has air in it as I put some in but no luck.
Any one want to share some information on how I can get it to compress fully.
Thanks

Picture

The Rookie

Which Banshee, does it have lockout? Is it locked out?

Let the air out, does it move, if not, unbolt one end of the shock, if it still doesn't move it's the bearings!

Do you have too much air in it?

maxams

This is the exact shock which is on my bike http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SR-Suntour-Ra ... 53ed9dafa4.

Actually, there is a rotation disk which is blue on the top of the suspension which you can move, not sure what it does but doesn't make a differance if you turn it.
I am currently out and will re-post when I am home and can look at the shock.

The Rookie

That disc is almost certainly a lockout.... try it at both extremes (noting that a shock lockout rarely actually locks the shock solid...)

maxams

The Beginner wrote:

That disc is almost certainly a lockout.... try it at both extremes (noting that a shock lockout rarely actually locks the shock solid...)

Ok, but I had a mess around with it earlier and it was the same practically, when I turned it all the way clockwise and anti-clockwise. It just moves about an inch and that only.

allthegearnoidea

how much air psi is in the can?? possible Far too much??
how mucheffort is required to get it to move??

97th choice

^^^^^this

Let all the air out.

Did you use a shock pump to put air in?

maxams

Ok, I let all the air out and the guy at my local bike shop used a shock pump to put air in and when I let all the air out it moved down an inch, I was told from a previous post if that doesn't work undo one end of the shock and try to move it, I did that and it was impossible to move, i moved the disk around and that didn't make a differance.
I am pretty sure there is something wrong with it but what is wrong with it and how would I fix it ?

cooldad

The beginner meant undo the shock, and if the chainstays/swingarm doesn't move it's bearings, not to try and compress the shock.
Not sure how far the shock will compress - might just be an inch or so. If you let the air out does ths suspension drop fully?

And I would get a shock pump - you need one.

maxams

cooldad wrote:

The beginner meant undo the shock, and if the chainstays/swingarm doesn't move it's bearings, not to try and compress the shock.
Not sure how far the shock will compress - might just be an inch or so. If you let the air out does ths suspension drop fully?

And I would get a shock pump - you need one.

Oh, Ok, yes the swing arm moves fine, it fell as soon as I moved the shock.
When I let the air out of the shock it moved down about an inch. I know the shock is supposed to have more travel than an inch, it would be useless if the travel was an inch.

The Rookie

When you compress the shock the residual air will increase in pressure until it stops movement, you need to get your head around how it works.......

The shock is a 50mm travel on the Banshee, the leverage ratio will mean that gives the full rear wheel travel so 1" isn't useless but clearly isn't right.

If the rear is moving freely without the shock, then refit it, and lean on the saddle while letting air out and see what travel you then get between full extended and full compressed, it's sounding to me like it's fine and just was set up wrong....make sure you have the lockout off!