Caring for my stanchions

lukas125

Recently bought a new hardtail to get back into mountain biking after a few years off. After a bad experience with a past bike, I'm keen to keep this one in good condition.

When my previous bike was fairly new, I took it out one day and found that the silver finish on the stanchions had blistered and corroded in lots of small patches. I was quite naive and I assume this happened because I left it in the garage after a previous ride with water droplets on the forks.

Obviously that pretty much wrote off a decent set of forks, and I'm paranoid now about the same thing happening again. I have been careful to dry the stanchions with a towel after each ride on my new bike, but is this the best way to care for them? Will I be wiping away important lubricant too?

Just wondering what other people do on a routine basis to keep forks in good order?

cheers

CitizenLee

I'd hazard a guess your old forks were cheap and cheerful with a chromo finish? Most modern / half decent forks shouldn't corrode like that, although they obviously still wear over time.

Personally I just wipe off any mud or ming with a cloth and then once in a while spray Fork Juice on them. As long as the top dust seals are clean and free of grit etc then the inner oil seals should keep them as lubed as they need to be.

grenw

CitizenLee wrote:

Personally I just wipe off any mud or ming with a cloth and then once in a while spray Fork Juice on them.

Same here. Careful not to scratch them and all should be fine

lukas125

Right, fork juice ordered.

The old forks were Rock Shox Tora, so not particularly cheap. I think it was after a winter ride so maybe I picked up some salt from the road. Bike then sat in cold damp garage for a week... corroded stanchions. I was gutted, no way back from damage like that i think

rockmonkeysc

Keep them clean and clean the seals. Just a little fork juice, too much will attract dirt. Every few months its a good idea to change seals and lower oil.