Advice re worn out Rockshox Recon air forks

Londonscottish

Hi all,

I've spent two years commuting on a Trek Cobia 29er which I bought it nearly new just over two years ago. It's subjected to an all year round commute across London and I do 1500-2000 miles a year.

It has a hard life and gets pretty minimal attention tbc. Washed occasionally, lubed once in a while. Chucked into the LBS for a service a year ago.

Recently I noticed a bit of stiction in the forks/lack of rebound. Today I was out with my kids mucking about and had a closer look. I started varying the preload between 60 ps and 150psi and turning the preload on and off to see what happened and have come to the conclusion that at the very least the seals are shagged - at lower PSI they just sagged - even when locked out. Also the LH stantion has some pitting.

I assume that at the very least they need a strip down, clean, lube and a replacement of the various seals. I see kits online for £15/side.

Q1 - Is it all relatively straightforward?
Q2 - How much would an LBS charge to do a fork service?
Q3 - Do pitted stantions mean that are dying and I should just replace/upgrade?

Thanks

cooldad

They will sag at low psi, even with lockout on, as it doesn't lock anything up, just increase the compression damping.

Seals are an easy half hour job - read the tech docs on the RS website. A little pitting probably won't make too much difference unless they are losing air.

JGTR

I've just carried out a lower leg service on my Rebas (similar fork?) and it's pretty simple. I had sticion so replaced with low friction seals and made sure it was fully lubed. Stripped, cleaned and relubed the airsprung although yours may need a refurb kit (o-rings etc) if it's done that much mileage.

Best advice is to Google for service guides so you can see exactly what's involved.

Londonscottish

cooldad wrote:

They will sag at low psi, even with lockout on, as it doesn't lock anything up, just increase the compression damping.

Seals are an easy half hour job - read the tech docs on the RS website. A little pitting probably won't make too much difference unless they are losing air.

OK ta - in that case the (excess) sag is probably explained by lack of lube and therefore stiction.

(when they were new I tried running them at various pressures and they didn't drop as far as they do now. or rather they probablr dropped but then the return srpind has less resistance and would push them back up)

Londonscottish

JGTR wrote:

I've just carried out a lower leg service on my Rebas (similar fork?) and it's pretty simple. I had sticion so replaced with low friction seals and made sure it was fully lubed. Stripped, cleaned and relubed the airsprung although yours may need a refurb kit (o-rings etc) if it's done that much mileage.

Best advice is to Google for service guides so you can see exactly what's involved.

Thanks. Yes it basically is Reba with some minor changes.

Where did you get your seals?

Yes, a full refurb is probably a good idea given the hammering they#ve had

JGTR

Londonscottish wrote:

JGTR wrote:

I've just carried out a lower leg service on my Rebas (similar fork?) and it's pretty simple. I had sticion so replaced with low friction seals and made sure it was fully lubed. Stripped, cleaned and relubed the airsprung although yours may need a refurb kit (o-rings etc) if it's done that much mileage.

Best advice is to Google for service guides so you can see exactly what's involved.

Thanks. Yes it basically is Reba with some minor changes.

Where did you get your seals?

Yes, a full refurb is probably a good idea given the hammering they#ve had

Got mine from TF Tuned - cost me £40 all in with fork seals, fork seal grease, grease for airsprung, fork oil and replacement crush washers. I went for updated fork seals (low friction) and although I could of got parts cheaper they were so helpful and made sure I had everything I needed so less hassle overall. A small section of 32mm waste pipe make a great tool to fit fork seals.


I've also had problem with not enough sag on my 29" Rebas. Fork service helped but forks still need quite a lot of pressure to stop them bottoming out which means a reasonably solid fork. I've just purchased some bottomless tokens which should allow me to run lower a pressure without the risk of it bottoming out, which should mean a smoother ride and better small bump shock absorption.

rockmonkeysc

Londonscottish wrote:

cooldad wrote:

They will sag at low psi, even with lockout on, as it doesn't lock anything up, just increase the compression damping.

Seals are an easy half hour job - read the tech docs on the RS website. A little pitting probably won't make too much difference unless they are losing air.

OK ta - in that case the (excess) sag is probably explained by lack of lube and therefore stiction.

(when they were new I tried running them at various pressures and they didn't drop as far as they do now. or rather they probablr dropped but then the return srpind has less resistance and would push them back up)

Excess sag is due to not having enough air pressure.