Are these forks worth servicing?

bobbydigital

So I bought a little project frame from ebay, it was listed with some fox forks, I think they are vanilla R but not too sure.

The seller said this about the forks "THE FORKS WILL BENEFIT FROM A SERVICE BUT ARE A GREAT BRAND AND WILL LAST FOR MANY RIDES IF LOOKED AFTER PROPERLY"

When I get them out of the box I see they are leaking, so rather than benefit from a service they actually do NEED a service and then upon closer inspection I see this on the rhs stanchion.






Are they at all worth servicing? I'm guessing not, but wanted to get some opinions before contacting the seller.
Also those scratches go round to the front of the fork, so they are on about 1/4 of the stanchion.

Thanks.

cooldad

Dead.

The Rookie

Are they worth servicing? Well if they were on my bike and the only ones I had then I would, but in this case they are clearly not as described (consumer rights act) and servicing is not going to make them a properly useable fork. Money back time.

muddytreker

They need an overhaul not a service.
Stanchion replacement £55, bushings £30, £25 seals plus
possible postage costs and labour,
internal clean and oil change, then they should be good to go.

Some Ebay listings for frames mention forks thrown in,
and may be solely for the frame but with extras thrown in,
these extras don't necessarily have to be perfect depending on the terms
of the listing.
Check the wording of the listing carefully for this kinda thing.

cooldad

Good luck finding a new CSU for £55, more like the thick end of £200.

The Rookie

You can get the stanchions replaced for £55 each, that is what he was indicating (and stated), not a CSU!

Although my brand new SID WC CSU was just £56......

Cheaper to buy a decent used pair rather than repair a knackered set.

muddytreker

"Good luck finding a new CSU for £55, more like the thick end of £200."

Here, have some good luck and keep the change from that £200 and buy some
reading glasses

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371080397668

cooldad

Well done hunting, I was using Mojo type pricing.

Assuming that is the right CSU. The part number is for 03-04 Talas and 05-06 Float 130s

Part number for Vanilla is 820-00-008 for 03-06, 820-00-047 for 07-08 Vanilla 140s

I'm no expert, so parts might be interchangeable, but then I doubt they'd have different part numbers.

muddytreker

I did originally refer to the stanchion being replaced, my point
there after was just to show as an example CSUs can be had cheaper.

As for the exact matching CSU, its a case of looking further
than just Mojo for a better price.

If your just looking online for a matching upper and lower,
then maybe your only reference to them matching up is the part number,
however, if you have a number of fox forks laying around, you
will find that some can be mixed and matched, though not all.
Obviously they have to be of the compatible size and suit the
travel, wheel size etc, bushings can have an effect and forget the warranty
in this instance.

Another cheaper alternative is to buy a 2nd hand fork Ebay and salvage the
necessary part needed.

cooldad

Whether any of that is worth the hassle for a set of old Vanillas is debatable. Assuming the CSU is even available cheap. As finding random cheap ones is a bit easier than finding the right cheap one.

There are companies that will just fit new stanchions, but again, they're not exactly top end forks, and plenty of decent second hand forks are available.

The Rookie

When you can get a pair of Reba's or SID's for about £70 in good useable condition........I'm sure there is an expression relating to good money after bad.

rockmonkeysc

They are toast. They'll need new stanchions and bushes as an absolute minimum. They've obviously not been looked after so there's a fair chance that other internals are dead as well. The Vanilla R was a fairly basic and crap fork when new so it's really not worth trying to save.

muddytreker

As a side note if all else fails, stick em on Ebay as spares and repair,
someone will want them for something, and provided your not
greedy they should sell.
Ive bought suss forks for parts for projects non bike related,
so they can have an after life use.

bobbydigital

I did the spares/repair on ebay.

They went for £50 + postage which I was pretty shocked about tbh, didn't expect anything for them. Done by auction, had about 30 watchers, and I agree you can just get a set of Reba, Sid, hoping for Reba's! for under £100, so that's what I'll do when I find some locally. So ended up after seller partial refund, paying £8 for a Kinesis xc pro frame, good times.

I sell a lot of bike stuff on there that's spares/repairs, I'm amazed at what people will pay to be honest.

The buyer said he will sort repair them himself so that's that I guess.

Cheers.

The Rookie

I was watching them, went for more than expected! Depends what they wanted them for, it can be a cost effective way to upgrade a damper. I sold my scuffed (not as bad as that) CSU for half that on their own.

bobbydigital

Guy wanted them for his ebike as an upgrade.

You can pretty much sale anything on there, I've sold a few leaking juicy 3's which went instantly, easy fix for people who can be bothered but it's often a can of worms.