The Perils Of Ebay Forks
pikeg123
Posts: 46
Hey All,
Just thought I'd share an experience of buying some new forks off ebay, a lovely set of Rockshox Totem's..
Advertised as excellent condition with minor wear I thought they looked great and indeed on opening the box on delivery day they certainly looked the part! However on the first ride, I pushed down on the fork and something definitely wasn't right, they were rock hard!
I opened the top cap to find a yellow spring installed, on looking up the info on the year etc it was the older Firm spring, so I went to TF Tuned and was told that Rockshox changed the spring colours a few years back and so got a newer Yellow Soft spring.. Much better! however the travel was still very notchy/sticky so a service was needed..
I got the materials and seals needed and today I did the job.. On removing the lowers, the spring side was bone dry, no oil at all and instead it was packed with thick sticky grease (even stained my hands red haha) and to make it worse, the sag marker/o-ring was actually down inside the seal along with mud and gunk!!
After a lot of swearing I managed to clean it all out and put fresh fluids etc in.. So tomorrow I'll take it for its first ride, fingers crossed its sorted.
So the moral of the story is, be careful on ebay! although the seller claimed they were perfect, there was a hidden surprise inside lol
New seals fitted
Here's what was found inside the fork seal
Finished and back on the bike
Just thought I'd share an experience of buying some new forks off ebay, a lovely set of Rockshox Totem's..
Advertised as excellent condition with minor wear I thought they looked great and indeed on opening the box on delivery day they certainly looked the part! However on the first ride, I pushed down on the fork and something definitely wasn't right, they were rock hard!
I opened the top cap to find a yellow spring installed, on looking up the info on the year etc it was the older Firm spring, so I went to TF Tuned and was told that Rockshox changed the spring colours a few years back and so got a newer Yellow Soft spring.. Much better! however the travel was still very notchy/sticky so a service was needed..
I got the materials and seals needed and today I did the job.. On removing the lowers, the spring side was bone dry, no oil at all and instead it was packed with thick sticky grease (even stained my hands red haha) and to make it worse, the sag marker/o-ring was actually down inside the seal along with mud and gunk!!
After a lot of swearing I managed to clean it all out and put fresh fluids etc in.. So tomorrow I'll take it for its first ride, fingers crossed its sorted.
So the moral of the story is, be careful on ebay! although the seller claimed they were perfect, there was a hidden surprise inside lol
New seals fitted
Here's what was found inside the fork seal
Finished and back on the bike
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Comments
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Very true, I think I just got away with it.. The uppers are nice and clean with no marks luckily. I was just amazed to find an o-ring down in the seals (under the dust seal and squished in the oil seal) so over time all the oil was pushed out I'm assuming. God knows when they were serviced last. Crazy
Tonight, on first impressions the forks feel a slight bit firmer as no there are no air/oil leaks.. So far, so good! haha0 -
eBay perils can happen in the other direction!
A friend of mine posted on the now defunct MBR Forum that he sold his top end forks on eBay and had been conned.
We had ridden in the Alps together and I had seen how much care and attention he lavished upon his suspension. In addition, his job required him to be scrupulously honest and to have his background checked. Any hint of dishonesty or trouble with the Police and he would have been sacked.
The buyer of the forks claimed that the forks were faulty and sent them back and got a refund. When my mate opened them up, they were a rusty broken travesty of what he had sold! The buyer had swapped the internals. There was nothing he could do.
The Forum strongly advised a visit to the buyer to kick the proverbial out of him. If he had done that, he risked being sacked from his job. He got nowhere with eBay and had to swallow the loss. He is a decent guy and we all felt bitter and twisted about it on his behalf.
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