3 year old Revelations could do with a service before Alps trip…TFT, DIY* or other?

*Never taken forks apart before but doesn’t look THAT hard to clean (or replace) seals, replace foam ring and put new oil in.

Loco Tuning. Sorted.

Key question is when is your alps trip 😆 Do you have time to try and DIY it, **** it up, then send them to Loco?

It’s not very hard, for a Rev… Basic service and fluid change very simple, seals change a wee bit more involved but still basically straightforward.

If you were the sort of person who, in practice, doesn’t find it THAT hard to service your own forks you’d have done it at some point in the last 3 years.

Send ’em away….

😉

Its piss easy far any competent mechanic.

DIY, just take it slow and give yourself plenty of time before you travel in case of any issues.

If you want to get rid of any uncertainty and know exactly where you stand then send them to me, I will absolutely, 100% **** them up for you.

All the best

are you happy riding something that you ‘fixed’ in the alps 😐

>>>>>Loco tuning

Okeydokey – given the general tone here and the various vids I’ve seen I’m gonna have a stab.
I’m assuming at this stage the foam rings and seals are fine.

All I need is grease and oil – people have mentioned getting non-bike specific versions for motorbikes/cars.
Can I get these from Halfords – what do people recommend? I’ve heard Silkolene/Castrol grease mentioned.
I have a DH booked a week Sat so want to do before this weekend in case a balls it up and have to get other bits/send away!

I’m assuming at this stage the foam rings and seals are fine

A safe assumption seeing as they’re only 5 times past the point when most people will change them.

If you’re going to go DIY, at least do the job and not the easy bit – you can tell yourself you serviced them, but it won’t make a difference when you suddenly introduce them to big mountains and more descending time per day than you usually do in a month and they shat themselves.

http://www.tftuned.com/rockshox-kits/c218

You’ll need 15wt fork oil for the lowers, probably 5wt fork oil if you’re doing the compression/rebound system and some fork butter. Check these with RS though as they can change slightly between models. Are you doing all the seals? CRC sell the oil and butter and should cost about 15 quid, internal seal kit will be extra, plus the wiper seal kit if you’re going the whole hog.

Internal seals on air forks are fairly easy just get a good seal pick to make it easier on yourself. Never done a wiper seal replacement, I’m sure there’s vids on youtube though.

Lowers and seals diy. When it comes to things like fox float bladder fluids etc i send them away, but for RS, easy. You really can’t mess it up if you use reasonable tools and get volumes of oil correct

There are videos on YouTube (some from SRAM) showing you how it’s done. However:

The “easy” bit is the lowers service. Basically you’re pulling the legs off, changing the seals, giving them a clean and putting it back together with a dash of lubricating oil. This is what most home mechanics do and is sort of like an interim service. You sometimes need to specific tools depending on the fork, such as a long socket or seal seating tool (you can do without but personally I wouldn’t).

If you haven’t had them serviced for a while you’ll probably need to service the air spring and damper units. The price from TF et al includes this. I’m sure someone will be along waving their willy saying they can do it by the trail side using a twig but there’s quite a high risk of ballsing it up and it benefits from having the right tools and nice clean work bench to sit at.

So I’d say do it yourself if you just want to do an interim service, if they’re three years without I’d post them off.

Yep – I was going to do a lower leg service.
They haven’t been a problem, ever – just noticed a bit of minor stiction lately but that’s more likely to be dry foam rings and old oil. Just feel an interim service without touching the air systems will help it.
If I get it done before a week Sat I’ll notice if they feel better or not on the day.

Cool. The home service kits off TF tuned for your fork would be worth a look. It is cheaper to buy the oil and grease in bulk but if you’re running a 3 year service interval it’s probably not worth it. Also if you get one of the packs you know you’ve got the right seals and fluids, and they usually throw in a couple of crush washers.

Take your time doing it, the lower service isn’t hard but will punish the ham fisted.

Personally, if I were servicing my forks once every 3 years, I’d fork (lol) out the money to have them done properly, to an incredibly high standard, with the exact right oils, seals, grease, torque and spares.

IF you do it yourself, you’ll probably spend about £50 – 60 buying all the stuff you need (in bulk, as you’ll tell yourself it’s cheaper, and you’ll do it more often, but be honest… you know you wont).

OR…. you can spend £80, which spread over 3 years less than £30 a year!

Don’t be a cheapskate, go and get it done proper.

For info, I’ve been servicing my forks for years, I do a lowers service regularly, but the most important thing is that I have enough tools, kit and spares for if something goes wrong, I don’t need to send it off for repairs, after forking out (lol) money to start it off and bodge it myself.

Ricks

I’m pretty sure I could manage the lower leg service ok but after much consideration I’ve decided to not be a cheapskate, go and get it done proper (Ricks)!
If I wasn’t looking forward (8 years since last visit) to the not-inexpensive trip to the Apls soon I would def do it myself – if something went wrong with the fork up the woods or in T’Peaks it won’t be a major drama. If they are shagged in France and unusable that’s my holiday borked too. I want them running tip-top withoit any nagging doubts.
So…do I send to Loco or Flooks…who’s the most bestest?

I’d call them both and find who has a slot to service the forks in time before your trip away , to determine, who’s best.

Yay! Good choice 🙂