Went to 18 Bikes last night for a course of servicing fork lowers. Full of confidence to do it myself now. If you get chance to see it done in the flesh I recommend it. There’s only so much reading the manual and watching videos on YouTube will tell you and this is a worthwhile – and easy – bit of home maintenance.

Dan’s public service announcement over 😀

😀

Did mine for the first time last night just to see what was inside and how it was done. It’s doable but messy and takes time. Think next time it’s going into the LBS but a good thing to do at least once

Leffeboy, less mess and less time required each time you do it.

How much do you do each time? Just clean and oil or do the ‘o’ rings and seals get replaced often as well.

I only replace the seals when they need it. Despite all the stick fox forx get, I only oil change every 6 months. With 3 of those and some revs to look after, I think that’s enough. Always looks clean enough inside anyway but I did switch to enduro seals a good few years ago.

Actually, I’ve just realised, now I’ve got the avalanche cartridges in both 36s, all the fox stuff is open bath so that helps.

cheers thanks. Everything looked immaculate inside but I did wonder if they should be changed anyway. Didn’t bother myself as unnecessary fiddling always goes wrong

Onzadog, have you tried the Fox/Skf low friction seals yet? they will make the forks feel really nice especially in conjunction with the Avy cart. 😉

watched a few youtube videos, looks quite easy tbh, gonna do mine on friday night first time, got the enduro seals so heres hoping it goes well lol

Onzadog, have you tried the Fox/Skf low friction seals yet? they will make the forks feel really nice especially in conjunction with the Avy cart.

I’ve fitted 2-3 sets on other people’s forks, they seem pleased with them. The last pair (not ridden yet) seemed a bit sticky in the “bounce on the floor” test but i guess they’ll loosen up, and the forks are 10 years old!

Certainly ‘slippier’ than the ‘old’ fox ones and definatly more so than the double sealed enduro ones. 😀

Always fancied doing my Lowers, have done my rear shock a few times now with no problems. Would be good to see someone do it as stilltortoise says, just to be sure and be there for any questions. Might see if there is somewhere that does that in Edinburgh.

I’ve not tried the new fox/skf seals because those damn enduro ones are just not wearing out.

Might give them a go one these die. Do that work as well in terms of keeping the crud out? I don’t mind sacrificing a bit of the supple feel for reduced maintenance.

The avalanche cart already feels amazing compared to the rc2 damper that was in there.

I went into my LBS for advice and to buy seals/fluid, having armed myself with a nice photo- article on-line and ready to do my first lowers service
My grump LBS owner proceeded to tell me that it was a waste of time just doing the lowers and I might as well change the oil and clean out the stanchions properly – I really dont fancy doing that
So he either talked himself out of a sale, or was hoping to persuade me to get him to service my fork!
Is it worth just doing the lowers, and do you let your LBS do a full service or do you prefer a suspension specialist like Mojo?

Is it worth just doing the lowers

I’m convinced, yes.

Loco , if order a 32 mm Fox SFK seal kit from you what would be a set of foam seals for next time cost please ?
No joy on my earlier thread.

Lowers service is a piece of piss on Rockshox- if you can wipe your bum, undo a bolt and pour a shot of whisky you have all the relevant skills. As long as you don’t strip any of the bolts, that is.

bigbadbob – Member

Would be good to see someone do it as stilltortoise says, just to be sure and be there for any questions. Might see if there is somewhere that does that in Edinburgh.

Try Flotec, James was happy enough chatting while working (I was talking about a possible other job but it can’t hurt to ask). Steve at Icycles in Innerleithen would probably do it too (with Steve it’s mostly because he forgot to do the work and ends up doing it while you wait 😉 But that’s half the fun. )

Is it worth just doing the lowers, and do you let your LBS do a full service or do you prefer a suspension specialist like Mojo?

IMHO if you’re going to change the oil in the lowers, while you’ve got the things in bits might as well put some new float fluid in the air chamber and change the wiper seals/foam rings (if they need it) – then you have effectively done a “full service”.

However, both my forks are open bath, so I’m changing the damper oil at the same time as the lowers oil. If it was a FIT cartridge then I’d probably be asking a professional to do it.

My grump LBS owner proceeded to tell me that it was a waste of time just doing the lowers and I might as well change the oil and clean out the stanchions properly – I really dont fancy doing that

Personally I agree with him. If you’ve got the lowers off, then you’ve done the hard bit. Most Fox and RockShox stuff is an absolute doddle to strip out and clean properly. It’s literally a case of removing a circlip or undoing a bolt, depending on the fork, and it’s apart. In fact on the open bath Fox stuff you’ve got no bloody choice but to change the damping oil as it all falls out as soon as you pull the lowers off! 🙂