Ive had my Epic Expert since 2008 and since then replace almost every item at least once. When my forks were sent off for a service a year ago for a service they found the crown was cracked, so replaced them for the price of a service.

Ive haven’t ridden much since then what with the awful winter, possibly 1000miles so was very disappointed to hear the forks were scored and needed replacing at a cost of £400 plus. I was told that they recommend that the forks should be serviced every 25 hours, which means sending them off for a few days, meaning a week by the time you’ve dropped off and collected………..which would work out at every couple of weeks for a keen rider. So every two weeks, you lose your bike for a week? What a joke eh?

Someone needs to design a set that are all hidden inside a casing that will last for at least a year between service intervals.

the fork manufacturers are perhaps being over cautious with service schedules, I’ve never serviced any of my forks (or shocks) and not had any problems. in answer to your last question it has been done in the past and reworked for the 21st century by rockshox see
http://www.sicklines.com/2014/04/08/2014-2015-rockshox-rs-1-inverted-xc-suspension-fork/

by switching the stanchions to this way round the oil sits permanently in contact with the seal which should help with reducing dry muck and grit scratching the arm

You don’t mention the brand though IIRC 25hr service intervals is Fox. Are you sure that the service suggested is a send away job? Again from memory, it’s just taking off the lowers, a quick clean and new grease/oil which is not hard to time consuming. Yes, it does seem a bit of a short interval but that’s Fox for you…

Fox?

There’s not a great deal I can suggest that would help you right now, but every few weeks it’s a good idea to remove the lowers, drain the oil and remove the foam rings underneath the seals for a clean.

Given that they’re a few years old, I’d probably bin them and buy a set of Rockshox SIDs or Rebas.

Someone needs to design a set that are all hidden inside a casing that will last for at least a year between service intervals.

Marzocchi did this years ago, well not “encased” forks, just durable ones that could comfortably tolerate a year or more of near total neglect, but they weighed a shade more than many modern forks do and with low weight apparently comes glass slipper levels of robustness and stupid service intervals…

So do you want light forks or durable forks sir?

LOL my Fox forks have worked well for 3+ years at times without ever being looked at.

I have often wondered about this, if you were to do the highland 550 and follow fox’s sevice advice you would need to do a lower service twice on the route, not really practical.

I cant help but think that a long lasting fork should be easy to achieve; replace the fragile alloy stantions with thin walled steel that is hard chromed – probably would not weigh much more than alloy if done right, fit some plastic guards around the seal area.

I can’t help thinking that fox et al don’t want their products to be long lasting.

You don’t mention the brand though IIRC 25hr service intervals is Fox. Are you sure that the service suggested is a send away job

yes sorry, Fox. And they are virtually new, so not planning on chucking them away….just not worth doing anything at the moment, but very irritated at the joke service intervals. Its is a sendaway job BTW.

So do you want light forks or durable forks sir?

well seeing as all the lightweight stuff seems to fail before the slightly heavier bits….and seeing as I do my riding for fun and fitness rather than competition, it would make sense to have heavier forks. The bike weighs 30lbs already, wants another lb eh?

I cant help but think that a long lasting fork should be easy to achieve; replace the fragile alloy stantions with thin walled steel that is hard chromed

I’ve gone to google for a definitive answer on this, unsurprisingly I’ve gotten nowhere! Alloy is lighter than steel and anodized alloy is probably cheaper and less brittle than stainless steel. IME, steel stanchions require attention to keep the corrosion off. I wonder why no-one had tried ti stanchions? I suppose the answer would be “because it would be bloody expensive”.

Given that anything with a “Fox” sticker on it seems to attract 10% inflation year upon year I’d be spectacularly unimpressed if I spent the thick end of a grand on a set of Fox forks for the stanchions to wear out within a couple of years, so I’m a bit of a Rockshox fanboi. I know someone will come along in a minute to tell me that they have had some bad experiences here too, but I’ve a set of eight year old Pikes that are still going strong with no wear that I can see at all.

Only a basic service, true enough, of course if the forks are new and you do that [edit] yourself [/edit ]there goes your warranty.

The anodising is pretty hard, as my 13 year old Marzocchis (serviced 3 times now) will attest to. It is just starting to wear a little, but certainly not through the anodising yet.

As pointed out above, the seals are pretty good on the Marzocchis though. I killed a pair of Maguras in 8 months from scores on the stanchions.

Its is a sendaway job BTW.

It isn’t, the 25hr interval is for lower leg splash oil and wiper seals inspection/cleaning (and float fluid in air spring depending on model), which is an at home <30min job.

The damper service and full oil change interval is much longer.

FWIW, I have several RS and Fox forks ranging from 2years old to 12 years old, none of them have been serviced on schedule* and all are working just fine and no stanchion wear.

*I service according to conditions rather than rigid time intervals.

of course if the forks are new and you do that [edit] yourself [/edit ]there goes your warranty.

is that actually true? you are supposed to perform the basic maintenance yourself, thats why they give you instructions on how to do it!

I had some 2006 Float 100 RLTs, I never serviced these, they were absolutely perfect for at least 3 years, not a mark on the stantions. Sold them, and they continued to be fine. Never did a lower leg service.

I had some 2011 Float 100 RLs, the stantions wore out in under a year (I only did a lower leg service once). Fox were doing a ‘Kashima amnesty’ or something, so it was £250 for a new Kashima CSU and a full service, new seals etc. They then worked flawlessly for 2.5 years, I did drop the lowers a few times, but they were always spotless.

I can only assume the quality of forks dipped, but on my experience the later seals (and perhaps the Kashima uppers) were vastly more resistant to wear.

Quality of anodising varies from batch to batch, this affects all manufacturers.
Always best be to stick to service schedules though to keep them feeling tiptop and wear free.
Lower services are meant to be done at home by the owner. But your LBS or LoCal 😉 suspension bod will be able to do this for you if not happy to do it yourself

Some of it must be down to geographical factors, depending on the soil types encountered and so on. For example, I had one October ride on chalky, wet Kent soil that removed the paint from the inside of my chainstays on a new frame so I try to ensure that I clear any mud from my stanchions mid ride.

I daresay that gritty, Peak District mud will kill anything quickly.

for 7-9 months I wipe dust off the bike, I’m not sticking to the Fox service interval but I am doing lower service in my garage. It’s simple and easy just get some suspension cleaner, plenty of rags, some grease, suspension fluid and something to measure it in. Get a mate round to help and do 2 sets in one go over a beer (don’t get suspension fluid in beer)

Also consider the difference between riding time and elapsed time. Riding time is what counts for wear and tear.