Hi all,
am thinking of getting some 2nd hand Fox Forks – 32mm, RLC, air sprung, probably 2-4 years old depending on price and condition – what should I be looking out for? (do the stanchions wear (near the seal or inside by the bushes)?, do they fill with water? are the Terralogic forks worth a punt, or are early versions best avoided?

Have been brought up on Rockshox and Pace and seem to wear the stanchions out in 3 years, so want some forks that will last a bit longer, but still be light and reliable.

Cheers

I thought Fox stanchions wore out quicker than RS?
Based on what i have read through forums fox forks wouldn't be the best bet for you?
Do you regularly service your forks?

Fox stantions indeed wear quickly unless they are reguarly serviced (not a big task btw).

Yes, regularly service my forks, and clean the seals after every ride, I think I just ride through the wrong type of mud. Most of my rides are 3 hours plus, so any crap that gets in spends the whole ride grinding the stanchion away until I clean them.

I'll try some Fox's worst case is I spend £200 and they last 2 years.

Tempted away from RS due to Post Mount only caliper mounting, and Pace are no more (and DT Swiss are silly prices). Marzocchi are too heavy, so I guess Fox are probably the best of the bunch.

TBH the old Fox forks i.e. pre-08 don't have the upper wear to the same extent as newer ones IME – have 1 old pair of Floats 04 and one 07 and the exposed uppers are mint without servicing. However the lower lowers on the 04' are worn as are the bushings but still running well.

TBH the old Fox forks i.e. pre-08 don't have the upper wear to the same extent as newer ones IME – have 1 old pair of Floats 04 and one 07 and the exposed uppers are mint without servicing. However the lower lowers on the 04' are worn as are the bushings but still running well.

From what I remember the put new seals in them after 07??

IME I wouldnt buy used. the wear can not always bee seen as it is usually inside the loewers. If you buy used and there is wear you run the risk of a bill for £200 to replace the uppers

Personally wouldn't buy them second hand unless the seller would pull the lowers and send some decent pics of the stanchions. Just too expensive to get the CSU replaced to make it viable on top of the purchase price.

The other thing is that if they're not willing to pull the lowers to sell them, will they have really bothered changing the oil regularly?

Marzocchi maybe heavier, but they are reliable and the forks i have had for 7 years had no problems and only oil change once

My Fox's are a bit worn just inside the damper leg. Very common with them as I service a few friends and there the same. If i remeber correctly TF tuned wont service them in the current state. They are not that bad, but there on my SS so not too bothered and they work well.

TBH I wouldnt pull the lowers if I was selling them, unless I was giving them a service. That is just a faff. Baiscally just got to take the sellers word on it.

Marzocchi maybe heavier, but they are reliable and the forks i have had for 7 years had no problems and only oil change once

They stopped being consistently reliable after you bought your ones… A lot can change in 7 years.

Ref Fox, I'd not go for them for a couple of reasons – first I still reckon they're less durable than RS forks (though newer models are definitely better) and more to the point, they cost stupid amounts more than RS for no significant improvement in performance.

The only real thing to check is the upper legs wearing, wouldnt touch any forks without seeing the state of the upper legs with the lowers removed.

OK cheers all – that was what I was thinking, I wasn't sure whether the wear is visible (ie. around the seals like on my Pace), or around the bushes and therefore hidden. Sounds like it's around the bushes so buyer beware!

There can be a bit of visual wear arounf the seals, but usually its a little but worse around the bushings.

If the stantion coating is going to go it will usually be on the spring leg around the bush upper bush area due to ther being less oil in that leg.
(This applies for non FIT damper equipped forks)