Hi folks

Had some excellent advice here before, hoping to get some more.

I have a rockshox tora front fork and it just does not want to go above about half its travel offroad (its a coil, 100mm). However, when its pushed down with extreme force standing still, it will get to about its max limit, but nowhere near this limit on real rides.

Got some good advice from the lbs, who suggest spraying oil onto the fork in the hope of loosening things up, bar that they suggest an outside service estimated at £60 and no doubt I will be without a bike for weeks (it took about 4 last time I had to return it under warranty).

I do not doubt I had good advice from my lbs, but wonder if I may be better off offsetting the service charge against another fork. What do you folks think?, persevere with the boneshaking or get a better fork?

Or is it practical to assume I have to shell out once in a while for a service for my current fork ?(even though I have been slightly underwelmed by the forks since I got them)

Checking the forks myself is out of the question with my expertise, so welcome any advice you can give.

leave the bike upside-down overnight for starters; it lets any lube oil that may be left in there run down to the bushes and seals.

(PS no need to use ‘front’ when talking about forks 😉 )

Many thanks flamejob

I am a newbie to mountain biking and appreciate your advice:)

Off to turn the upside down.

I wouldn’t spend £60 on a service. Add a few quid and you’ll get a nicer fork in decent condition from the classifieds. Try the upside down tip first, then I’d say have a go at servicing them yourself, its not hard and you only need a few quids worth of oil, if that doesn’t work or you end up with more bits than you started with then head off to the classifieds.

As it’s a coil fork maybe get a softer spring? What weight are you? If you’re very light then this will help.

Springs are £20ish from TFT – http://www.tftunedshox.com/Catalogue/Shop-RockShox/RockShox/RockShox-Fork-Springs

It’s also probably in need of a lube and basic service – though standing it upside down as mentioned should let some oil seen down to the seals.

To be honest though, Tora’s are at the budget end of the market, and for £100 or so you could get some pretty decent 2nd hand forks that will feel/work far better.

The bike is flipped and I appreciate your replies.

Servicing the forks is probably well beyond my ability. ajantom, I am not a lightweight probably about 12 stones. I would welcome any suggestions about possible ideas on 2nd hand forks, I dont need links as such, just ideas. Also, I would be interested in new forks, again just ideas, I will guess that new forks will hurt my wallet but they will be easier on my body:)