Got absolutely covered in mud last night, got home and wiped my fork stanchions clean. Tried to give them a quick compress today and they wouldn’t budge. This has happened before, and expect that if I manhandle them they will free-up again.

Is this killing my forks, and is there anything I can do to avoid it?

Frozen maybe?
Any way you look at it it’s time for a service.

I doubt it’s much to do with the mud if you clean them after each ride. Sounds like an internal fault.

What forks are they and how old?

Magura Menjas, serviced about a year ago. Only happens after muddy/wet rides. (so far)

Yes it’s bad.
They clearly have mud/water inside which will indeed be killing them rapidly. Service them (and fit new wiper seals).

I blame the dual-arch design!

only things that should be inside are oil, metal, plastic, rubber and air, none of which are likely to freeze or jam and cause the fork to lock out. Unless something has broken. If you had got some water in there then that is a different matter, too much can jam the fork. It shouldn’t be there and i would suggest crap is also getting past the seals, it suggests grit will be getting between the bushes and the stanchions and acting as a nice grinding paste. I would suggest removing the lowers giving them a clean and putting some fresh oil in. A full service isn’t neccessarily needed but should be considered.

As an interim measure get hold of some silicon spray, Fenwicks and Muc-off both sell it. Magura use a low volume of oil in their forks and the seals can dry out fairly easily so a little extra lubrication can make a big difference.

Hey Poppa, The Menjas have a foam rubber o-ring at the top of the leg that should be loaded with the type-5 oil Magura use in their forks. If this o-ring runs dry, like it sounds like here, it can ingest mud and sand which can/could lead to the fork sticking as you say. If you try and get it to move without a service, (taking the fork to bits), then the o-rings can act like sand paper on the stanchions… Clean the fork up, remove the lower legs clean up the o-rings, re-lube, put back together. Takes about 20mins and is very simple to do. If you have any problems contact your local shop or Mike at Magura service 07773453681.

Ok, I have a service manual and i’m good to go. Thanks for the help.

My Paces did this. Freed up after a couple of days so flogged them quick 😉

Ok, I gave them a ‘service’. They were jammed solid, so I had to use all my strength to pull the lowers off.

The oil on the uppers looked a bit discoloured when I got them out. Once I got them out and cleaned them I could see nothing obviously wrong, but there was some damage on the stanchions below the seal. Kind of like a couple of small round dents. This makes me think that perhaps some grit did manage to get between the stanchion and maybe a bushing(?) and grind everything to a halt. Oh well, they work now and are super smooth again.

Time for new wiper seal me thinks? 😯

Oh, and after I put everything back together again I realised that I had somehow removed the travel indicator rubber-ring without realising it. Arse. Not sure I can be bothered to put it back on now.