I’m probably going to drop them into the LBS as reading the service guide, it looks kindof scary to me, but open to suggestions.

Last night on one of the faster rooty sections, the forks suddenly ‘went’. I could feel them bottoming out all of a sudden and they just didn’t feel right. At the end of the run I found that the forks weren’t really giving much resistance and could easily be compressed to their (now reduced) full travel and the poploc isn’t doing anything now.

Could it be that it’s just some seals gone, or is it going to be something broken?

Sounds like a broken damping cartridge to me.

Sounds like you’ve blown a seal somewhere, possibly more than one. If the fork sits at it’s normal sag but blows through travel easily and has no rebound then you’ve blown a seal in the right leg somewhere, probably the seal head seal. This would fit with the reduced travel problem as your right lower leg is now full of damping oil so the isn’t enough room for the stanchion to compress into the leg.

If it doesn’t sit at it’s sag then you also blown a seal in the air (left side). Does the fork hold air pressure?

They’re very easy forks to fix yourself and the seal kits are ~£20ish I think from TFT. Probably 1-2hrs work for lbs

First of all, I’m assuming we’re talking about and air fork here?

Probably 1-2hrs work for lbs

With the forks off the bike, if it’s a blown seal (Which it does sound like, they are only O-rings) I’d have it fixed in 30-45 mins.

From what you say about the reduced travel it sounds very much like the seal between the +ve and -ve chambers has gone, allowing +ve air into the -ve chamber ,which will drag the fork down into it’s travel and reduce the spring rate
As for the poploc, well, that’s entirely seperate and I’d say it’s unlikely that both legs have developed problems at the same time. The lack of a spring (air) might just be seeming to do odd things to the damping as well

When did you last have the forks PROPERLY serviced? How old are they?
Personally, if I were you, I wouldn’t bother with the LBS, I’d just ship them off to TFTuned ASAP, unless you know a tame mechanic like me….
🙂

Personally, if I were you, I wouldn’t bother with the LBS, I’d just ship them off to TFTuned ASAP, unless you know a tame mechanic like me….

Cheesy, IIRC you’re in Chelmsford aren’t you?

Chelmer Cycles will be able to sort it no problems.

Otherwise as PP says, TFTuned and you might as well get them pushed at the same time for a couple of bob extra.

Thanks for advice all. I’d have a go myself, but there’s so many different seals, etc, that I won’t know what’s broken until it’s out. Calling Chelmer to book it in

Yep, that’s probably the best plan if you’re not too confident.
But inside they really are amazingly simple, with very few parts to work on. Just a plunger, a few O-rings and the odd circlip, basically.

🙂

But inside they really are amazingly simple, with very few parts to work on. Just a plunger, a few O-rings and the odd circlip, basically.

Very true, but be careful! Put the circlips at the bottom of the stanchions back on the wrong way up, and this can happen… (not me)

Bloke smashed teeth out and broke his jaw!

Blimey. I know which circlip you mean (There’s only one really) and IIRC it sits in a sort of cut-out in the plastic bit on the end of the air cartridge. I would have thought it would be rather hard to put that back together wrongly. I can’t see just the circlip being upside down causing any problems, and then there’s still the damping side to hold it together as well………..

😯