Hi All,

I have some 95 to 140mm Coil Pike 409 forks but the travel has seized, zero travel with a horrid clunking sound over bumps. U-turn still works but not going to full range. No leaks and no major scratches.

Looking around the web and having asked a mechanic at Haldon Forest it is apparently a common fault with the motion control and he quoted over £100 and 2 days work (prob for ordering parts)
I am skint with young mouths to feed so looking to avoid TFTuned and LBS prices by home servicing so need some advice regarding tools and oils.

Looks like I need 15 wt and 5 wt oil, ratchet with 24mm deep socket,snap ring pliers and a Motion control service kit off the bay.

Any advice on what to look out for would be very welcome.

They are really very simple to work on/service (I did 3 sets this winter). Id strip them and find the problem/what needs replacing then buy the service kit as you may be buying parts you dont need/buying a kit without the parts you do.

The U-turn/coil side of the forks is a very simple service – just remove the spring/clean/grease/re-fit.

On the other side cartridge comes out, and then you can inspect it for the problem, worth doing the o-rings regardless at the same time. Could be your oil has leaked into the lower chamber, which is an easy fix, or could be a jammed cartridge/lockout etc. But hydraulic lock is pretty common on pikes.

Sounds like hydro lock to me. The seals on the rebound cartridge may well have gone meaning the damping oil is now in the lower leg limiting travel to about 30mm. All you need is new oil and some o-rings. I forget the size but I will do a quick search and have a look.

This should help

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/pikes-leaking-damping-oil

Cheers people, very much appreciated. Would be good to find I only need to replace an o-ring 🙂

You probably wont be able to tell from a visual inspection that the o-rings are gone but if you have quite a lot of oil in your right hand lowers that is almost definitely the reason.

All you need to find out if this is the problem is a 5mm allen key to undo the bolts on the bottom of the forks. Then pull them off and catch the oil that comes out of the bolt holes in old take away tins.

Ok, will do the oil check tonight.