Hello all. I’m new here however I find your forum really useful, so I’m glad to join!

I’m hoping your knowledge can be of some help.

I have a 2012 Rockshox Revelation RCT3 Dual Air 150mm. Great fork, I bought it off a certain well known german website in 2012. I rode kind of a lot during that year and then in 2013 I went away for 9 months for military service as it’s mandatory in my country.

Now I’m done and I started riding again. The fork has not been serviced at all this whole time, but honestly the second year that I have it, it’s had almost no action.

After a recent inspection I realized that when I hold the front brake and rock the bike back n forth without being on it, there’s a slight knock/play coming from where the right stanchion (damper side) meets the seal. It’s like not even 1 mm but I can certainly feel it. It’s not the headset and it’s not the pads moving in the caliper.

Also if I get on the bike, or if I compress the fork slightly, the play goes away.

I know the fork needs a service anyway after all this time however my question is: Will this problem go away with normal re-greasing/fresh oil and replacement of whatever o-rings/seals/foam rings need changing?
Could it be worn bushings already? It seems a bit early to me, considering the use, for bushings to be worn…

I also plan to lower the fork to 140 with a spacer during it’s first service.

Please enlighten me!

P.S.: I stumbled upon this video which describes my problem exactly. The spot of the problem, the sound and the knocking is exactly the same, however I think that mine has a little less play. Also, apparently, this guy had this problem on a new fork, which makes me wonder: Is it possible that mine had it from the beginning too and I just didn’t notice? It would suck if that’s the case, because the warranty was over on 17/3/2014 🙁

Just so you guys get a better idea of what’s going on.

Does nobody have an idea? 🙁

The play will be the bushes in the fork lowers. The reason you can’t feel it when the fork is compressed is probably because the sliders go though a second set of bushes lower in the fork.

The bushes need a bit of oil over them as the oil forms a thin layer and actually tightens everything up. So service would be my first option. Revelations are super easy to service yourself too. Plenty of YouTube videos and guides. Check out the SRAM website too.

If that doesn’t work, then new lowers would be next as the bushes aren’t really replaceable.

I’d drop These guys at Loco an email – they should be able to let you know whats wrong.

I have this with my Rebas and have been ignoring it. Particularly noticible on the lift for a manual.

Good to have an answer.

Service it is!

Typical long fork action of 32mm stanctions

Worth getting the bushes checked (they are easily replaceable BTW) but if you plan on long travel forks (anything more than 140mm)I’d opt for 35/36mm everytime.

Loco/TF Tuned/or who I use J Tech Suspension can all help you out

I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to answer and try to help with my problem 🙂

I did email loco but haven’t received a reply. Maybe they’re really busy or maybe their email spam filter caught my email. Don’t know.

I just called the guy doing the service (1.5 week later) and he told me that the bushes were OK, however there was a cut ‘gasket’ inside and he ordered a replacement part. He said that this happened after a hard hit, and that the system is designed as such, that this cheaper part gives in, in order to keep more expensive damper parts intact.

Now I don’t know what exactly he means by gasket (mind you this is a straight translation from greek), as together with the fork, I gave him a full bag of replacement o-rings, seals and foam rings.

He stated that the fork should be ready in 1-2 days, as the replacement part should be arriving soon, and he will also lower it to 140mm as requested.

I would really like to understand what that part that got ‘cut’ was though…

I have similar forks (mine are WC dual position) and the same issue virtually froom new. As long as the fork has compressed a small amount the play goes. It’s because of the minimal overlap of the lower bush when fully extended.

Unless you start to get play with the fork compressed don’t worry about it.

If that’s the case, would lowering them to 140m fix the issue? Would that have the same effect as having them at 150mm and compressed 10mm?

Also how do you explain the play existing only on the damper side?