So I’ve recently picked up a 2010 stumjumper fsr and am wondering whether it’s worth getting the forks (talas RL) and shock (future shock & brain can) serviced? Looks like it wil cost around £250 at Mojo. I’ve ridden the bike a fair bit (surrey hills, Wales ) and there are no obvious problems (but I’m no expert ) but I’m thinking it might benefit from a visit to mojo . Question is am I likely to notice the difference ? or is it more of a case of preserving the life of the fork & shock, afaik neither has been serviced in the past. Any thoughts?

Preservation, the seals will degrade and the oil will get contaminated and watery. So should be a good thing.

I tend to either do mine or send them off once a year or so. Even with Fox, I’ve had no issues with worn stanchions etc.

Yes it’s defiantly worth doing to preserve the life of the fork and shock and to avoid a bigger bill later on.

I rode some Talas forks for just over 12 months from new once without servicing and one day they just seized up. The bill from Mojo was just over £350 to sort them!

No point having decent kit if you’re not going to look after it so it can perform as it should. You will notice a difference if you get them serviced.

No IMHO service will cost more than replacement – but may be worth it for 1 1/8 forks considering the scarcity of them.

FWIW my rear shock broke after 5 years use without service and was still only the service price to fix

I do the oil change on my forks every 6 months though – when the clocks change-

£250 is a decent wedge.

If I’d bought that bike I’d look into whether I could remove the shock & brain and buy a lightly used modern shock to replace them (£100-ish should get you a Monarch that someone’s upgraded after a few rides).

I understand Spesh often use custom shock fittings though, so I’d ask the forum.

If you’re happy with the fork then a service is worthwhile, or you could sell it and buy a Revelation with a through axle instead (front hub permitting).

all suspension benefits from regular servicing, and its money well spent if you plan to retain the original fork and shock

the problem with suspension is that it slowly degrades over time, and you don’t really notice the degradation until it stops working, or you suffer an oil leak

if you have your suspension serviced, its very noticeable how much better your bike feel afterwards, whereas before the service, you are often used to riding it as it is…

if you have your suspension serviced, its very noticeable how much better your bike feel afterwards, whereas before the service, you are often used to riding it as it is…

Bingo

Look at it this way. You might lose 0.1% of performance per ride. Well within the realms of unnoticeable. You’ll adapt to it.

After 6 months/100 rides. Thats 10%. Which is a lot. But you’ve adapted to it in 0.1% steps. So you’ll not notice.

And if it’s never been serviced, they might already be shot. Or shit.

On the rear shock you could consider just doing an Air Can strip and clean. This will remove any dirt and grit and prolong the life of the moving parts that are prone to wear. Sure it wont get you inside the damping oil but if the shocks damping is functioning fine then cleaning the air can assembly will be more than enough to prevent premature wear.
The seals on the air can are very hard wearing so you don’t even have to replace them although a new kit is only £20 so you may as well.
Look at Mojo/Fox website for a good how-to video or get you local shop to do it.
As for the fork its well getting it looked at as manky old and water in the lowers can do nasty things. Your 2010 fork may well have the FIT type sealed damper cartridge (fork will have a red dial at the bottom of the leg) If it does then you could perform a lower leg service quite easily as you wont lose loads of damping fluid when you remove the lowers. All the lowers would need is good clean out with soapy water and a bottle brush and then re-fitting with some fresh lubricating oil (10ml of 10wt in left, 30ml of 10wt in right).
I would strongly advise that you pop some of the new Fox/SKF low friction wiper seals in the lowers as a fork of that age will probably still have the old type seals in.
If you’re not keen on tackling this yourself and dont have a good local store with suspension knowledge have you considered sending them somewhere else? Up here in the lakes we’ve some good spots who all do suspension servicing (Biketreks, Wheelbase, Escape, and Evans have their suspension workshop up here too). Its a shame that Mojo dont do just an air can service on the rear shocks cos that bumps the price up loads.
Hope this helps!

You might lose 0.1% of performance per ride

You might but you wont – its not really the case that every single ride slowly breaks the shocks though the oil will eventually run out and does need replacing.

You definitely have to change the oils/seals at least twice a year depending on how much you ride obviously..I recommend these guys..cheap and a quick service too..

http://pedal-worx.co.uk

@(£100-ish should get you a Monarch that someone’s upgraded after a few rides). riding it loads and then flogging it on instead of servicing it…..

I’m a big fan of suspension servicing. I once used a RS Rev for over 2 years without servicing I didn’t really notice the small but gradual loss in performance over the 2 years but when the fork came back after a full service it felt fantastic. There was less stiction, the fork had better small bump compliance and better grip and felt smoother over repeated bumps.

Don’t know too much about shocks but pretty much every fork can be serviced at home without too many specialist tools. Certainly a lower leg service is simple to perform at home and will keep the fork feeling buttery smooth and prolong life.

Buying new and getting rid of the old ones can work cheaper but make sure the new shock comes in the correct tune for your bike and has all the required hardware to fit it.

Ok, many thanks for the detailed responses, looks like it is probably worthwhile and will hopefully be noticable once its done as well as preserving the life of the bike (which is good in all other respects and serves its purpose as a ‘do it all, dont mind if it is ridden through winter’ bike) Thanks for the links also, although only mojo seem to specify an option on servicing the ‘brain’ can on the rear shock, not sure how specialised this is (see what i did there?)

i’ve got some 2011 talas fork and they’ve never been serviced…. i may get them one in january… i may not 😐

they’ve been used at least once a week too… feel great, still…

i’m debating whether or not to switch to some new Pikes, or just have these serviced.

I know. It’s an example/simplification of what actually does happen. The combined breakdown of all the various systems and components is non-linear. But you do adapt to small changes very quickly, usually without noticing.

Until it’s fit for the bin.

Worth doing but I’d phone around. I’ve used RSF Suspension in Plymouth before who were excellent. Quite a bit cheaper than mojo etc too. Rebound Suspension in Bolton are also meant to be good. Again, cheaper than the bigger companies too. I’m dropping off a couple of Reverbs there this week.