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How often do you send your forks off for a proper service?
I ride all year round in proper cacky conditions but I still think I'll only probably get them done every couple of years. Is this daft, or does it generally go along with most people?
lowers every 6 months.
full service when it breaks or swap bikes.
Same. They'll have had 2 lower leg services before then. If they're lucky.
My bike usually goes to my local bike guy every year or so (maybe every 18 months) and he'll do a strip/new seals/etc.
I buy new bikes instead
Lower service by me when they're brand new, before fitting. Then as required, maybe twice a year. Maybe a month before a big holiday and/or after if the weather was shitty.
I've occasionally tinkered with the shim stack in the charger damper so it gets an oil change and an inspection then.
Keep meaning to buy some tools so I can do the same with my X2.
Service forks? So you are actually meant to do that? 😳
Last bike must have been 12 years and didn't service them. Current bike haven't touched them in 3 years!
I do the lower leg service myself to three or four times a year, my 36's have just got back from their first full service, three years 😳
Lower service by me when they’re brand new, before fitting. Then as required, maybe twice a year.
Same... That said, my forks on my full sus haven't had the use in the last year to warrant a service yet! Oops!
lowers then full annually. same with shock. forced myself to learn and get tooled up for it. do mates bikes too as long as they have 32 or 35mm rockshox!
I got some Fox 36 performance elite off Ebay (bargain..£440!) and immediately did a lower leg service/oil change there, cos it's easy..
Tempted to send them away for a full service..there's a tiny bit of knocking that I'm sure is just a bushing or somewhat!
DrP
My current forks are 15 years old and have never been serviced, other than occasional washing.
full service every year, and I want to say a lower leg every 6 months, but if I'm honest it's more like every 8 or 9 months.
Although, reading some of those replies, I sounds like I'm in the "more often than most" camp!
Ashamed to say far too long between services... last service resulted in a new set of forks, it pays to know your local bike shop as somehow I got a warranty replacement set 🙂
I'm about to attempt to service my revive dropper post. After much swearing and losing bits I will no doubt package up and send it to tft to sort out my cack handedness...
Rarely, certainly much less than most people so far.there are a pair of Marzocchi Z3 coil 100’s on my Dads bike that I gave to him, they’re certainly 15 years old and maybe more and they’ve never been touched. The legs are stanchions are still immaculate and it still works fine. Open oil bath forks for the win.
I do lowers services basically whenever I feel like it, I'll do uppers fluid occasionally. Very uncommon I'll actually treat a set to a full service with all new seals etc
I'm quite against the regular replacing of seals. Unless they're leaking, the old ones have bedded in. When seals bed in, they contaminate the oil to a small degree.
Best service is new oil, good bleed and old seals.
Bit like flushing brake fluid, but not changing seals.
None of my current forks have ever been serviced. Likewise, none I've owned in the past ever got serviced.
Quadra 5s were my first forks I think - so that's gotta be a good 25 years and I've never had the inclination to service a fork. Maybe it's time for a new lockdown skill.
Just got my Lyrik serviced after 1.5 years, think I'd done two lowers services beforehand.
Usually every year or less depending on how much riding I do, full service done by specialist.
[Note to self - don't buy suspension from most of the above folk.]
I alternate between lowers and full service every 6 months, but I do it myself. It’s not really a money thing, with all the various tools and oils I’ve bought added to the cost of the service kits it’s no cheaper, but I enjoy it and It’s given me a far better idea of if how they work etc. I only run RS because they’re easy to DIY.
To be completely honest, I’ve been doing it for a few years, as far as I can tell the only thing you really NEED to replace are the foam rings, but even they can be cleaned up. All the various O-rings and even the Dust seals rarely wear, they just need a clean and grease, I still change them though.
Shocks are a bit more of a mystery to me. Air can service is easy, you’ve pretty much got to if you’ve got a shock that uses tokens etc. I’ve not been brave enough to go into the body / piggy back etc. I’m tempted to get hold of an old Rodkshox monarch or something to play with before I crack open my Super Deluxe.
Quadra 5s were my first forks I think – so that’s gotta be a good 25 years and I’ve never had the inclination to service a fork. Maybe it’s time for a new lockdown skill.
As above I enjoy it. I suffer with Anxiety and if I’m not careful the panic will set in if I get a bit lost along the way or it’s just taking too long (the Mrs will always start nagging if I’m spending hours in the garage) but I’ve learned to stay calm and I find it relaxing now.
The improvement in feel / plushness from a simple lower service is amazing. If the performance difference between a Lyrik Ultimate and a Yari Moco is 10% taking a tired fork with shitted up dust seals and dirty oil in the lowers and making it fresh is about 15%.
Lowers every six months home service and air spring every year.
Ran a set of 2016 Yaris for 3 years constant as I only had 1 bike at the time. No signs of wear. A riding pal with pikes approx same run time and age had significant scoring on the back of his Stanchions.
Not sure if his cleaning regime was same as mine.
Funnily just done the lowers on my 2016 fox, you can feel the difference in terms of reduced stiction, but not enough for me to want to do this and spend 30 quid every 100 hours of riding!
**makes a list of who not to buy used forks from**
Wow you guys are nuts. Lowers services make the fork feel instantly great again. Considering it can be done in <10 mins (at least on RS), it’s probably the best bang for buck (time spent) servicing you can do. Plus it extends the life of forks. No brainer.
My forks have only had one full service (new seals/o-rings/damper oil) once in 5 years though. I feel a bit bad about that, they’re probably overdue.
I've never sent my forks away for service. I don't advise people to do the same, forks work better when they're looked after.
Generally once a year (Need prompting though!) Mate does it for me as I'm rubbish on the spanners.
I've got a set of Marzocchi MX Comps from 2003 that have NEVER been apart. They're a bit rattly for hard riding now but my wife's happy using them for local smooth trails and bridleways.
Don't get me wrong they've not seen a consistent 17 years solid use but equally they've been ridden in proper filth on my winter/single speed hardtails and there's not a weep of oil or air from them.
Other than that I've not ridden that much last two years and both good forks probably want a little more care. The 2007 Fox Vanilla Rs are probably due a legs off and new seals (after about 3 years) and the Reba's probably shouldn't be far behind - my first air fork service at home!
Anyone else remember Pace RC36s where other than the cartridge damper you needed two hex keys to strip it down, smother the springs in grease, swap the seals and have it back together in less than 20 minutes.
Pike and float x just serviced - 3.5yrs? All fine, just a bit dirty. I feel like I got away with it really. My hardtail has old Revs which haven’t been touched for 8 years 🤫
Big bike - annually, usually just before a big trip away.
Trail bike - every 18 months-ish.
Messing around with kids, old spares Hardtail - maybe twice in 10 years.
The two main bikes have regular lower/aircan services roughly every 2 months. Annual service done regardless of mileage as they are expensive units. Midrange Fox on one, Cane Creek on the other. I use them a lot so cost per mile is pretty low plus I like to look after my stuff.
The cheap hardtail just gets a lower service when it feels worse than normal as I can buy new forks for less than the cost of servicing them! Cheap Suntour XCR's converted to oil bath lowers for reference.
Think the servicing schedules are a joke for most of us. I didn't touch my forks for 4 years...ok I'm the usual weekend warrior with a few evening afterwork rides a week kind of guy so not mega mileage, but all year round in some challenging muddy and sandy grind-paste kind of conditions and the suspension gets a hammering when used. Stripped the forks down after about 4 years to replace the seal head (early Pikes) and the insides of the forks were spotless. Oil was clean, no sign of water or muck ingress, seals were in great conditions...could have reused them but had the seal kit at hand so replaced anyway. So seems to me the wiper seals do a pretty effective job at keeping the crud out.
One other thing which probably makes the difference...I'm not a serial bike washer...certainly don't show it a jet wash...a damp rag or wet sponge wash when the bike does see a clean. The only routine weekly maintenance I do is clean off the drive train.
I think if you're hammering the bike pretty much every day all year round might be a different story where seal wear is more of an issue, but for most of us recreational riders a few years between services is ample.
2013 Fox - never been touched since new.
Everything looks ok, no play in forks etc. Although tbh I know in terms of damping they are not right anymore
I've never done anything other than drop the lowers and lube, top up the oil. Probably every couple of years. Never had any issues with worn stanchions etc. I tend to run forks at the basic end (solo air rebas).
Wow you guys are nuts. Lowers services make the fork feel instantly great again.
You have to realise that lots of folks on here couldn't tell you when their forks are working well or not!
Agree with bruneep, sod buying off you lot! 🙂
Usually leave mine until something goes wrong which has only happened twice on new fox shocks a few years ago, blown seals. I was told at the time by TfTuned that OEM Fox seals weren’t the strongest.
Anyway, used the Lockdown to send of my 2yo fork and shock from my race bike (Scott Spark) which has of course has some race specific hammerings. TfTuned serviced it and replaced a worn shaft in the (nude) shock, which I’d mentioned didn’t feel as plush as I thought it should be in Open mode. I rode it at the weekend and the shock is markedly more “free” in its travel in the Open position so there’s more of a difference - and a match with the fork - between Open & Traction modes, which I prefer.
The fork moves more freely as well, I’ve had to put about 3psi more and an extra click of rebound to meet my needs.
For me it’s worth it specifically with TFTuned - at least for a first service - as they often have a way of tuning things a little better from OEM for you just within a standard service. Anything I’ve had done by them has then gone on to last years of service neglect...
Lowers once a year. Full service mayby every 2-3 yrs
They feel surprisingly better after just the lower leg service.
I think as the oil slowly gets contaminated / seaps past the seals the change over time is slow. So riders dont notice a degradation in performance.
Given my forks cost £850 or more it seems pretty stupid not to spend £20 and 20mins doing the lower leg service once a year.
This is why I never buy 2nd hand forks. As said above, the lower leg service is the single best proactive thing you can do to keep your forks running sweet and extend their life, along with keeping the stanchions and seals as clean as possible. I have Rockshox and do a lowers service every 3-6 months dependant on how the fork feels and the weather conditions its been used in. Every 18 months or so i'll take the air spring out, clean, inspect and re-grease. For the damper side, the Charger can simply be removed from the fork and sent off for a service and not the whole fork. I haven't needed to send a whole fork off for a service for about 4 years.
Fork service intervals are a bit of a compromise to cater for all the conditions a fork will be used in; a fork used in only dusty conditions will likely need a full service at a different time that one used in only muddy conditions. So to me, its not a crime to not rigidly stick to the service intervals stated.
I get that not everyone has the knowledge, tools or confidence to take apart their suspension, but it seems bonkers to not proactively maintain (or get someone to maintain) something that costs a lot of money and relies on being maintained to work to its full potential!
I normally do it all myself to my pikes, the Lowers every 6 months or so. my old inbred which is a bit of a mish mash of components (mis-matching headset cups etc) needs the Rebas openend up for some tlc.
My Pikes are boxed up and ready to be collected to go to J-Tech this morning. I've rarely used the lockout and J-Tech can convert it to an HSC dial.... i figured even if i only tweaked it every so often it'd be more use than the lockout.
Jamie
I’ve never sent forks away for service.
DIY service maybe once a year on the hardtail I ride regularly, probably less on the full sus that gets less frequent outings.
Lowers, every 50hours ride time, that includes the air spring and pulling the damper cartridge to inspect it, top up with oil or bleed. Damper goes away with the shock for a yearly service.
Just serviced my pikes for the 2nd time in six years.... I realise how simple it is and should really do it more often. The other forks we have are on similar or worse timescales
ok for all you servicing experts. Can you refill a charger damper through the bleed port?
I dont want to take it apart as i believe that its asking for trouble. However the bleed is easy. Can you just tip it all out through the bleed port and refill through the syringe?