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My new bike arrived on Friday, it’s a Canyon so was despatched pretty much built and just had to fit the front wheel and bars.
The bike comes very well packaged but mine wasn’t great and the base of the box wasn’t square with the box body. I’ll try and add some photos. UPS driver said this is how it was received by them. Maybe I should have rejected it but the bike has a 30daybreturn anyway and aside from any other box damage, thought I’d keep it and have a look.
There is no damage to the bike but I’ve now noticed a bit of oil around the rebound adjuster at the foot of the fork leg. Also, the cardboard packing piece that held the axle through the forks is oil stained.
Putting two and two together, is it possible the bike has been on its side at some point and the oil in the leg has escaped the fork leg. There doesn’t seem to be any seal between the damper adjuster rod and the hole in the hollow bolt, so perhaps it’s just flooded through that on its side.
Ive had a quick check and the nut is tight. I’ve cleaned it all up now and I’m going to keep an eye to see if any more oil leaks with the bike upright.
Not ideal, but if it’s just a leak from transit, I could take the lowers off and put 15ml oil back in
Worse case is the damper is goosed and lost all its oil. Any way of checking that, maybe check rebound/compression adjustment alters things?
Any thoughts? I’ll raise it with Canyon anyway and I suspect they might want the fork checking.
Mmmmm, been out for an evening walk and dwelled on this. I’ve got the thing wrong, of course the damper rod is sealed from the oil around the lower leg, it’s tightened up against the inside of the fork leg. That suggests oil is running inside the damper rod, which suggest the damper is leaking.
I’ll see what canyon say. Wish I’d rejected the box now.
Personally I'd just monitor the foot nut to see if any further oil appears after cleaning it up. It may just be some slight remnants from assembly. Was the fork well protected inside, despite the mashed box? I'd expect they'd be wrapped with foam and card etc to protect them.
Not sure what the current pike uses but it used to be a sealed bladder rather than an open bath which makes the idea of the damper losing all its oil seem less likely.
Yes, it’s a sturdy box but it was all to skew the affected leg would be the lower side so maybe it’s hit something hard on the base? But the axle is through a cardboard packing piece that does left the axle off the base of the box.
Assuming the factory assembly is similar method to a lower leg service it's not uncommon for a bit of oil to go into the rod of the damper when you inject it through the foot nut hole with the fork upside down. This can then seep out around the adjuster for a ride or two.
I had a new set of pikes a few years ago and there was an oily stain inside the box but they were absolutely fine.
Ok, that’s a bit more reassuring. I’ll leave them sitting with a clean paper underneath and see if anything else comes out.
Possibly looks worse than it is as very little oil can bleed on cardboard a long way.