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Hello all!
Yes I do ride bikes, when I take a moment off my Hi-Fi gear! 😉
My Pike 426 Coils are pretty knackered, and I'd appreciate a little help - I've never had forks sent away for service before, so I'd appreciate a little advice. Unfortunately funds are tight right now, so I'd love to save money - but there's no point getting a 1/2-assed job...
Problems:
Oil leaking from damper adjust for a long time, amount of play before lockout works has increased to about 50mm [ 😯 ] over time - oil level decreasing?
Travel beginning to a little feel rough/dry.
Occasional squeaking noise, like lack of oil I guess.
So I took them off the bike to send to service, and now I find when I turn the travel adjust to extend them, it turns twice and a feel of resistance builds, then there's a "clunk" and the resistance disappears BUT THE FORKS DON'T EXTEND!
So - if anyone knows what this all means in terms of repairs needed, and has any opinion/experience with the various service centers, please share.
I really hope they're not for the knacker's yard - they've only had maybe 100 hours use in their life, eerk.
Thanks!
Just give it a service yourself if your fairly competent with a spanner… good tutorial here, http://pondering-panda.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/tutorial-fork-service-rockshox-pike-426.html
I did mine but just changed the oils and checked the seals and stuff, didnt bother changing any of the parts. Its fairly hard to ruin the forks beyond repair ime so I'd recommend giving this a go before sending it anywhere.
Mine was leaking from the top just like yours, a very common issue which was solved after taking apart and cleaning it all up and putting it back together…
Good luck!
What do you mean by lockout? Pikes don't really have a proper 'lockout' - it's just a floodgate that allows fluid to be blocked but that can be over-ridden if a bump is hit
The u-turn is just a slider on the spring. You rotate it and it moves down or up. The screw to adjust it is part of the top cap on the lhs which presses in the slider and the tension us managed by three little detent springs with ball bearings in top to help it rotate
If its not adjusting the travel then I'd suggest taking the top cap off (2.5mm Allen key to remove top cap) then remove ballbearings and springs with a magnet and use a 24mm ring spanner or socket to get to the spring. See if the mechanism is engaging properly and check if you can adjust it manually. If not you might need to remove the spring completely (undo 5mm bolt in lower, watch for oil - refill with 15mm of 15wt oil - although I just used cheap 5w motor oil cos its only for lubrication)
Just don't try and adjust travel when compression is 'locked out'
The pondering panda guide helped me a lot, as did the seal replacement guide for a pike 454 air on the enduro seals website.
There's a chap on EBay does the seal & crush washer kit for about £7. You need a 30mm socket, a wrench willwork but can mark the top caps. YouTube has plenty of videos. It's 20min job, can even leave the fork on the bike. Spring side is just a spring, as said. If the cap has come adrift & ball bearings displaced it won't wind properly.
OK guys, that makes sense - servicing them myself should be within my capabilities. I just hope that they don't need extra parts.
If anyone has info regarding who would be best to send them to in the case that they are beyond my repair, that'd be great still.
Forewarned is forearmed, and forearmed is to be able to scratch yourself when descending, braking changing gear and taking a photo.....
If you're anywhere near Farnborough, Hants, give me a shout. I have time and tools on my hands and I know RockShox forks like the back of my hand. Email in profile. 🙂
101 miles according to the hypnogoogle [all hail the mighty hypnogoogle].
That's very kind - I'll see if there's a way I can do it, I'd be nice to meet other STWForumites!
A full service should sort all issues as long as there isn't excessive wear on any components.
The leak from the top of the Moco (compression damper) needs different seals to fix it (which rockshox don't supply)
feel free to mail or call the workshop for further advice, all parts available with us for home service or we can carry the work out for you 😀
Yeah, OK so I've been pretty busy, but a few weeks after, and with a new spring also sourced [I snapped it!] I did the service.
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I used 7.5wt damper oil, and 15-40 semi synthetic for the lowers.
There was one seal left, it came in a seperate packet from LoCo with the one for the top of the floodgate adjust and was 10-12mm and 3mm thick - if anyone knows where it was supposed to go, please tell me.
The full rebuild from LoCo was cheap and of good quality - I would recommend their services to anyone.
Just need to take it out 🙂