Thanks, I will try that. But I think it works as described by you: The fork goes down really easy on the first bit of travel. When i push it a little with my hand it goes down to around the 10%-mark. After that I have to push harder. But I will compare it as you described.

Also, with the lowers off, does the damping leg shaft extend fully out and stay out?

I can’t remember if I fully extended the damper before filling it. But I am pretty sure I did. Anyway, when the lowers are off, the damper fully extends and does not suck back in. It also doesnt suck back in when I unlock it by hand (my RL is in lockout when I take the remote off). In that position, the damper shaft is a fair bit longer than the air shaft.

What I do know for sure: When I installed the lowers, both the air shaft as well as the damper shaft were extended. I filled the air shaft beforehand so that it doesnt acidentally move back in when installing the lowers.

By the way: Something else with my damper may be wrong. I tought it was leaking but I am still not sure. When I took the lowers back off (couple of days after installing them, no riding during that time) it seemed like there was more oil in the damper side of the lowers than on the air side. Plus, it was leaking oil trough the middle of the hollow damper-bolt at the bottom. This would mean there would actually be two leaks…strange.

Then I had the lowers off for a while and let them stand/hang on the workbench for a while. At first there was some oil under them but later not anymore. So i think i acidentally got some lowers-oil in the damper shaft when I filled the lowers with a syringe, which then made its way out over time. The part that closes off the damper chamber (where the internal snap ring is) was dry during that time. So probably there is no leak…great.

But the lockout still seems strange. It seems to give the fork too much travel. There is a noticable difference between locked and open, locked just doesnt feel firm enough. (I checked the motion control thing. It touches the oil – so that should be OK but just to make sure i may refill it again.)

Anyway, I think that this (possible) problem could not cause my air-side problem, I guess, right?

Yes, the pictures in the manuals are really confusing. As for the Revelation – at least for my specific version – they dont show the right parts. I had the Floating Seal Head in there the wrong way after the first time I had it open. But now (and before that) it’s right. I checked this website where you can order a new air shaft. I assembled it as the picture shows:

But regarding the sag it didn’t actually change anything.

Im am not at my bike until the weekend. But then I will doublecheck and maybe take a pic of my airshaft. Maybe you can notice anything thats wrong.

I got an update to my problem: I cheked my fork again on the weekend. I am pretty sure that the equalization of air works. To be really sure I even tried it once without any grease on the air-side. I just lubricated the seals slightly with oil. The fork still doesnt come back out. But from how it is behaving, it seems like the airflow works (I sometimes hear the equalization, air comes out of the previously empty negative side once the fork went into travel, and it feels soft when I push it down).

When i didnt have any air in the fork and the top cap was taken off, I noticed that even then its hard to get the full travel. I have to pull and it doesnt stay extended, always goes back to where it was in my first pic above. So the only time it really fully extends (my second pic above) is when the positive chamber is filled with air and when i then elt air out of the negative (“hidden”) valve. This even works when there was no air on the negative side (afer reassembling it). So i think, full travel is only acchieved when the positive air is strong enough to compress the rubber parts on the air shaft in order to press it further down (i.e. against the snap ring).

I guess, thats why it doesnt come fully out after engaging travel, as the top thing of the air shaft is already past the equalization dimple at that point. Is that normal?

Could it be that some seal is pinched or slightly damaged, so that it doesnt stand up to pressures above 60 psi? With the lowers taken off, do you hear/feel air going out whil you pump it up? Maybe try it in water (like when you try to find a hole in a hose).

I assembled everything as shown in the Rock Shox Manual. There its all clear except for the floating seal head. I put that in as shown in the picture above. But I also had it in the other way after the first time I had it open…didnt change anything tho. So I think, everything sould be in right order.

I am reading the right, 130, scale. And I also double checked with a ruler. It only comes out to about 125-127. But it is a 130 fork. I think it comes out too far when I let the air out of the negative chamber. I guess it should be somwhere inbetween, like just above 130. Really strange.

I’m also not totally sure if it has always been like that. But I suppose it hasn’t, as I think I would have noticed when I first got the bike and adjusted the sag…

I have some news. First I took the bike to an LBS. They said, everything is fine with my fork. But they weren’t really convincing…

Then I e-mailed the manufacturer (which is also the seller) the description and my pics. They then called me and suggested to send it in for warrenty (they will forward it to Sram). So I am excited what’s gonna happen when I send the fork there next week. I will let you know once I got my fork back…

Maybe it’s hydrolock from a leak in the damper? Check if there is excessive oil on the damper-side of the lowers. But this wouldn’t have anything to do with turning the bike upside down, I suppose…

Its not quite back yet, but its on its way. Sram didnt repair anything.

I sent it in for nothing 🙁 Since I expected that Sram would maybe deny warranty work because I opened the fork, I explained everything I did with the fork in detail before sending it in and they said it falls under the warranty. Even called the Sram Service Center, which said that my problem may not actually be a problem but that they are happy to take a look at it if I send it in via my shop.

Now when it got there, they told me there is a failure and my warranty is void because I opened it multiple times and apparently did something wrong?! Up to now I wasnt told what was actually wrong with the fork. They only asked me to pay 100 € for a service, which I denied. Great communication!

Just strange that the problem was there before I first opened the fork…

So I guess I will just keep using the fork and have to trust those who say that there is no problem and everything is within its tolerances…

Btw, it would be great to get some responses to this question:

Maybe there is actually nothing wrong with the fork (like even the guy at the Sram Hotline suggested). But then it would be strange for Sram to ask for 100 € for repair (which sounds more like some of the Fox-complaints I read 😉 ).

Warrantied my fork because of a failed charger damper and it came back five weeks later from Fishers with stick down as well. They had jammed the solo air spring full of grease – maybe 10ccs in the positive sprig!

Fishers/Sram are complete chumps – if you insist on running rock shox stuff just be prepared to pay to have it serviced and repaired by loco/tf tuned etc

Stanchion diameter to bush internal diameter is a critical dimension, if this out of control the fork won’t work. Actual travel when everything is bolted together is just a minor inconvenience

My Pike sits somewhere between 3 and 5mm lower than it should, it also creaks like hell, can’t say it’s really bothering me tbh. Will probably strip it for a proper look at some point though.

Let’s not forget that there’s also a tolerance on the positioning of the travel indicator – **** knows where that’s sitting 😉

Back from a week in t’Alps.
Pike rct3 was horrible.
Blew a seal first day, luckily I bought spares.
Plagued by big top out clunk all the trip especially noticeable manualling through rolling terrain. A lot of creaking too.
Bled the damper before I went too.
👿

http://www.crconception.com/index.php?p=1_10_Preparation-Rock-shox

A coil will fix the blown air spring.

When was the last time the damper was serviced? Have you had the updated seal head installed?

Tom.
How do you go about buying one of those spring kits?

There is a link on the page to an order form, unfortunately it’s all in French. If you email the guy, he’ll help you I’m sure. To be fair, I don’t see the point of waiting for the PUSH/TF Tuned one – unless they are going to do tasty titanium ones that they custom build to your weight.

2016 Pikes and Lyriks came with an updated seal head with more overlap and a lower friction seal. It basically stops air from being sucked into the cartridge when the fork is flexing under heavy load – it makes the Charger damper a lot more reliable.

If I was going on holiday to the Alps or Whistler, I’d have both my shock and fork fully serviced by TF Tuned/loco before I went out. It saves your holiday from being ruined.

hi everybody, im having doubts about my LBS diagnosis so I hope someone can help me

At one point the compression adjuster of my Pike (RC 27,5 2014)
stoped working, took it for service and the LBS mechanic told me that it was a shimstack issue, they are bendt and not working properly.
Is this the real problem? is this a common issue after 2 years? i ride once or twice a week usually.