2023 Zeb Ultimate issues?

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This topic has 53 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by doncorleoni.

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2023 Zeb Ultimate issues?
dyna-ti
Full Member

rode once and then the bike was laid up due to me having open heart surgery.

Bloody hell ! Should you really be riding hard enough to use up all the travel on a 170mm after such an operation ?.

I have a suspicion that you’ve not been completely honest on your riding with your doctor :lol:

Posted 1 year ago

renton
Free Member

SO just to update.

Fork was sent back under warranty and the whole fork apart from the lowers was replaced.

First ride today and initially it felt ok but by the end of the ride is was pretty solid and just rattling me to bits.

I had a shockwiz fitted and after every session it was telling me to take off more HSC, I had wound it right off after the first trail.

I even got Paul who I was riding with to have a go and he agreed its pretty rubbish. He has the 2022 Zeb ultimate and its amazing how supple and plush his is compared.

What are my options here now. I bought it in June and its been back once for warranty which doesn’t seem to have fixed the issues?

Posted 1 year ago

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z1ppy
Full Member

I would just add (being said Paul), I rode Steve’s fork/bike, while he was recovering from heart surgery, and they felt as good as my 22 Zeb’s. I was actually testing the frame sizing, so didn’t play with about with the forks, they just worked well. We now have the same bikes but I have ’22 vs his ’23 Zeb Ultimate forks, and yesterday trying his bike, the initially or lack of any movement in the travel made them feel like completely rigid forks. They feel crap, not what I hope for a newly warranty repaired fork & extremely disappointing for Steve.

Posted 1 year ago

julians
Free Member

If they swapped everything except the lowers,presumably that means the bushings (that are fitted in the lowers) have not been replaced/resized?

Assuming that to be the case it can only be that the bushings are too tight.

That doesnt explain how the forks felt fine today initially ,but got worse throughout the ride though.

Posted 1 year ago

julians
Free Member

I would just add (being said Paul), I rode Steve’s fork/bike, while he was recovering from heart surgery, and they felt as good as my 22 Zeb’s.

So they were working fine before renton sent them back, and now they have come back worse? Im confused…..why were they sent back if they were fine?

Posted 1 year ago

z1ppy
Full Member

No, where do you get that idea? When I borrowed them they were fine, I borrowed them while he was recovering & when he returned to riding, they worked without issue but then got progressively worse ride after ride, and so sent them to be look at by SRAM (or Mr. Butter @ Race Co very kindly sent them back). We got to bottom of a trail yesterday and I could see they were sitting much lower into their travel than normal & then tried them a couple of times & they are awful.

Posted 1 year ago

julians
Free Member

No, where do you get that idea?

Your bit of text i quoted in my post.

Never mind though,did they replace or resIze the bushings as part of the warranty work?

I think as far as your consumer rights (which are different to any manufacturer warranty terms) you need to go back to the place they were bought from,have a read of this.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-a-faulty-product-aTTEK2g0YuEy

I suspect that even though the manufacturer has already had one go at repairing them, in terms of consumer rights you need to give the original vendor one attempt to repair them before you ask them to replace them under the consumer rights act.

Posted 1 year ago

z1ppy
Full Member

I don’t see my comment, suggests he sent them back for no reason? But yes NM

Apparently, the lower bushing cannot be replaced or resized on 23’s.
I wasn’t aware of the, Steve said he was told this

Posted 1 year ago

Onzadog
Free Member

I know it’s not been possible to replace Rockshox fork bushings for a while. Not sure why they can’t be resized if they’re too tight. Isn’t it just a case of running the correct sized mandrel down there?

Posted 1 year ago

RickDraper
Free Member

That doesnt explain how the forks felt fine today initially ,but got worse throughout the ride though.

It does, if the bushes are too tight then the oil at the top of the fork will get squeezed out of them as you ride and never be replenished as the bushes don’t allow new lubrication past them as they are too tight. The splash oil gets scraped off the stanchion by the lower bush and never makes it to where it’s needed.

Posted 1 year ago

renton
Free Member

It does, if the bushes are too tight then the oil at the top of the fork will get squeezed out of them as you ride and never be replenished as the bushes don’t allow new lubrication past them as they are too tight. The splash oil gets scraped off the stanchion by the lower bush and never makes it to where it’s needed.

That makes sense. Initially they felt fine yesterday but did get progressively worse until the end of the ride when they felt awful. I had cramp in my hands and forearms by the end of the ride. on one section Paul and I swapped bikes as a comparison and his Zeb was just soaking everything up and mine was just pinging off everything.

I’ve sent the original retailer an email and will follow up tomorrow with a call. I know sending them back to SRAM via a different retailer probably hasn’t helped in this case but will see what they say.

Posted 1 year ago

renton
Free Member

Thinking about this….. its been getting worse as the temperature has dropped? Coincidence or not relevant?

Posted 1 year ago

RickDraper
Free Member

SRAM have to follow the company line from the crib sheet. What you need is somewhere that understands suspension to get this resolved for you.

Posted 1 year ago

doncorleoni
Free Member

As I said a few posts up and so did the other chap – bushes are tight.

Temperature does have an effect on the tightness of the due to the differing CTE’s (thermal expansion coefficient) of the metal. The lower leg is cast magnesium and exposed to ambient air temp. The stanchion containing air piston is aluminium. As the air is compressed in the air piston it heats up expanding the stanchion ever so slightly. The magnesium lower fork legs will shrink (again ever so slightly) in diameter (as exposed to cold air) tightening the fit and making bushes even tighter.

All my RS forks with right bushings felt much better in the summer and terrible in the winter

Posted 1 year ago