I am thinking of buying a set of second hand F100 RLTs. They look great apart from a tiny amount of stantion wear on one leg. Apparently, this is a common fault with Fox Forks but can someone explain what the impact is?

Is this simply a cosmetic fault or does it impact the performance?

Don’t bother, I would get some new ones, mine have wear and there getting worst, will be getting new ones soon

I recently bought some new ones for my Stumpjumper. The stanchions wear, but so do the bushings. Once they start to go, they get worse quick. It’s about £220 to send off for new Stanchions & bushing(can’t be done diy). I opted to get a new set from Merlin, as they were £300 on offer with £200 discount.

I’ve a pair of vanillas with worn stanchions that have been running fine for 3 years now 🙂

I wouldnt bother unless they are being sold at a very decent price. My fox 36’s had stanchion wear but I sold them for about £100 to reflect the fact.

Where is the wear located?

If you can just see a tiny bit of it above the seals (probably on the disc brake side) then the chances are the stanchion will be worn much worse inside the fork. As said, its costly to fix.

I wouldnt bother with fox forks at all unless you are prepared to maintain them. If you dont like stripping forks down and re oiling on a regular basis then I would probably avoid them.

I don’t see there being a huge problem with stantion wear, it’s not like the seals are air tight. The seals would need regular cleaning and re-oiling as they will almost certainly leak, and if the seals are allowed to get dirty then that could make them a bit sticky. but can’t see performance being affected too much? Anyone else know for sure?

Often wondered about this as I’ve just got my second set of fox forks repaired with new CSU’s.

Apparently, this is a common fault with Fox Forks but can someone explain what the impact is?

Its not a fault, its a problem that develops because the fork doesnt get serviced.

If i were buying second hand i would stay away…hard to tell how much damage has been done and could continue to get worse…

Why do people keep buying Fox Forks ?

It’s known they wear out quickly – for the price it’s unacceptable.

It’s known they wear out quickly – for the price it’s unacceptable.

They only wear out quickly when people neglect them…

Stantion wear between bushing and stantion means that the anti friction silicon coating has been worn away and you are asking rough metal to run across a now rough bushing. You will get a huge amount of stiction as a result.

I’d avoid used forks showing signs of wear and buy new and be responsible for your own maintenance of the forks.

With proper and considered maintenance, stantion wear is an non-issue. You’d clean and lube your chain, so I dont see how simple Fox maintenance is something that people simply don’t bother with.

I wouldnt bother with fox forks at all unless you are prepared to maintain them

I wouldn’t bother wearing a chamois either unless you are prepared to wash it 😉

They wear out quickly when people treat them just like any other fork

FWIW mine wore out after 3 years
Stored upside down, dust seals lifted, cleaned & lubed on a regular basis & serviced regularly
I would’ve hope they’d solved the problem by now by design rather than covering it up by way of an onerous maintenance schedule for the owner

I agree with stuartanicholson, every bike part wears an requires looking after. Just because it expensive does nt mean it will look after its self.
Fox are well worth the time spent looking after them

I’m reluctant to get stuck in with mine because they are so expensive

buzz-lightyear…there are some really good servicing guides out there. Once youve done it once you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about!

But 15 hr service interval? Ridiculous. That would mean every week or two for me. Its all down to having stupidly little oil in one side s the top bush does not get splash lubricated so you have to either invert the fork or strip it to oil some stupid foam ring thing t get any lube to the top bush. I have a set with worn ut stanchions – they still work and don’t blow as there is not a proper oil seal ( another issue leading to wear) but the slop in the bushes is quite noticeable. £ not much for a set showing wear.

I must admit I’ve got a set of Fox Fork (2 years old now) and never done a thing to them, except store the bike upside down, and no wear whatsoever. They still ride well.

Any links to a good guide to services the seals?

Fox have one http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/QuickTech/Dust_Wiper_Seal_Quick_Clean.htm

Also Mojo have some leaflets in fox stockists and somewhere on their website as a downloadable pdf.

The fox one looks easier as you dont have to take the fork off.

It’s okay saying follow the servicing guide, but no other fork manufacturer has such a ridiculous service interval. If it was not so ridiculous you would not have such a long list of people complaining about stanchion wear. IMO

Just for a bit of balance, I’ve worn out the left hand stanchion on Revelations and Vanillas in similar amount of time, about 18 months from new.

everyone keeps going on about the servicing of the forks but when I asked about fox or rockshox on here no-one actually said rockshox perform better when riding than fox.

Yet people with fox or both rockshox and fox said fox performed better.

So the real question is, are you prepared to maintain the forks for the best performance or you happy with slightly worse performance for those extra 10 hours of riding? (I believe rockshox recommend a 25 hour maintainence, but could be wrong?)

Oh and the Vanillas continued to perform well with the wear, they just pissed oil out of the seal.
The Revs however are suffering from a fair bit of stiction, but I’m going to change the oil and see if that improves things.

But does it actually effect the strength of the fork???????

I service my revs every ~30hrs and for a 10min job it’s worth doing. I figure 30hrs is 5-6 ‘proper’ rides, which isn’t so bad really.

I service my Magura Laurins every 50hrs and I don’t know why I bother – the seals are so good the oil is like new everytime 🙂

But 15 hr service interval? Ridiculous.

Fox recommend that every 15 hours you Inspect (i.e look at) your forks for wear and lightly oil them at the wiper seal, hardly onerous…Having said that, nearly every other manufacturer manages to make the coating last longer than Fox.

Has anyone with worn stanchions thought of having them stripped and hard anodized rather than buying new?

I guess if the wear was too bad it would be too late but maybe an option if they are just showing the early signs.

I pulled my revs apart for the first time in 3 years – all nice and oily inside and the oil only slightly murky. Guess I don’t ride as GNARL as others. s/h Talas next…

Again, just as a bit of balance. I’ve had Fox forx – never had problems with premature wear…

Just bought some Revelations which I’m very happy with so far but in the current manual they recommend checking/lubing seals every 10 hours!!! Sounds pretty similar really.

FWIW, I bought a set of vanillas for £35 because the anodising was very worn. I wouldn’t pay much for a set that have already worn.

IMO the ‘problem’ with Fox forx is that there are lots of cases of the anodising wearing very fast in UK conditions that other brands eg Rockshox usually cope with fine regardless of what the quoted service intervals are. There will always be examples of any brand failing early but the sheer quantity of problems with Fox is the key thing here – sure, you can get a set that work perfectly and never wear but I wouldn’t be willing to gamble on it, particularly when you consider the premium cost of them.

Also, I find Mojo’s attitude poor with warranty – eg it’s your fault and that’s it.

I’ve got some old Marzocchi Z1 Bams from 1999 and some 2002 bombers and the coating on the stanchions on these looks much thicker and durable than any fork I’ve got in the past couple of years, no wear on them at all really, new forks seem to have a really light coat on them that looks like it’s worn already, I wonder if manufactuers just aren’t speccing them with a decent durable coating so they do wear out quicker so we have to spend £’s on replacement parts/servicing/new parts? 😕

It’s a fine balancing act of making the anodising just thick enough to last for 3-4 years as long as you service properly. Too thin and it wears out too quickly evan with servicing and too thick and the fork lasts forever and fox don’t get a repeat sale. I’m sure they have a business model based on this – Fox aren’t in this to be our friends, they want to sell us lots of their products and if they fail after 3 years then that’s all the better for fox.

hello

my 2ps worth albeit based on older stock – had 2003 F80RLCs 80mm jobbies from when i worked in a bikeshop and was seduced by their marketing – went through 2 sets of uppers and one set of bushes and replaced the lockout ( crap design ) – I actually serviced them / oiled them but low and behold left leg worn x2 – this is based on riding peak / lakes a lot and a lot of forest mid week riding – yes they do work well but longevity is not on a par with say older bombers – they just dont cope well with uk grit. I ride a lot but only xc stuff and i am a climber not a downhiller… I know a few others with similar problems too. MOJOs service is an acquired taste too…

When the 3rd set of uppers wear ( they will ) its the bin for them and some Sids or Durins for me…

Personally I think FOX are having a laugh regarding their prices / life span. I would NEVER EVER buy a FOX product again – high prices ( even at trade = chi chi factor and people want them regardless. Plus mine and most of other FOX users have all experienced creaking steerers / rocking bushes etc…

WHY do people still buy them? CRAP

paul

I just sent my 32 Talas back for their first service after 4yrs+ hard UK/Alps/Spain riding. Stantions were worn so they replaced the whole crown steerer assembly for £110 and gave me new bottom end (legs? dont know what we call them) for free.

Service was £105 so £215 total was pretty good I reckon. I’d cleaned them pretty much every ride but never really dug them out properly. Totally plush and lush again, I’m a satisfied Fox customer.

As for pricing, Paul you are right, RRP is crazy. I just bought a set of new 2009 Talas 32 140 QR15 for £495 from a guy in Taiwan via ebay. Came with a 15mm hub thrown in. RRP is over £700 i think without the hub.

I got a set of Talas forks a few years ago which were repaired as warranty job as the anodizing stripped within 9 months. I hadn’t been as carefull as I could be with the servicing intervals as I could have been so I guess they were looked at once a month (which was about 40/50 hours riding).

Once I got them back I did everything by the book. Stored the bike upside down, cleaned them carefully, adhered to the service intervals, oiled the little foam wiper EVERY ride. And they had to go back a couple of months ago for new stanchions as once more the anodizing had worn through..

Lovely forks though so worth a bill every now and again 🙂

I recently tried to lift the seals, the brake-side seal came off OK so I cleaned and lubed, but the other one is stuck and I managed to put a light scratch on the stanchions while trying.

I tried the other method of removing the lowers after loosening the bottom nuts, but no amount of bopping with a mallet would get them to release. 🙁

I’m not usually ham-fisted, so not ideal for self-servicing every 15 hours then!

Fox don’t ask anything more than say Rockshox – it’s not a ‘service’ every 15 hours FFS! If you actually read your RS manual, the same is required…

But ignoring all that, I had a set of abused (cwmcarn, afan, Qs, Mendips and of course muddy old Bristol) foxes finally serviced after 18 months and they were fine. *shrug*