Is this likely to be a problem?

It’s on a set of Fox 36 TALAS RC2 forks.

no

that near the crown I’d do the nail varnish thing and not worry – it’s not an area of the stanchion that the seals are running over continuously.

I doubt the fork ever gets that far up the stanchions with air in it, so not likely to be a problem.

that near the crown I’d do the nail varnish thing and not worry

Just out of interest, what is the “nail varnish thing”?

Discussed in full here

good luck

Thanks for the input folks. I did wonder if the fact that it is so high up on the stanchion meant that it wouldn’t cause much of an issue.

If you never get dirt / oil rings that far up the fork stancion, then I really wouldn’t bother doing anything with it.

I think if you bottomed your forks out that far out on a ride you’d probably have more pressing issues to worry about than damage to your seals. Unless you are Josh Bender (AICM5EP) I’d say you’ve no need to worry :o)

I think if you bottomed your forks out that far out on a ride you’d probably have more pressing issues to worry about than damage to your seals. Unless you are Josh Bender (AICM5EP) I’d say you’ve no need to worry :o)

I’ve bottomed out my Lyriks (same travel) several times and ridden away – as long as the fork is set up correctly, working properly, and your body positioning is good, bottoming out is no bad thing.

I wouldn’t worry about it, but would do the nail varnish thing, to stop chewing up the seals at max compression.

As for the bottoming forks out thing, if you aren’t bottoming your forks out at least once a ride, why are you riding with such long forks?!? Surely if you only use 80/100mm of travel, why carry around the extra weight of a bigger set.

My point was more that I don’t think they should go that far, even under full travel. If they have I’d guess something’s gone more wrong than a bit of seal damage.

But I could be wrong of course. They might go exactly that far, I think I’ll find, as this picture of an oil ring on somebody’s forks no doubt soon be posted proves.

Your forks at max compression almost go upto the crowns.

See here:

Im 17st with my kit and dont think i’ve ever bottomed my forks out. Only way I could get get max travel would be to let all the air out of them!

Then you have them setup wrong, if you aren’t using full travel there is no point carrying the extra weight and bulk of long travel forks. I am around the same weight and use 90% of the travel on my Lyriks every ride.

Like I said earlier, if you are only using 80-100mm of travel why lug around 150/160mm forks.

Unless its all for image 🙂

rule of thumb is you should bottom out at least once on the trail that way you know you’re getting full travel on the bike

If I have my forks set up such that they bottom out when I land heavily, they are too soft for general riding and tend to sag about 50%. Is nothing to do with image and more about compromise.
The only way I can get my floats to actually bottom out is to let the air out of them. You do understand that air springs are not linear, therefore the more you compress them the more the spring rate ramps up.

There are many different reasons for how much travel you use/need.

I have 150mm forks and get around 130 out of them. If i wind them down to 130 the bike feels wrong and i only get 110-120. Once in a while ill slam them and go to 140 ish. Also i find the small bump sensitivity better when set longer.

As for the op’s Q, just treat the wound in a suitable way and see how it goes. If it damages a seal then look into some new uppers or sell the forks to a lighter rider 🙂

My Lyriks are Air and I can get the correct sag, and get them to bottom out when riding.

Have you set the compression damping up correctly?

Like I said what’s the point of 150mm forks, if you only use 100mm of travel?

Following this http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/scratch-on-lyriks-stanchion-rockshox-advice

and this

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/scratched-stanchion-on-my-pikes

I repaired mine and they were/are fine – Peter Poddy still owns them.

Superdrug sells really cheap gold/bronze looking nail vanish.

After you’ve finished the repair use the rest on one of your hand then imagine David Bowie from the 70’s is **** you off.