I have a set of Fox vanilla R’s that are showing the dreaded stanchion wear, for the £200 it’ll cost to get new uppers i might as well save up a bit more and buy some new forks. Pikes are my first choice, but im also after longevity and theres been alot thrown around these forums about lowers service every 15-20 hours, which for me, can easily be once a week but maybe this is jsut me being lazy? of course marzocchis would have been the obvious choice now, but their reliability of late means they get a big thumbs down. Am i just gonna have to pull my finger out and strip the lowers off regularly to help avoid wear?? tell me your experiences.

Cheers.

20 mins every 20 hours isn’t too bad is it?
You could leave it a lot longer than that anyway, but seriously it’s an easy job and it keeps them running sweet so you might as well.

My coil pike 426’s have been running super smooth for nearly 3 years now, never serviced them once, quick hose down and thats it. I should really have a look at them shouldn’t I.

Goes off to find service manual.

“lowers service every 15-20 hours”

Isn’t that just Fox?

I dont know anybody who has ever had their forks serviced, mine and my mates get caned week in week out without any problems?

It’s not even Fox. They recommend “inspection of dust wipers” every 15 hours, and oil change every 50 hours

i have never had a problem with my fox forks and owned 4 pairs, really well used in south wales winter mud

but here’s the rub i dont wash them,no nasty hose pipes or jet washing or chemicals, oil the chain a lot and clean the bike every 200 miles, if it gets muddy the next wet ride cleans the bike, stop washing your bikes everything will last a lot longer

Just get some 2nd hand marzocchis, from 2007 or before. Dead cheap, reliable and need servicing once a year or so. I went back to marzocchis because my Fox stanchions wore, and I havent regretted it at all

Thanks guys, I think im just gonna suck it up and buy some new pikes (despite the RIDICULOUS price rises)

Go get some Pikes mate.
Fantastic forks, honestly, they are that good.
As for this servicing lark, once a year is fine for air forks, coil forks can go 2 years unless something is wrong. The one thing I ALWAYS do though is to give each stanchion a spray with a Teflon lube spray after each wash, then work the fork to get it inside the seals.

i saw the inside of a pair of magura forks the other week, simlicity is the wrong word! Theres more moving parts in a morgue!

2nd hand marzocchis are about 1/4 of the price and require less servicing though, whats the point in getting pikes if you dont like looking after your forks?

Seems like a massive waste of cash to me

Because they’re awesome forks that don’t require looking after, haven’t you been listening? 🙄

Sorry, I wasnt.

The only downside with pikes is you MUST get them push tuned, otherwise they wont work properly. Now thats another £100 at least.

The only downside with pikes is you MUST get them push tuned, otherwise they wont work properly. Now thats another £100 at least.

???

??? exactly, i don’t know anyone with pushed pikes and everybody I know with them still loves them.

I dont know anybody who has ever had their forks serviced, mine and my mates get caned week in week out without any problems?

I’ve driven my car for years and it still works fine – never been serviced – I’ve saved so much money!

stop washing your bikes everything will last a lot longer

TBH I don’t even bother pumping up my tyres anymore – the next pile of loose grass I roll over just threads itself between the tyre and rim

😆

Yeh I dont even bother eating anymore, it takes up so much of my time.

I know two people with push’d pikes, and more 4 or 5 without. They all seem happy with them, but the ones who are push’d seem very vocal about it. If i buy them from TF it’ll cost £40 to get them pushed straight away.

??? exactly, i don’t know anyone with pushed pikes and everybody I know with them still loves them.

You sure?

How hard do they ride? If you like mincing about on xc rides then pikes are probably the forks for you.

If you like riding hard and fast then Pikes are useless, they simply seize up and become more rigid than a rigid fork. I heard about one guy who didnt get his pikes push tuned and the next thing he new was the insides of the pikes had started to melt due to all of the friction created due to the poor damping and hard and fast riding.

well, ive never heard of that happening!! and i can tell you that the guys i ride with definitely arent mincers!!

if you’re going to by new RS or Fox you could do a lot worse than get them from Flooks and have them right straight out the box.

what are you talking about david? have you seen the steve peat section on earthed 4?

Yes, I’m sure, now I may be your average trail centre mincer and a few runs down glentress isn’t going to push them that hard, but i know plenty of people who do push them harder than I do and are more than satisfied. Not saying the push won’t make them better but they’re pretty bloody good out the box. If your friend that melted them was pushing them so hard maybe something like a lyrik or boxxer is more the fork for them.

If you hadn’t wrote MUST in capaitals in your original post it probably wouldn’t have led to the next ten posts.

I’ll hold my hands up now and say I was joking. However, from what Ive seen there are a few people on here who do think you must get your Pikes tuned for them to work properly

david, was the guy who melted his pikes the same guy who was selling that bmx on ebay and was ‘rad to the power of sick’..?

lol melting fork internals…lol

dammit..!!!

Dont know about that.

All I know is the poor damping had caused so much friction to build up between him and the forks, that one night after a tough day at work, he got home and just decided to melt his fork internals in anger.

Anyway after doing this, the forks performed the task they should obviously have been intended to much better, thats act as a rigid fork.