What’s killed my shock then?

Float X on an Orbea Rise.

I went to fit new bushes yesterday and noticed 4 marks on the lower body. Strangely symmetrical and equidistant from what would be the centre line of the body through the eyelets.

You can feel them with the end of your finger. I think the shock had lost a bit of air when I was rode on Friday. It didn’t quite feel right so when I checked the pressure modnrode and it was down to 145.whwre nornally it would be 165. I didn’t check it at the start of the ride though so it’s possible that it was 145 all along.

Could the damage have been from something internal?  I pulled the air can off and everything was clean and greasy inside. No debris anywhere. I guessing I’ll need a new body. Is this doable at home? I know Fox are fond of proprietary (£) tools for certain things.

That needs a new shaft. I’d say that’s almost certainly dirt in the wiper seal. Do you clean it regularly with float fluid?

Not sure it’s a user replaceable component.  Usually fox limit you to doing the seals/ bushes and that’s about it.

I give the shaft a wipe over fairly often. I usually give it a drop of oil and a bit of a squish and then wipe the shaft clean afterwards (no sniggering at the back)

I’d have though if it was dirt in the seal, the damage would extend all along the shaft? It’s not the easiest thing to take a picture of. It’s only the bits in blue that are damage, what looks like lines running along the shaft are just reflections.

They’re about 2mm long and were pretty rough. Like something hit the shaft. They’re roughly where the wiper seal sits at sag so could be dirt. Just seems weird that they’re symmetrical

Has the shock ever been previously sent away and serviced by a suspension company?

Leaning another bike up against it? Uplift trailer damage?

RustyNissanPrairie

Full Member

Has the shock ever been previously sent away and serviced by a suspension company

Nope. I bought it around 6 months ago. I’ve cleaned and lubed it a couple of times but hasn’t had a ‘proper’ service yet. The marks were there a couple of weeks ago.

tone46Free Member
Leaning another bike up against it? Uplift trailer damage?

Neither! With the shock mounted to the bike, those marks would be on the top of the shaft (facing up towards the downtube).

Given that they’re pretty much exactly where the wiper seal sits at sag, I reckon you’re correct when you say a bit of dirt could’ve been trapped there. It wouldn’t take a massive spec of grit to wear like that with the subtle movement of the shaft whilst sat spinning the gears.

That said they do look almost identical. I do wonder if the Orbea linkage, which looks similar to specialized, is creating leverage or uneven pressure in a particular area, causing it to rub against or through something beneath the wiper seal??

If it’s only 6 months old you could try to get it sorted under warranty. They might well just say it’s dirt/grit, but then again they might not. Worth a try

Yeah, it is similar to the Specialized linkage. Yoke based thing that can side load the shock. I haven’t read of any issues with this on the Rise though.

Orbea actually redesigned the linkage to get away from some other issues and I was fortunate enough to get a complete new style linkage under warranty.  I fitted that ~2 weeks ago along with a full set of frame bearings.

I might pull the air can off again and take the seals out this time. See if there’s any corresponding marks inside.

With the shock mounted to the bike, those marks would be on the top of the shaft (facing up towards the downtube).

Up towards the top tube?

I took my X2 to get serviced last week by an ex Rockshox mechanic that runs a local business. We got chatting about the issues with the X2 and he was showing me the bearing assembly that has been changed on the newer version.

 I do wonder if the Orbea linkage, which looks similar to specialized, is creating leverage or uneven pressure in a particular area, causing it to rub against or through something beneath the wiper seal??

He did mention certain linkage setups that don’t play nicely with the X2 and required redesign, as I understand due to uneven loading on the shaft – and i’m pretty sure he mentioned trunnion mounted and Orbea (I wasn’t paying that much attention as my frame isn’t problematic).

Obviously not the same shock but potentially a similar issue.

Anyway, I’d be getting in touch with Fox and seeing what they say.

Up towards the top tube?

Oh, yeah I see what I did there… You are correct.

What size Rise? Have you got a photos of the shock mounted to the bike?

It’s a medium (alloy) frame. No close up pics but I’ve zoomed in on a couple of random ones

I did check for clearance when I fitted it. The Float X was standard fit on the H20 and M10 I think so shouldn’t be an issue?

So, emailed Fox and asked their opinion. The gentleman who replied basically said there’s no way it could have been anything internal and to have caused the damage that it has, if it had been debris in the seal, it would have scored the whole damper body which does makes sense.

I spent a while staring at it in the garage and still can’t figure out what’s happened. Any compression of the shock hides the damaged area inside the air can so if it’s nothing internal, it has to have been something hitting the top of the shock while I wasn’t riding it.

There’s not exactly a huge amount of space between the top tube and the top of the shock.

The edges of the marks were sharp, it was like bite marks from adjustable pliers or something.

Anyway, sanded them with some 240g to take the sharp edge off. They’re flat now and I haven’t gone through the anodising so I might go at it with some nail varnish and give it another sand once it’s dried. Going to order a seal kit and hope for the best I think.

Still none the wiser what’s happened. It actually kept me awake last night ?

The marks look too symmetrical to each other, the length of each mark is similar and the distance between each pair is also too similar for that to be caused by dirt in my opinion. I’d go with something digging in inside the shock when it’s compressing

So, repair is underway!

Had a few quotes of £30-£40 for the damper body on top of a service at around £135. Once you add postage on top it was getting on for £200.

So, I bought some epoxy for £8 and figured it’s already f*ucked, I can’t really make it any worse, right?

First attempt I think I didn’t mix the resin properly as it never really hardened. It set but wasn’t hard and I could leave a mark in it with my nail.

Second attempt with added fury on The mixing dried and set nicely but didn’t really bond with the surface. It was as though the resin was too think to properly get into the gouges.

So weighing up my options, sending it off seemed like a sensible thing but instead, I took a fine triangular file to the damper to embiggen the damage. Why not? It’s already f*ucked. I turned 4 tiny gouges into 2 much bigger gouges thinking that it would give the epoxy a better chance of bonding with a larger area of exposed metal.

Got some zoomed in photos of the damage. There’s no way thats a rock. It can’t have been a rock? The surface scratches are from 400 grit sandpaper. They look awful up close like that!

Managed to get a good mix on the epoxy by the looks of things. It’s rock hard and I’ve started to sand it down. Started at 400 as precisely as possible to try not to further scratch the damper. Easier said than done.

I went at it with 1000 followed by 2000 and it’s looking pretty good. One of the repairs is almost undetectable when you run your finger over it and with a bit more polishing, I reckon it’ll be perfect. The other one I think needs a little bit more resin, I think I was a bit too frugal as there’s a bit of a lip that you can just catch with your nail so I’ll stick some more on and see how it goes.

I’m wondering if 2000 is too fine because it feels smoother than the bits of the damper I haven’t touched. I know it doesn’t want to be too smooth because the oil needs to stick to it so I might go back to 1500 but I’ll decide once I’m happy that the resin part is finished.

No progress pics but I’m kicking myself for not using something black to match the damper lol