Why don’t you service your fork?

unless I notice any problems with the damping.

@chakaping, I think this is where it falls down with me. I don’t think I would even notice if there was a problem, actually rather than notice, know. I wouldn’t know there was a problem. I hear the brand ambassadors stating things in the socials such as “Got the fork back from tfTuned (other fork fixers are available) oooooh it feels so buttery smooth” I am pretty sure I am not good enough at riding a bike to notice this, plus I bet they have the fork tuned to within an inch of its life based on their riding over months of testing.

@chakaping, I think this is where it falls down with me. I don’t think I would even notice if there was a problem,

I’m like that when it comes to the fork needing a lowers service, I don’t notice the increase in stiction and think I’ve just got worse at riding a bike until the penny drops one day.

But if there’s a damping problem the fork might be topping out, packing down or doing other things that are more noticeable.

Scienceofficer, I bought a set of White, straight steerer, 29″ Rebas from you (or possibly the person you sold them to?) a number (ahem) of years ago. They’ve been on the wife’s bike since. Not seen mega miles, but seen not a lot of attention either. i.e. none! 😐

That’s almost like saying you’re worried your going to wreck “the car” if you changed the oil yourself….
You might round off the sump bolt… etc. but it won’t affect the central locking

I managed to wreck the pistons on a SLX front brake (tried to fit a 160-180 brake converter to a 180mm compatible fork… (times they changed and I didn’t know) so that cost me £100. So lets just say that my concerns are founded in reality (although I now know how to trim brakes hoses and bleed them…)

Also, I have a set of HELM1’s that I really need to send to TFT for a service (and seal upgrade). I’m not totally against servicing you know.

As mister Routes implies, I have 2 hardtails, a full sus and a gravel bike. Judicious choice means I can go years without actually needing a service 🤣

Also, I have a set of HELM1’s that I really need to send to TFT for a service (and seal upgrade). I’m not totally against servicing you know.

If you truly hate servicing and are not opposed to a little extra weight and improved performance, consider getting them converted to coil.

I got a coil Helm myself this year and it’s awesome.

It’s a faff, I do lowers when I feel they need it, but make sure I have spares available beforehand, like the fox nuts that are made of cheese, o’rings, foam rings, etc.

It’s only easy if you are ready to rectify any potential issues or errors you make.

I don’t touch rear air shocks though bar opening the can and cleaning, I just haven’t got round to buying things like the air shaft clamps (cheaper Amazon ones!) and so on, the seal kits also just top up the expense

Do my Fox 34s every 3 months or so. when. I say do I mean lower leg service. Always worried I’ll **** it up, but always amazed at how easy it is when I’ve finished often in under 20 minutes 🙂

Forks are expensive and I have the mechanical aptitude and sensitivity of an angry gibbon on crystal meth

As my father-in-law always says – and which its difficult to argue with – ‘stick to what you’re good at, pay other people to do what they’re good at’

I think fear of the unknown plays a part. If you arent used to doing it you can put it off because you dont want to make an error.

Or it could be that some are A. Too lazy, or B. Have too much money.

Interesting, maybe I should give it a go. Used to do shock air can services myself.

I send away to tf or similar religiously every 125 hours (annually) as per fox spec but no lowers servicing in the interim.

Fox 36 grip2 and I notice after about 100 hours a real drop off in small bump response and comfort. Does anyone have experience on if that would be sorted by a home lowers service rather than a full 125 specialist damper job?

As my father-in-law always says – and which its difficult to argue with – ‘stick to what you’re good at, pay other people to do what they’re good at’

Agree on this! I can swap pads, service a dropper, tubeless stuff anything else goes to the local. Its also a time thing after I have been at work the last thing I want to do is work on my bike and the weekend I want to ride.

i did have to split a CC DB inline air can that was shipped without the spacers once. That was a **** hassle (but i made it work, in the end)…

Thanks for the massive guilt trip! 😂

I know I can do it but I lose track of the hours I’ve ridden as riding is pretty sporadic around work and sailing these days.

Last couple of years I’ve been super time poor. I’ve neglected the rear shock and fork and my perception was spares and service kits were hard to get so adopted the ain’t broke don’t meddle with it in case you snap something that’s out of stock. Same with my frame bearings.

Really the whole lot wants pulling apart but it needs doing in daylight, outdoors on a dry day when I am not under pressure to be somewhere. Those days are few and far between and the bike shop that I used to use when I ran out of time closed the local branch.

Blah, blah excuses that don’t stack up 😁

Or I need a rigid bike (shudders) that’s more compatible with my free time for maintenance. 😬

I’m really bad for this. Mainly it’s down to me not having the know how. Any little job no matter how simple I will cock it up to an unimaginable extent. Plus don’t have the tools

LBS messed up my old forks, they were working fine upon entering, then left leaking oil out the damper and they wouldn’t take any responsibility for it except offering to source a new one at cost price but it was during covid and no parts were in stock.

Expensive to send away. And I’ll be without a bike for that time.

So ultimately never gets done. I have had a pair of ZEB’s on for coming up to just over a year now though and I will eventually get them done sooner rather than later.

A very useful tool is a syringe for dosing the correct amount of oil. I few years ago I was “gifted” a bunch of syringes that had been ordered in error, and I am very grateful for the resource.

First service was scary, but my Pike felt better afterwards than I remember it being when new.

I only do lower leg services myself. I’ve read and watched how to do the damper service, I could probably do it, but I’d rather pay to have that job done.

I don’t have time in my life for that sort of stuff. I’m either working, trying to enjoy some adventure time or flaked out trying to recoup and regenerate.

I’m gradually drifting towards this position as I barrel towards middle age. Recently spent an entire day fitting a set of full length mudguards to a rigid bike.

– brakes: I just know it will take an hour to realign brake calipers

Remove the lever from the bar instead.

@tjagain flat faced sockets are a godsend for fork top caps – well worth the outlay (you’d need 1 or 2 perhaps). I had to put one 12mm long reach socket on a lathe for a set of marzocchis though as the clearance between the lowers and the nut retaining the damping rod was miniscule.

Gah, the 32mm Bombers with no clearance, utter bawache. I did the same thing.

What do you mean by flat faced, no bevel on the end of the socket?

It’s also important to understand the difference between a basic service and a full one. Changing lowers fluid and cleaning the seals is generally about as hard as undoing a bolt, wiping your bum and pouring a shot. And not even at the same time. Changing main seals is just marginally harder. Changing fluids in dampers etc is usually a bit harder. Changing all the seals in a damper is something that most people aren’t going to want to do. Changing or resizing bushings is beyond the reach of almost all diy’ers… But broadly speaking, the harder it is to do, the less often it needs doing and it’s still generally worth doing the bits you’re up for yourself, even if you don’t want to do it all

Doing the basics yourself and sending it to the pros for anything more is generally a good balance. TBF the most basic service is the most important one, for most forks. The further in you get, the better it all lasts.

avdave2
Full Member

It’s rigid,

Satisfactory answer? 🙂

Is it a Pace?

bensales
Free Member

I don’t service the forks on my motorbikes every year either and they get a lot more use in shittier conditions than the cycle forks do.

It’s not really comparable. The main thing is, motorbike forks are much better sealed and have more oil in. That’s partly because they’re larger, partly because they’re not chasing grams, but mostly just that motorbike forks aren’t chasing sensitivity. The amount of unsprung weight makes such a huge difference. Offroad forks have to be able to take far bigger hits (because even at Rampage you don’t have 100kg of bike) , and you’ve got a tyre air volume the size of a fatbike or bigger. So basically it’s apples and oranges.

(on the road is even more dramatic- so many motorbikes have forks that’s entire damping is a hole. The damping oil lasts forever in those because it’s just not getting mangled through little orifices)

I service my forks by leaving them attached to the bike, put the bike inclined vertically against a wall and remove the lowers horizontally, easy to do and saves quite a bit of time. Just be aware of where the lower oil’s will run and capture them.

dyna-ti

I think fear of the unknown plays a part. If you arent used to doing it you can put it off because you dont want to make an error.

Everyone I ever did it with them first (especially just a lowers service) has said they thought it was going to be harder…
The weirdest is a mate who rebuilds (as in total rebuild) gas boilers as a day job…

Fox 36 grip2 and I notice after about 100 hours a real drop off in small bump response and comfort. Does anyone have experience on if that would be sorted by a home lowers service rather than a full 125 specialist damper job?

Yes, that sounds like increased stiction, it should get back to feeling perfect with a lowers service – and you might wish to stretch out the time until a damper service.

That’s what I do anyway, 2x lowers service when it feels necessary and then send off for a full service.

“ Everyone I ever did it with them first (especially just a lowers service) has said they thought it was going to be harder…”

I know I’d be able to do it just fine if I had someone show me in person the first time. But then again, I was chatting to my LBS about hourly labour rates and theirs are very similar to my own business’s internal rates, so I might as well do the work for my business that I’m better (and faster) at and pay my LBS (which is a minute’s walk from work) to look after my bike.

I don’t have much spare time right now – even getting in a proper MTB ride is difficult so I don’t want to waste that time on maintenance (which my wife thinks is just part of the hobby, like it’s fun!??)

Scienceofficer, I bought a set of White, straight steerer, 29″ Rebas from you (or possibly the person you sold them to?) a number (ahem) of years ago. They’ve been on the wife’s bike since. Not seen mega miles, but seen not a lot of attention either. i.e. none! 😐

My recollection is that they were 120mm 20mm axle versions. That was possibly 10 years ago on my Mk1 Solaris.

Pleased to hear they’re still trucking on, but they could probably do with being looked at by now…

OK, you shamed me into servicing my 2020 Pikes for the first time.

It was a bit of a surprise to note that oil is required in the positive and negative air chamber of the air spring (3ml and 1ml).

I managed to wreck the pistons on a SLX front brake (tried to fit a 160-180 brake converter to a 180mm compatible fork… (times they changed and I didn’t know) so that cost me £100. So lets just say that my concerns are founded in reality (although I now know how to trim brakes hoses and bleed them…)

Didn’t have to… if you’d asked/posted then you could have just replaced the caliper… and half a chance someone would have sold you a used one (I happen to have a XT 2 pot sat on my desk as I type)

The weirdest is a mate who rebuilds (as in total rebuild) gas boilers as a day job…

I tried to rebuild/service a gas boiler once. Being engulfed on a gas fireball  convinced me never ever to try that again ;lol:

Last fork I serviced was a Pace elastomer job (I still have the grease & gun if anyone fancies…)

same here. Though I’m holding on to that grease gun.

It’s easy to pop down to slick ‘n’ slide whenever and get an expert to service fork and shock.

How often? Er… I think that both my forks have expectations of something like ‘service after 50 hours riding’. Though I’m no longer a regular hard rider 50h is no time at all. It is typically once a year.

Having done the 2020 Pikes I have decided to the 2019 Revelations on my hard tail too.

So why do the newer forks have oil in the air shaft and the older ones not ?

Do I really need the new Maxima plush oil or will the old Rockshox oil be OK ?

@squirrelking yes. No bevel on the face so you don’t get the socket riding up on the tiny flats.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/why-dont-you-service-your-fork/#post-12650669

Who is ‘the supplier’?

Still running a 2004 pair of Foxes on old an stumpy, still fine. Never serviced, probably fail tomorrow 😉

Does anyone know if I can use the old 0W-30 Rock Shox fork oil on the latest 35mm SID forks?
The spec says they need Maxima Plush Heavy oil in the lowers but I’ve got a nearly full bottle of the old stuff in the garage I’ll use if it’s ok.

@SL2000
Re. Fox 34 foam rings.
I get asked for these quite a lot by customers who don’t want shell out for a wiper seal kit. The Rockshox 35mm foams work absolutely fine in a Fox 34. After all, the job of the foam rings is a very rudimentary one so its no issue at all that the foam compound differs slightly and the 1mm difference in circumference is irrelevant as the sizing of foam rings is vague to say the least. In fact the Fox 34 foams are thicker cross section than a Fox 36?!

Does anyone know if I can use the old 0W-30 Rock Shox fork oil on the latest 35mm SID forks?
The spec says they need Maxima Plush Heavy oil in the lowers but I’ve got a nearly full bottle of the old stuff in the garage I’ll use if it’s ok.

The 0-30 is the same as the Maxima Plush Light.

Cost, hassle and time off the bike are reasons I’d give. Plus a wipe down and application of lube to the stanchions seems to keep them in decent condition IME.

I think the 50 hour service interval is also joke and a cop out from the manufacturers.

I do think that my fox fork and shock could do with a service. Doing it myself might be cheaper but would prefer not to knacker them.

Any advice on where to get them serviced in central Scotland?

My bike is a Giant Anthem 2013 with Fox forks.

They have never been serviced. No scratching or anything on the stanchions. They have worked fine for years with some hard use.

However now they are pretty dam dangerous, the rebound has all but gone, and I am positive they are worse than rigid forks as you can never tell what they are going to do

Anyhow – never did it because they worked, and servicing forks was bloody expensive. Wont do it now as just about everything else is knackered on the bike too.

Is it still bloody expensive or come down massively in price ?

Well the problem with that question is that those of us who service at around the agreed schedule probably pay a fairly fixed price, whereas your approaching 10 year old never serviced gear is going to need a little more work shall we say so it really depends how broke they are.

This thread reminded to check the time on my pikes and it was 70 hours so I did a lower leg service and it cost me 20ml worth of a £20 1litre bottle of fluid. When they had the smidge over 200 hour full strip it was £100 at my local place. Not really expensive when you consider the cost of a new set.

I don’t because:

I don’t have a good space at home to do messy servicing jobs.

Hassle of sending off to TF or wherever.

Being without fork/bike for longer periods.

No good local shops who are either able to do that particular fork, or can do it within about 4 weeks lead time.

It’s just an annoying job, which takes time/hassle to sort.

@didnthurt

Any advice on where to get them serviced in central Scotland?

Depends where you are, Fresh Suspension in Troon are good.

I managed to wreck the pistons on a SLX front brake (tried to fit a 160-180 brake converter to a 180mm compatible fork… (times they changed and I didn’t know) so that cost me £100.

I know its a difficult talk, but can i ask what it is you did ?