And as for cost to VW – yes it has cost them, but that’s only putting right the immediate issue ie attempting to fix the engines they produced. None of this is going to compensate for the higher NOX levels/air pollution. Yes I know no amount of fine will fix the extra air pollution BUT a fine could at least contribute to future anti-pollution measures – a hefty fine makes a statement and I feel in this case an example should be made of a company who very deliberately flouted the rules way beyond, seemingly, what other car manufacturers were doing.

Interesting about the compensation! I’ve spoken to various owners who have only had the fix applied (not all of them happy with the results) and have been sent on their way. Unlike in the US/Canada where compensation payments to owners VERY good.

If other manufacturers were doing the same then I’m sure it would have been uncovered by now. I know accusations were levelled at one of the Vauxhall diesel engines and at the Renault 1.6 diesel (which has resurfaced again, now against Mercedes as they use the Renault 1.6). As for my logic – in the period when owners didn’t know then VW should foot the bill for any lost state revenues, after all, it’s not the owner’s fault as they never knew did they?

$14.7bn fines in another countries coffers…..not even in Europe. To me the excuse “everyone else was doing it” doesn’t wash because primarily VW went beyond the rest in terms of action/scale compared to what other manufacturers were doing.

VW took a short term hit on sales (and image) but sales have since recovered so in the mid to longer term, sales/the brand hasn’t suffered plus rightly so VW have had to spend considerable money fixing the issues. However, still no official penalty has been levied against them. For sure all manufacturers cheat to some extent but seemingly VW went above and beyond what anyone else was doing (primarily to crack the US market on diesels). I just find it crazy that in a time of worsening air quality in the UK, a prime offender has just walked away pretty much scott-free…..

“OK, I’ll bite but surely this has got to be the worst troll ever”

Really? Quite a statement given the content of some of the previous posts on this forum! Or is criticism of the mighty VW on Transportertrackworld not the done thing?!

Ok – so that’s an education for me today that NOX plays no part in VED. However the fact remains that VW lied and have so far appeared not to have suffered any consequences…unlike in the US/California.

Virtually identical in design to Fox FIT dampers, and on Mojo’s advice I change the oil in my Fox dampers annually. Each time the oil is slightly discoloured so it does appear to be worth doing.

As above, I also now recall there was an issue on early Guides suffering this issue (search mtbr.com), so try the warranty route if you can, but good luck on turnaround time/the parts being available.

Personally I’d just buy the kit including the tool and do it yourself.

Go to the SRAM tech manual site and download the Guide tech manual – just had a look and rebuild is clearly explained. So far I’ve found SRAM tech instructions excellent, with very clear step-thru guides.

Thanks for the replies – I think as mentioned about a consent order IS needed…..

It’s not a recall, it’s a ‘voluntary service action’!

The engine in question is also designed/produced by Renault (latest incarnation of the K9K) so it’ll be interesting to see if the finger is pointed again at said company (as I recall it was last year).

X Class makes a lot of sense for a company who are also VERY big in commercial vehicles.

I spent a week (with work) in Stamford CT back in 2014 – not a whole lot to do or see… Highlight for me was taking the train to New York for an evening (the train from Stamford takes you in to Grand Central).

Seemingly not! Happy that my 2nd dropper is a Fox Transfer.

No apparent leaks and yes, I guess I’ll try another full bleed.

Thanks – I’ll try a re-bleed and potentially a rebuild as well. I may see if I can source just the IFP seals/equivalents.

Double check with Mojo, but I recall being told by them when I bought a FLOAT X that it is a very ‘neutral’ shock tune-wise and that in all the variants Fox produce there’s very little tuning difference between them (seem to recall this is partly due to the FLOAT X having no boost valve – boost valve pressure being something that was varied a lot on FLOAT shocks).

Exactly, many things in our landscape in the UK are not native and can you really expect them to be on such a relatively small island with so many people?!

Thanks for the replies – to answer point made:

– good point and an easy win on raking away leaf litter
– the soil is pretty much the same all the way through so digging down won’t get to better trail surface
– the trail does need effort putting in to as it’s a connector trail to more, better techy stuff
– can’t be left as a mudfest as it’s a raised section

The water is run-off from a hill and this is almost like the end point of a funnel, hence why it turns muddy so fast. The idea of cutting in steps is good but I think given the sandy content of the soil, they’d just erode. What about cutting in a gulley at the top of the trail, that runs across the trail at an angle ie in theory collecting all the water/channelling it away right at the very start point?

Perfect – thanks

Thanks for the replies-I thought it would probably work but wanted to check before ordering/fitting.

Yes I think you’re right in that Fruita isn’t that different! perhaps A Rock Razor at least on the rear then?

Isn’t it the negative spring pulling the fork down? AFAIK the NA2 Forx no longer have travel spacers fitted as did 2015-and-older Forx – it’s all governed by the air-spring-shaft alone and to make a travel change you have to change the shaft.

As I recall, SRAM have a guide on how to do this in their tech guides section.

The C220 certainly has a bullet proof diesel engine. Most C Class are autobox, so that may rule them out for you? It’s my first autobox car and I can’t say I miss manual.

OP: Don’t you mean C180?

I have a 56 plate C220 (the diesel) – love it, great to drive and strikes the right balance (for me) between hatch and estate. Build quality is very good too – feels very solid, massively so compared to the Passat it replaced. Also if you do DIY on your own cars, they are good cars to work on ie lots of space in the engine bay and everything always strikes me as having been designed by an engineer rather than an accountant!

I had some older SIDs that went back 3 times for the twisted lowers issue.

http://www.ridefox.com/help.php?m=bike&ref=footer

Under ‘Search for your product info’ enter the 4digit code from your forx and this will tell you what config. your forx are.

Can someone please run me through the Carlos the Jackal bit as I was making a sandwich at that point and came back in to the see the bomb explode!

There’s some interesting threads over on mtbr.com shocks and suspension sub-forum about CCDB issues, including issues with shocks that have become stuck down.

So, an update…..

I still couldn’t get a firm answer out of the distributor as to why I was having to sign a waiver (and seemingly the dealer couldn’t either), but it appears it’s due to the fact that the forks only have a 2year warranty (I thought it was 3years like the frame) and the bike is 2years 3months old. The distributor were absolutely insistent I sign a physical of the waiver and then post it back to them before they’d send a new fork. The waiver stated it’s a goodwill gesture and there’s zero comeback if these new forks break, etc etc…

Exactly! – so until I see the waiver in person/read the terms late afternoon, OR am able to speak to the distributor warranty department before then, we’re all just guessing…..

I’ve been told it’s covered by warranty and not goodwill.

Thanks for all the input so far!

It’s a standard alu frame with carbon forks(with alu steerer) and I weigh 70kg/11stone.

That’s exactly my question – what am I signing waiver against? Me taking legal action over what could have happened? Excusing them from further claims etc? What if I refuse to sign – what then? Bike has a year remaining of frame/fork warranty.

The bearing press plate is flat, so pressing on the outer/inner at the same time (so my mind is fine as long as the inner race isn’t slightly proud). The old bearings that same out, just like with the poster above, were fine….so I just re-used most of those, having cleaned/re-packed them with grease and they went it spot-on so I’m thinking it’s poor tolerance on the outer race.

I take the point that you get what you pay for! However, I’ve been using unbranded bearings for several years now as found that branded one ie SKF and NSK weren’t lasting any longer than a year, which is the same I’m getting out of unbranded bearings.

Red is used for dampers only and the alternative, as stated above is Silkolene Pro RSF 10wt – however, you don’t want to be using this for lubrication in the lowers as it’s not very smooth (high Viscosity Index which means the oil remains stable at higher temps gives the downside of poorer lubricity).

Green is the one you want for the lowers – and again, as stated above it’s Torco (labeled by them as rear shock oil as I recall). However, Torco is hard to come by in the UK by my experience the genuine Fox Green oil works out just as cheap.

You can of course use other oils such as Stendec, Rock Oil etc etc.

The original Jon Whyte designed Marin FS bikes were head and shoulders above everyone else at the time of introduction, in late 1996 > light, simple design that was easy to maintain and rode very well.

They carried on making excellent FS bikes until around 2000 when everyone else had caught up and designs just seemed to stagnate from there, especially when everyone else started using carbon. The Alchemist was the real low point!

bike-discount.de have always been cheapest at the time of purchase, for me

I had this on my first 1X11 set-up, with a XX1 rear mech – it was the b-screw/mech-tension adjustment. Took quite a bit of trial and error adjustment but cured in the end.

It’s a dead easy fix – you remove the lowers, remove the cir-clip that holds in the air spring assembly, then pull out the air spring – you then compress the ABS washers/rings to squeeze out the oil and then ‘flick’ the air spring to purge the remaining oil. Then on re-assembly use suspension grease (such as Slick Honey) instead of oil to lube the airspring – by using grease the valve won’t block again.