How forked is your fork?

[Tankman]

Unfortunately I get to see the worst of the worst!

 

What is the worst you have ever seen.

 

Thought I would share a couple of photos to illustrate the effect of not servicing your equipment on a regular basis!

 

All that dirt, grit, grime and fine dust creates a very fantastic sanding paper effect!

 

[Tankman]

The result:

 

 

[Andrew_Smith]

Yup - servicing your fork according to the service interval is crucial!

 

When I bought my current bike, the Reba looked almost like that. It was absolutely toast. Needed a new fork.

 

Just comes to show what happens to the fork if you don't take care of it.

[Letum911]

This is more a general question so please don't roast me Tank. But why on earth are the services so expensive?

 

I got a quote some time ago (earlier this year sometime) to have my Manitou Minute serviced (120mm travel). Estimated cost somewhere between R1800.00 and R2700.00 depending on the state of things once it is opened. Now to have this done once a year is insane!! I rather opted to ride until it is seven versions of forked and just replace it every 3 years. Cheaper than servicing it for that time...

[Breezer]

Dit lyk soos my vurk 2 jaar terug gelyk. Nou lyk hy nog slegter, maar werk nog lekker.

[MTBeer]

This is more a general question so please don't roast me Tank. But why on earth are the services so expensive?

 

I got a quote some time ago (earlier this year sometime) to have my Manitou Minute serviced (120mm travel). Estimated cost somewhere between R1800.00 and R2700.00 depending on the state of things once it is opened. Now to have this done once a year is insane!! I rather opted to ride until it is seven versions of forked and just replace it every 3 years. Cheaper than servicing it for that time...

100% dude. If you service according to suggested service intervals - isn't it something like every 50 hours? That would be every 2 months for me. Conservatively that is R1500 every 2 months = R9000 per year. Can buy a new Pike every 2 years for that.

[igg]

Those 50-100hr service intervals are usually just strip, clean, lube, fluid replacements. If you're paying R1500 for that then I strongly recommend you learn to do it yourself. It's a 1hr job for an experienced person, so you shouldn't be paying much more than the labour cost (no parts, except maybe crush washers).

 

A full service, including damper, can take quite a bit longer (labour cost) and include a number of parts (seal + o-ring kit at the least). So, depending on labour rate and required parts, 1.5-2.5k may not be that unreasonable.

[Tankman]

This is more a general question so please don't roast me Tank. But why on earth are the services so expensive?

 

I got a quote some time ago (earlier this year sometime) to have my Manitou Minute serviced (120mm travel). Estimated cost somewhere between R1800.00 and R2700.00 depending on the state of things once it is opened. Now to have this done once a year is insane!! I rather opted to ride until it is seven versions of forked and just replace it every 3 years. Cheaper than servicing it for that time...

 

That sounds rough but you were probably quoted on replacing quite a bit of internal parts.  It is not easy to give a quote without stripping the fork.

 

The labour on its own should not be that high.

 

When last was your fork serviced before you got the quote?

[Tankman]

Those 50-100hr service intervals are usually just strip, clean, lube, fluid replacements. If you're paying R1500 for that then I strongly recommend you learn to do it yourself. It's a 1hr job for an experienced person, so you shouldn't be paying much more than the labour cost (no parts, except maybe crush washers).

 

A full service, including damper, can take quite a bit longer (labour cost) and include a number of parts (seal + o-ring kit at the least). So, depending on labour rate and required parts, 1.5-2.5k may not be that unreasonable.

 

 

Problem is that most people do not do the 50hr service, which is quick and should cost in the region of R650-R850.

 

By the time it does get serviced, it is too late for a 50hr service and seals, dustwipers must be added.  Fox Dustwipers are R665 at the moment.  Then you are up to R1300 quickly.

 

If the 50hr service or lets call it a "lowers service", gets done regularly, you would not need to replace dustwipers that often. 

[MTBeer]

ok so at Tankman's mid range that is R750 every 2 months = R4500 every year = a new fork every 3 years.

 

Not slating you Tankman - I know you guys need to make a living and a profit.

[BigDL]

ok so at Tankman's mid range that is R750 every 2 months = R4500 every year = a new fork every 3 years.

 

Not slating you Tankman - I know you guys need to make a living and a profit.

That's about the cost of a couple of family breakfasts at wimpy every couple of months. Worth it imho.

 

I get my forks serviced regularly and am always happy to pay based on the unrelenting abuse they take and how important they are for my safety

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Plentipotential]

Problem is that most people do not do the 50hr service, which is quick and should cost in the region of R650-R850.

 

By the time it does get serviced, it is too late for a 50hr service and seals, dustwipers must be added.  Fox Dustwipers are R665 at the moment.  Then you are up to R1300 quickly.

 

If the 50hr service or lets call it a "lowers service", gets done regularly, you would not need to replace dustwipers that often. 

 

That's like 10 % of the original purchase price!!

 

So when my Toyota Prado goes for a service should I pay R 80 000.00? !!!!

 

As a matter of interest I just did have a service, R 2800.00

[Pure Savage]

That's like 10 % of the original purchase price!!

 

So when my Toyota Prado goes for a service should I pay R 80 000.00? !!!!

 

As a matter of interest I just did have a service, R 2800.00

To be fair you are talking about the entire car. You should think of it as the price of the bike. As when you had to replace your brake pads on the prado, that was 100% the cost of the original brake pad. If the bike you have the shock on is R110 000. Then its less than 1%

[Grease_Monkey]

My Fox 34 and Float DPS are in getting some love at Cogent Industries this week. Can't wait to ride on some fresh oil and seals again!

 

On the replacing instead of buying, I hear what everyone is saying and if you look at it purely from a price perspective it makes sense. But remeber if you go that route and don't service you will be riding with a fork that does not perform optimally at all for the duration of it's lifetime. So just based on that, I'd rather pay and have a well functioning fork permanently than a new sub-optimal performing fork every two years.

[Plentipotential]

To be fair you are talking about the entire car. You should think of it as the price of the bike. As when you had to replace your brake pads on the prado, that was 100% the cost of the original brake pad. If the bike you have the shock on is R110 000. Then its less than 1%

 

I understand the logic of the comparison being skewed. My brake pads last a lot longer than 50 hours. Tyres are a good example as they are a direct comparison, tech/materials/transport and the long and the short of it is that MTB'ing is expensive to the point that it's a rip.

[Mathieu_Schneuwly]

My Fox 34 and Float DPS are in getting some love at Cogent Industries this week. Can't wait to ride on some fresh oil and seals again!

 

On the replacing instead of buying, I hear what everyone is saying and if you look at it purely from a price perspective it makes sense. But remeber if you go that route and don't service you will be riding with a fork that does not perform optimally at all for the duration of it's lifetime. So just based on that, I'd rather pay and have a well functioning fork permanently than a new sub-optimal performing fork every two years.

This exactly. If you appreciate a fork which is functioning perfectly and is well run in (Ie slippery smooth) either learn to do the services yourself (preventative maintenance is dead easy) or be prepared to pay someone else to spend their time and consumables servicing your kit.

 

Running your fork to the ground with the plan to replace the whole thing, what a waste, you don't really deserve a suspension fork, rather ride a rigid... Just joking, but you get my point.