Riding hours - fox suspension service

[Jacoo]

I ride my bike mostly on the road, dont hit the trails very often. I dont use a garmin or any computer, so i have no idea what sort of riding hours im putting on my bike. Im pretty terrified of wearing the stanchions on my fox fork and rear shock due to negligence, and i know that the service intervals are quite intense for fox. How do i know when to service my shocks if im not timing riding hours, and also how do i know when i need new dust seals? The lbs loves to tell me that i need new seals every time but somehow i think its not necessary. I dont want to not service enough, and i dont want to be spending a lot servicing my suspension way before its actually needed.

Does the turning your bike upside down for a while ever so often help? Putting a bit of lube down the stanchions while creating a gap with a zip tie?

Also when i do need seals, should i stick to the fox kit or do you guys use different seals like skf or so?

[Dicky DQ]

You must time the hours. how else do you compare yourself to other stravaassholes 

 

Serously, you should know how much you ride, and apparently they say riding on the road is worse for a fork than offroad, Who know.

 

That said, I don't know. The service intervals are crazy stupid for some that rides a bit. A minor service is required every on to 2 months. Bit eina that one.
change oil in lower legs - every 30 hrs and seals and wipers

change FLOAT fluid in air chamber of FLOAT forks. - every 30 hrs and seals and wipers

service damper: 32, 34, and 36 FIT; open cartridge (OC) and Terralogic® - every 100 hrs
 

Edit: or I may be wrong.

[Jacoo]

 

Serously, you should know how much you ride, and apparently they say riding on the road is worse for a fork than offroad, Who know.

 

Edit: or I may be wrong.

Whyy??

[Tankman]

If you keep you stanchions clean, wipe the worst dust and grime off after a dusty ride (no pressure washer) and ride mostly on road.  Service it once a year and you should be ok.

 

If want to learn how to do a lower service, I would to that half yearly and a full service once a year.

 

Dustwipers should be inspect on service. Again if you are mainly riding road, they should at least last the year.

 

Turning your bike upside down ever so often will help lubricate the foamrings under the dustwipers, so yes that does help.

 

NO do not "lube" the stanchions with your suggested zip tie method!

What "lube" do you intend on using?  Mixing up the lower oil with any old lube is not a good idea and will do more harm than good.  All that fork juice/snake oil is a crock of crap, use only the what the manufacturer recommends. 

 

If you do half yearly lowers and once a year full service, then you wont need to worry about lubing the fork yourself.

 

If you want to use different dustwipers when replacing, use SKF seals if you want to try something different otherwise just stick to the original Fox dustwipers (also manufacured by SKF by the way) 

[porqui]

Just put Strava on your phone even if it is just to record the hours spent riding.

On the road the movement of the fork is over a narrow band so wear tends to be concentrated in one small area so more intense. Off road the movement is in a wider band so spread out more.

[Butterbean]

First, average out your monthly riding... Two weekday rides of maybe 1.5 hours, with a 3 hour ride on the weekend will average out at 24 hours...

 

Fox recommend fork and shock interval at 30 hours.

 

This is a lubrication service, not the damper. Damper service is every 120 hours, but basically once a year.

 

If you can learn the lubrication service, it's a really simple, cheap, and easy thing to do, depending on your technical prowess.

 

For the fork, You'll need one blister of float fluid for the air spring, soak the foam rings in float fluid, and fill with fox gold oil or whatever is speccd for your fork. The foam rings can be cleaned and reinstalled if there are no tares.

 

For the shock, its a single float fluid blister.

 

Apparently, fox designed the forks that these services can be done by the rider, and the major service by them. I don't see the advantage of pushing that interval too far, as its basically a 60 rand job with all the lube considered, and takes about an hour. Replacing stanchions however is moer expensive.

 

As for road or off, hours are hours...

[FirstV8]

I have done about 400 hrs on m Silverback with  Rock shox forks and they still feel as good as the day it came out the shop . I wash only with water and use a micro fiber cloth to clean the stanchions of any residue left on them . I spray a bit of WD 40 onto a micro fibre cloth and wipe the stanchions from top to bottom before putting my bike away after cleaning every time . I ride an equal amount of road and off road monthly so my wear factor is good along the whole length . i have been in LBS and heard some absolute BS being told to  a prospective MTB customer about service intervals . The most horrific one i heard was the salesman telling the poor guy that the drive chain should be changed every 1000 km . In my case that's every 4 to 6 weeks at a cost of close to R2000 for Shimano run of the mill spec parts . The prospective buyer left without buying from that dealer . 

[Jacoo]

If you keep you stanchions clean, wipe the worst dust and grime off after a dusty ride (no pressure washer) and ride mostly on road. Service it once a year and you should be ok.

 

If want to learn how to do a lower service, I would to that half yearly and a full service once a year.

 

Dustwipers should be inspect on service. Again if you are mainly riding road, they should at least last the year.

 

Turning your bike upside down ever so often will help lubricate the foamrings under the dustwipers, so yes that does help.

 

NO do not "lube" the stanchions with your suggested zip tie method!

What "lube" do you intend on using? Mixing up the lower oil with any old lube is not a good idea and will do more harm than good. All that fork juice/snake oil is a crock of crap, use only the what the manufacturer recommends.

 

If you do half yearly lowers and once a year full service, then you wont need to worry about lubing the fork yourself.

 

If you want to use different dustwipers when replacing, use SKF seals if you want to try something different otherwise just stick to the original Fox dustwipers (also manufacured by SKF by the way)

Ive just seen something online suggesting that you can put some fork lube down the seals using this method, but i havent done it. I think I'll definitely learn to do the lower service myself and invest in a bottle of the fox fluid (or I think I remember there being 2 types of fluids in the fork).

And then for the seals - i just figured seals from skf might be cheaper cause they don't carry the fox brand but i have no idea. I suppose fox and saving money doesn't go hand in hand but might as well save where i can. Thanks for the advice.

[Jacoo]

Just put Strava on your phone even if it is just to record the hours spent riding.

On the road the movement of the fork is over a narrow band so wear tends to be concentrated in one small area so more intense. Off road the movement is in a wider band so spread out more.

Ah, the wear pattern thing makes a lot of sense.

As for strava, i literally do short rides to campus, gym, shops etc most of the time. So switching on strava every time isnt practical. I might as well use a stop watch in that case. But i should maybe do just that for a month or so every time i ride to just get an idea how much my riding time actually adds up.

[Jacoo]

First, average out your monthly riding... Two weekday rides of maybe 1.5 hours, with a 3 hour ride on the weekend will average out at 24 hours...

 

Fox recommend fork and shock interval at 30 hours.

 

This is a lubrication service, not the damper. Damper service is every 120 hours, but basically once a year.

 

If you can learn the lubrication service, it's a really simple, cheap, and easy thing to do, depending on your technical prowess.

 

For the fork, You'll need one blister of float fluid for the air spring, soak the foam rings in float fluid, and fill with fox gold oil or whatever is speccd for your fork. The foam rings can be cleaned and reinstalled if there are no tares.

 

For the shock, its a single float fluid blister.

 

Apparently, fox designed the forks that these services can be done by the rider, and the major service by them. I don't see the advantage of pushing that interval too far, as its basically a 60 rand job with all the lube considered, and takes about an hour. Replacing stanchions however is moer expensive.

 

As for road or off, hours are hours...

Thanks! I think i might ask the bike mechanic if i can watch next time i go for a service as well as watch a video or 2. But i agree its worth learning.

[Jacoo]

I have done about 400 hrs on m Silverback with Rock shox forks and they still feel as good as the day it came out the shop . I wash only with water and use a micro fiber cloth to clean the stanchions of any residue left on them . I spray a bit of WD 40 onto a micro fibre cloth and wipe the stanchions from top to bottom before putting my bike away after cleaning every time . I ride an equal amount of road and off road monthly so my wear factor is good along the whole length . i have been in LBS and heard some absolute BS being told to a prospective MTB customer about service intervals . The most horrific one i heard was the salesman telling the poor guy that the drive chain should be changed every 1000 km . In my case that's every 4 to 6 weeks at a cost of close to R2000 for Shimano run of the mill spec parts . The prospective buyer left without buying from that dealer .

I know rockshox requires much less maintenance but ive still seen plenty of rs forks with hectic stanchion wear. Just bear in mind wear starts under the seals before you can see it so dont push it till its too late.

Good for that customer not falling for the mechanic bs, but i hate to think how many people do. Bike shops are terrible with this, i have a friend who took her old 26er rim brake bike to a lbs for a tube patch, walked out paying R1200 for a "full service"..... She'll barely get that much for the bike. She of course told me this after she went though, otherwise i wouldve just patched the tube and set the gears.

[patham]

I have done about 400 hrs on m Silverback with  Rock shox forks and they still feel as good as the day it came out the shop . I wash only with water and use a micro fiber cloth to clean the stanchions of any residue left on them . I spray a bit of WD 40 onto a micro fibre cloth and wipe the stanchions from top to bottom before putting my bike away after cleaning every time . I ride an equal amount of road and off road monthly so my wear factor is good along the whole length . i have been in LBS and heard some absolute BS being told to  a prospective MTB customer about service intervals . The most horrific one i heard was the salesman telling the poor guy that the drive chain should be changed every 1000 km . In my case that's every 4 to 6 weeks at a cost of close to R2000 for Shimano run of the mill spec parts . The prospective buyer left without buying from that dealer . 

 

I have also gone for the "ride it till it breaks then see how much it costs" approach to see if the cost saving over regular maintenance at specified intervals is worth it. Caveat - I don't do high mileage, mud or harsh offroad and at 78kg do not overstress it. Clean with gentle water after each ride and occasional wipe down.

 

Rockshox Reba (100 mm dual air) did 5 years duty on my old bike. I left it fallow for another 4 years, and then recycled it onto my sons 24" at the end of last year. Going great guns still.

 

Rockshox Revelation (140 mm) has done 4 years and maybe 500 hours on my Trance and still no evidence of trouble. I have put a cover over my rear shock to stop dirt and dust from getting to it and that has also been behaving well.

 

So my experiment is continuing. Note that results may vary.

[Tankman]

Ive just seen something online suggesting that you can put some fork lube down the seals using this method, but i havent done it. I think I'll definitely learn to do the lower service myself and invest in a bottle of the fox fluid (or I think I remember there being 2 types of fluids in the fork).

And then for the seals - i just figured seals from skf might be cheaper cause they don't carry the fox brand but i have no idea. I suppose fox and saving money doesn't go hand in hand but might as well save where i can. Thanks for the advice.

 

You can do it but I would not.  I would rather take the lowers off, replace the oil with fresh oil and give the dustwipers and foamrings a clean while I am at it. Bit of SRAM butter on the inside of the dustwipers and soak the foamrings in fresh oil too.

 

The SKF seals are not cheaper that the original Fox seals no.  They are promoted as a higher quality enduro seal so the actually cost a little more (sometimes the same but the price is normally not far off)  Fox dustwipers are not cheap in comparison the RockShox.

 

The two types of oil you would typically use in Fox is Fox Float oil, which you will only need it you are going to service the air side.  For the lowers and foamrings, I use Fox 20W Gold.

[Wet Ears]

Just sent my Fox shock in for a service after approx 350 hrs - no issue and standard service. Also sent in Rockshox dropper for 350 hr service  - got a call from LBS asking for proof of purchase as Rockshox was requesting it, next thing you know Rockshox had given me a new dropper! 

 

LBS didn't notice anything wrong with dropper when they sent it off and I wasn't experiencing any issues - just thought I should get it serviced. Heard very good things about Rockshox warranties and post sales service!

 

Pleasantly surprised on both fronts!

[MrJacques]

Just sent my Fox shock in for a service after approx 350 hrs - no issue and standard service. Also sent in Rockshox dropper for 350 hr service  - got a call from LBS asking for proof of purchase as Rockshox was requesting it, next thing you know Rockshox had given me a new dropper! 

 

LBS didn't notice anything wrong with dropper when they sent it off and I wasn't experiencing any issues - just thought I should get it serviced. Heard very good things about Rockshox warranties and post sales service!

 

Pleasantly surprised on both fronts!

 

Pun intended?

[arendoog]

I have done about 400 hrs on m Silverback with  Rock shox forks and they still feel as good as the day it came out the shop . I wash only with water and use a micro fiber cloth to clean the stanchions of any residue left on them . I spray a bit of WD 40 onto a micro fibre cloth and wipe the stanchions from top to bottom before putting my bike away after cleaning every time . I ride an equal amount of road and off road monthly so my wear factor is good along the whole length . i have been in LBS and heard some absolute BS being told to  a prospective MTB customer about service intervals . The most horrific one i heard was the salesman telling the poor guy that the drive chain should be changed every 1000 km . In my case that's every 4 to 6 weeks at a cost of close to R2000 for Shimano run of the mill spec parts . The prospective buyer left without buying from that dealer .   

I do pretty much the same .Keep clean ,wipe with WD 40 ,and i service once in 2 to 3 years or when the stanchions are very sticky