How often should a fork be serviced

[Daxiet]

I know I should probably do the course' date=' but even once you've acquired the skill, it still leaves you with a time deficit, dirty hands, the trouble of sourcing seals and the problem of disposing oil in a responsible manner. Yes, I realise I sound like a girl, but I'd rather just take the fork into a good LBS and let the pros do their thing.

Or.... there is always the option of going rigid [/quote']

Many a true word... like doing you cars oil change yourself. Cool the first time the feeling of success, money saving, but is it all worth it?

 

For now however I will be doing my own fork services, still fun. Plus I get a better understanding of how my fork is dealing with life.

[Daxiet]

I disagree. The small amount of oil in your fork works prettyhard. It's gets sheared everytime it passes through a vlave in the dampin circuit. It can look clean but that does not indicate that its' damping characteristic has not changed. 

 

Would like to see this scientifically tested to see how the oil has degraded. Engine oil which is just a higher weight deals with more stress, heat in particular. Multi grade 15W-40, not that much higher weight than standard 15W Rockshox weight depending on operating temp.

 

For now I would say my only concern is dirt, water, excessively leaking seals. I will be honest and admit that I made a mistake if my fork dies as a result...

 

On another note my rear shock service interval is 10000kms or 1 year. It works great just the dust seal squeaked from 9 months.

Daxiet2009-05-22 06:28:10

[TNT1]

 

I disagree. The small amount of oil in your fork works prettyhard. It's gets sheared everytime it passes through a vlave in the dampin circuit. It can look clean but that does not indicate that its' damping characteristic has not changed. 

 

Would like to see this scientifically tested to see how the oil has degraded. Engine oil which is just a higher weight deals with more stress' date=' heat in particular. Multi grade 15W-40, not that much higher weight than standard 15W Rockshox weight depending on operating temp.

 

For now I would say my only concern is dirt, water, excessively leaking seals. I will be honest and admit that I made a mistake if my fork dies as a result...

 

On another note my rear shock service interval is 10000kms or 1 year. It works great just the dust seal squeaked from 9 months.

[/quote']

 

Have you guys seen the oil from a 4 stroke MX race bike? It, I'm reasonably certain, works harder than the oil in your shock on your bicycle, and they don't even have 20hour service intervals... you lot really need to find some hobbies other than tinkering with what isn't necessary...

 

[AndreZA]

I know I should probably do the course' date=' but even once you've acquired the skill, it still leaves you with a time deficit, dirty hands, the trouble of sourcing seals and the problem of disposing oil in a responsible manner. Yes, I realise I sound like a girl, but I'd rather just take the fork into a good LBS and let the pros do their thing.

 

 

 

Or.... there is always the option of going rigid [/quote']

 

 

 

you are beyond a girl. Should enter you in the lady sections of races.

 

 

 

On a Fox you need to get rid of 150ml of oil. It is not a dirty job, just oily. Your hands get a nice treat aswell and make it nice and soft, like girls should be.

[Mackie]

I agree with TNT here, surely Forks are manufactured to be in good working order and without the need of oil for longer tha 50hrs, that will mean a shock service every month with new oil. Rock Shox have been making top end shocks forever, they know what they go through so surely a service every 6-8 months is acceptable. I called my LBS and was quoted R570 for a full service incl oil, labour and new seals, seals may be able to be re-used, but R570 is worse case. Got another quote for R150 labour, R60 for oils and seals about R300, so R500-R600 seems the going rate.

Funny thing tho the oke at Greg Minnar in PMB asked do I ride in mud and dust, I said I am not like the 4X4 owners from Sandton who dont use the cars off road and use spray-on mud

[Daxiet]

~R550 is fair if seals are being replaced. Yes they can be cleaned and re-used. Most LBS's choose to replace.

[TNT1]

 

I agree with TNT here' date=' surely Forks are manufactured to be in good working order and without the need of oil for longer tha 50hrs, that will mean a shock service every month with new oil. Rock Shox have been making top end shocks forever, they know what they go through so surely a service every 6-8 months is acceptable. I called my LBS and was quoted R570 for a full service incl oil, labour and new seals, seals may be able to be re-used, but R570 is worse case. Got another quote for R150 labour, R60 for oils and seals about R300, so R500-R600 seems the going rate.

Funny thing tho the oke at Greg Minnar in PMB asked do I ride in mud and dust, I said I am not like the 4X4 owners from Sandton who dont use the cars off road and use spray-on mud[/quote']

 

ha, I see GoLefty says every 20hours? what? For me, that's a fork service every week

 

[Mellow]

ill be reading this...

 

http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/Content/Service/Forks/F-Series/F100RLC_F80RLC.htm

 

 

 

[Bos]

 I have had my Revelation for about 2.5 years now, after about 14 months and last years very muddy winter I had my Fork, my rear shock and my pivots serviced and the LBS asked me why am I bringing my fork in ?

 

I said cause Ive ridden it like a plaasbakkie for more than a year, they said the oil was stil clean and that a whipe of the stancions would have been fine but they ended up servicing it anyway just to make sure, that was R300, cant think why you would possibly need new seals. Forks are way tougher than they use to be.

 

Wipe the crap off your stancions after a muddy ride and If they get dry put some shock oil on and work it in a bit, wipe the stancion clean after. ready to rock.

[Cassie]

TNT, your argument about Moto X shocks is a good one! They do work harder.

 

BUT they still needs servicing...at an interval recommended by the manufacturer.

 

I would never service my MTB fork at intervals of more than 1 -2 imes a year...that will be more than adequate. That would be an overkill.

 

Or service when you start seeing oil sweating out of the seals....

 

But, you do stand a chance of not noticing the wear that could occur on the stanchion just below the seals if you do not open it up a couple of times (preventative cleaning should take care of this too...)

 

 

 

 

[Daxiet]

Forget not people the Seal kit includes new crush washers, these can be re-used but sometimes they may not work again and will leak. Hence safer for LBS to replace with new kit. Can't source crush washers alone. As for seals, dirt wears against them, they will eventually die. Plus the wiper sponges will equally not last forever.

 

So what I am saying is you will need a new seal kit every so often. Not just an evil LBS trying to make money.

Daxiet2009-05-22 07:00:40

[Tieffels]

I did Johan Bornman's course alongside Cassie and like him I've been biding my time for a post like this..

Some feedback on the course: In short, what a pleasure and sound investment that was. Johan is a real professional, he had every little detail covered, every eventuality planned for. IMHO there is a very rare type of person when it comes to parting with information. When, in an attempt to get a grip on a vast pool of information, you ask him a badly formulated question he does not point out the ignorance  of your question, but rather tells you the answer to the question you where in fact TRYING to ask. But then he goes further to suggest and answer the REAL question at the heart of the problem. Johan is such a person; he takes you to the proverbial "kap agter die byl".

Basically I got to rip open and service 2 shocks for less dosh what it would have cost to do one at my LBS, and I replaced the seals on my Fox RLT with standard shaft seals from bearing man (drum roll?? at R12.50 a pop). I will now forever laugh at the face of a bikeshop telling me to spend R400 just for a seal kit..

On the topic of letting the pro's go at it, one of the guys there also had 2 identical shock, both of which had been in for a service recently, but the internals revealed that one was in top shape, and the other seemed not to have been serviced for months. So much for the pro's...

I'm very much a fit and forget rider, and this saw me having to spend R2300 on a complete rebuild of one of my previous shocks due to internal damage from grit getting in and eating at the stanchions out of view below the dust seals, but this was after say 2.5 years of hard riding (who knows, maybe I still ended up saving in  the long run...).  So getting your shocks serviced regularly is essential to their longevity, but I think  100hs is still plenty safe), and it is not a difficult task requiring only simple tools, a bit of knowhow (recommend Johan to supply that), a bit of confidence (also provided by Johan) and common sense. I'm guess I can do it in less than an hour from scratch. How much time do you lose with your bike sitting in the shop and your shock getting couriered around the country for an oil change, which is all they need to do for a service?

[fandacious]

Oh no!

 

i've done over 20 000km on my road bike and never serviced my fork.

 

should i?

[TNT1]

 

Oh no!

 

i've done over 20 000km on my road bike and never serviced my fork.

 

should i?

 

only if you have the correct seals for the production of the seal oil...

 

 

 

[fandacious]

Oh no!

 

i've done over 20 000km on my road bike and never serviced my fork.

 

should i?

only if you have the correct seals for the production of the seal oil...

 

 

how do i get oil from seals? club them?

[Mellow]

so, the seal walks into the club...