Bottomfeeder

I have a friend who wants me to help him get his old MTB going. It is a Specialized Ground Control, soft tail that's at least 10 years old. I looked it over and it appears to be very servicable. The rims are true and the hubs and BB seem to spin fine. The drive train appears to only need a lube and adjust session. The coil shock in the rear seems to have sufficient spring and rebound dampening. But the 'RST Elastometer Spring Suspension' fork is down for the count. It bottoms with a less than healthy shove and has to be pulled back up.

So my question is; is this fork worth rebuilding? I've never, so I'd take it to a shop. Or should we just look for a deal on a replacement? It'll have to be a Peformance blow-out, since I know he'll wince it we go over $200. And are there any fit problems I should look out for when looking for a replacement?

Thanks. DanO

same time

I would replace the fork. Take it to a good shop, and ask about used forks that other people have upgraded. Often you can get a lightly used suspension fork for less than 200 bucks. It won't be top of the line, but it'll be a lot better than that old one your friend had. Let the shop worry about if it fits or not.

d_D

Elastomers do deteriate over time so they could just need replacing. Finding replacments will probably be impossible especially for a 10 year old fork. Probably the only way would be to find some from a current product that happen to fit the old fork.

Check the size of the steerer tube, most forks are only available in 1 1/8 inch so if the bike has a 1 inch steerer tube finding a cheap replacement will be a lot harder.

NMbiker

Sounds like mine. I have a 96 Ground Control full suspension. I have replaced the rear coil-over with a Risse Genesis and I replaced innards the Quadra 21R front shock with Englund (Total) Air cartridges. Only recently have my Englunds started leaking so I'm in the same boat as your friend. Total Air cartridges only run about $125 so that may be an option, but if he wants more than 60ish mm travel, you'll be in the same boat as me looking for a replacement fork.

well biked

The Englund Total Air upgrade won't work on the RST fork. Mostly, they're for older RockShox, and will also fit a few Manitous and White Bros. forks.........On this one, I definitely wouldn't mess with rebuilding the RST fork. Time to find a replacement. I'd try to find a good deal on a used coil spring fork, as same time says above, maybe your LBS has a decent trade-in model. And there's always e-bay. Just remember on a used fork, the steerer tube will have been cut, so make sure it's long enough for your bike-

Bottomfeeder

thanks a bunch for the feedback everyone. One thing I didn't do was check what diameter the steerer tube was. So I'll have to get back over there. I also asume I won't need any more than 80mm of travel.

DanO