Shock Absorbing Front Forks
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 12
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Shock Absorbing Front Forks
I was just wondering what kind of maintenance, if any, these require. I recently purchased 3 bikes for the family, a Raleigh Mojave 4.0, Cannondale Mountain Bike, and 2000 Giant Cypress DX Ladies bike, and all of them have shocks up front. I'm pretty sure nothing has ever been done to them, and I'm not sure what I'm getting into to. They all seem to work fine. Is it better to leave well enough alone?
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 7,644
Bikes: 61 Bianchi Specialissima 71 Peugeot G50 7? P'geot PX10 74 Raleigh GranSport 75 P'geot UO8 78? Raleigh Team Pro 82 P'geot PSV 86 P'geot PX 91 Bridgestone MB0 92 B'stone XO1 97 Rans VRex 92 Cannondale R1000 94 B'stone MB5 97 Vitus 997
Mentioned: 146 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 392 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 48 Times
in
30 Posts
The Rock Shox on my MTB is over 20 years old, has never had a thing done to it, works fine. I guess I top up the air every couple of years. A suspension fork, mounted on a bike used mostly on the street or mild dirt trails, is doing very little - occasionally compressing an inch or so, but most of the time nearly rigid. No reason to do anything to them until they give you trouble. They probably never will.
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 12
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
The Rock Shox on my MTB is over 20 years old, has never had a thing done to it, works fine. I guess I top up the air every couple of years. A suspension fork, mounted on a bike used mostly on the street or mild dirt trails, is doing very little - occasionally compressing an inch or so, but most of the time nearly rigid. No reason to do anything to them until they give you trouble. They probably never will.
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 621
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
After a muddy ride wipe off the upper stanchions - fine bits of mud (particularly clay) wiggle past the seals and slowly build up in the lowers.
Not necessary with "upside down" forks, although these are rare.
Not necessary with "upside down" forks, although these are rare.
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 8,688
Mentioned: 46 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1074 Post(s)
Liked 295 Times
in
222 Posts
Depends on what type of shocks they are, and how heavily used they are. Basically shocks come in three flavours: elastomers(=rubber cushions), oil/spring and oil/air.
Elastomers may wear out, even fracture due to use and age. But if you're staying(almost) exclusively on roads, a collapsed fork may not be an entirely bad thing.
Oil/spring are very robust. They "should" have the oil replaced at some sort of interval, and may eventually wear the seals down to the point of poor shock absorption. But for casual riding with little contamination their lifelength is indefinite, and the advantage of preventative maintenance fairly marginal. Prices being as they are over here, I reckon 4-5 services would equal the price of a new fork if you stick to the inexpensive models.
Oil/air are the most delicate of the lot, with recommended service intervals as low as 30 hours for some models. But that's mainly driven by exposure to contamination, and the amount of compression they regularly see.
For casual riding, check the sag/air pressure every now and then and you're OK.
Elastomers may wear out, even fracture due to use and age. But if you're staying(almost) exclusively on roads, a collapsed fork may not be an entirely bad thing.
Oil/spring are very robust. They "should" have the oil replaced at some sort of interval, and may eventually wear the seals down to the point of poor shock absorption. But for casual riding with little contamination their lifelength is indefinite, and the advantage of preventative maintenance fairly marginal. Prices being as they are over here, I reckon 4-5 services would equal the price of a new fork if you stick to the inexpensive models.
Oil/air are the most delicate of the lot, with recommended service intervals as low as 30 hours for some models. But that's mainly driven by exposure to contamination, and the amount of compression they regularly see.
For casual riding, check the sag/air pressure every now and then and you're OK.