Full Suspension Longevity
 

I recently got into mountain biking and I've been riding a hardtail on some of the great southwestern Ohio singletrack trails. Last weekend I was able to demo a $5000 fancy carbon fiber full suspension rig for a few hours and I was instantly hooked. However, I always read stories about the shocks on old mountain bikes being "shot" or losing their amount of travel after several years of riding. Is this true even for the higher-end models?
I weigh 120 lbs and would like to get a full suspension mountainbike, but I'd just like to know how long I should expect it to last before dropping $2000 or so.

...Or maybe I should just suck it up and stick with the hardtail.

My bike gets slop in the bushings every couple years but haven't needed any shock maintenance.
The fork is due for new seals.

Much like other mechanical parts of a bike, the suspension does need to be "tuned up" every so often, the time spent before the next tune up should be explained in the owners manual that will come with it. If you try riding your bike for 5 years, in rain, mud, 100 degree weather and 5 degree weather, not once getting the suspension rebuilt, then yes, you will notice a difference in it. On the other hand, if every 6 months or a year, you get it taken apart, oil replaced, seals replaced, then you will have great suspension for years to come. Of course, as I learned from personal experience, thats very expensive, and often the cause of people's lack of getting them tuned.

What is a realistic price for suspension rebuilds? Is it something that the owner could do (like repacking the bearings in a hub or BB), or is it something best left to the professionals? Thanks for all the help!

Oh boy, well, depends how bike savvy you are. Personally, I wouldn't dare do anything to my suspension. For what I paid for it, the last thing that I want is to screw it up. For new seals, I found some for mine for $18. They range anywhere from 10-40, depending on your fork and whether you buy the brand name seals or the just as good (probably) other ones. My bike store charges $70 to put the seals on, which is a LOT, IMO. Then again, $70 vs $380 for a new fox float - there you go.

*That also includes replacing the oil, but does not include the cost of the oil*

I think it's probably a complicated procedure, but hell, if you feel you can do it yourself, you'll save a lot of money.

I don't own a press, so I let the LBS do mine. $200.00 covered everything, parts, labor. That's a Spec. Epic frame. Maintenance is a little cheaper on some bikes, Santa cruz offers lifetime bearing warrantee on their single pivot bikes.

Oh right, I was saying $70 for just the fork

I made my own press out of all thread, 2 washers, old bearings, and 2 nutz. Got new bearings from eBay for $20...SUKKA!!!




I've never owned a frame long enough to test its longevity.

You definitely can work on suspension yourself but it depends on if the manufacturer wants you to do this or tries to prevent you from doing so. For example some of the newer Marzocchi forks have sealed damping cartridges that you can't break down very far so if they blow, it's off to the bike shop or to Marzocchi service center. Rock Shox is pretty good for having spare parts and service manuals available. FOX shocks and forks are definitely not made to be fiddled with (kind of like Shimano shifters), but some people have done it. As for the FS frame longevity - go for a frame with bearings in the pivot points since they don't wear as fast.

Isn't this the important part of the equation? He He

in my opinion
 

I have a Cannondale Super V 700. I have never rebuilt the suspension. So far so good. I have stored it inside all of its life. Just getting back into some serious singletrack with a friend who has 2009 Giant, we came off the trail last time we rode together and his front fork was weeping oil and mine was fine. Same trails!

@ 120lbs I am think you are not going to work a suspension near as hard as I do at 200lbs.

You never will, either. I had my SuperV900 from s 5/1998-6/2003 w/o ever replacing bearings. I beat the crap out of it too. Lots of urban thrashing.

All of the suspension manufacturers have published maintenance schedules for their products. Decent quality forks and shocks should last indefinitely with proper care. I've got a few forks that are approaching fifteen years of age (Rock Shox Mag 21) and still work great because they were maintained properly.

I've got a Mag on the Crapper and it's still holding air w/o any leaks whatsoever. No bushing play either.

As chelboed said above, some pivot bearings need specialized tools to remove, depnding on the bike. BUT, there are many "special tools" that you can replicate with odds and ends in your home shop to make quickie bearing presses and do the work yourself. About the only problematic bearings are those pressed into bores that have shoulders or are blind that make it difficult to drive back out, especially if the old bearing is shot or disintegrated.

Most suspension bearings are standard metric cartridge bearings available readily at industrial bearing supplies. Oftentimes too, you will find you can get a better-quality replacement at the bearing house than the stocker the bike came with (higher quality seals, etc.) - - since many companies use the cheaperst off-the-shelf bearings they can find.

Keep in mind too that most ball bearings used in suspension pivots were originally designed for relatively low-load/high-RPM rotational loads and, so, will not always lasst more than a few seasons in a mountain bike frame by the nature of the loads they are subjected to outside their intended design. But, at a typical $5-15 a pop to replace, depending, that's not a bad lifespan.

I thought suspension maintenance was up there on the difficulty scale but it is easy (see video).
(there are other videos for other shocks and they all seem to be about the same difficulty)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-MX_b_nIk

I have a 1996 judy XC that has never been apart and it still has some suspension. I have mainly used it for street and fast fire roads so the 2-3"s is has is more than I need, and being so old if I did take it apart and found I needed something I probably couldn't get it (so I will leave well enough alone, or till it breaks).

I just got a FOX RL80 for another of my MTB's and if I ever need new seals or oil or maintenance, I will be doing it myself.

High quality sealed bearings have more (but smaller) "balls" inside but look the same on the outside. They are stronger and smoother because the load is spread around the bearing races more, but can cost up to 2 or 3 times as much. A mate of mine with connections with bearing suppliers has this habit of changing rear suspension pivot bearings immediately from new into high quality ones. I don't bother because I don't ride that hard for it to make any difference in my case.

A lot of "stock" regular sealed bearings have very little grease inside and is quite runny at that. Water getting in or bearings running dry are the main reasons for sealed bearing eventually failing. I know a race bike mechanic who knows how to pop the seals without damaging them and he re-packs new sealed bearings with "real" grease swearing it would out-last the bike... according to his experience.

I seldom had the need to maintain rear suspension pivots. Forks on the other hand are a different story. Might pay to check the fork manual... lubing the bushing cavities and stanchion seals on some forks need to be done more frequently than we realize (as little as several hours of accumulative running time). Same goes for rear air shock units. Most stanchion seals scrub only one way... so a thin film of oil is allowed out but not back in. Allowing these seals to run "bone" dry is a sure fire way to wreck them and can result in damaging the rear shock or fork unit before their use-by date.

Slightly wet dust ring marks made by dust seals around fork stanchions (or rear shock units) is a good sign. I would consider dry (or overly soppy wet) dust ring marks as a warning sign.



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Oh, just some additional blurb for those that want some more generic maintenance info...

Rear Coil-over-shock units are commonly not user serviceable. They're not meant to be opened as most of them are gas pressurized internally. Their seals don't dry out because they don't have stanchions like air-shock units do (just small diameter piston rods).

The eyelet bushings can be easily replaced though, if they show signs of excessive play. Most shock eyelet bushings these days are the "dry" type, so don't be tempted to grease or put a drop of oil or chain lube in these areas, unless stated in the manual. Lubing a "dry" type eyelet will knurl the bushing material and will wear it out real fast.

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This is partially true; but once again, you are talking rotational (radial) forces/loads that ball bearings were designed for. More/smaller balls = a higher RPM bearing; fewer/larger balls cannot take as high of RPM but because of the larger balls, can take more load. I once was looking for main bearings for my 125 at the bearing supply. They had the right inner/outer race dimensions but had fewer (larger) balls and the guy recommended I not get them because they would not withstand the 10K+ RPM the engine was capable of producing.

Of course, the load vs. RPM considerations mean nothing really in a suspension pivot because there is only oscillating rotation and low frequency. Really, what would be ideal for suspension would be a sealed, full-complement roller bearing; but, alas, they do not exist in diameters samll enough for bicycles and are rarely sealed like cartridge BBs are.

^ Man, I've lost count of the times I wished for sealed roller (needle) bearings!