Should I get my shox serviced?

[Pikey]

I've been hankering after some off road these last few weeks and have dusted off my Cannondale hardtail with a view to use this through the winter when the trike gets wrapped up from the cold...

Trouble is, I haven't ridden it for three years

I'm going to bleed the brakes and do the rest of the service myself but I'm unsure what to do with the forks.

I've got a set of rock shox reba's, they were a little stiff but I've put some dry lube on the seal bit at the top and that solved that. I've pumped them up to pressure and they have held it for a week now.

My question is are they safe to ride??? Should I take them and get them serviced??

I don't really understand how they work tbh. but I don't want them collapsing on my first ride and find myself going ar$e over tit.

All help gratefully received!!!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

calling @Cubist

 

[User16625]

I've been hankering after some off road these last few weeks and have dusted off my Cannondale hardtail with a view to use this through the winter when the trike gets wrapped up from the cold...

Trouble is, I haven't ridden it for three years

I'm going to bleed the brakes and do the rest of the service myself but I'm unsure what to do with the forks.

I've got a set of rock shox reba's, they were a little stiff but I've put some dry lube on the seal bit at the top and that solved that. I've pumped them up to pressure and they have held it for a week now.

My question is are they safe to ride??? Should I take them and get them serviced??

I don't really understand how they work tbh. but I don't want them collapsing on my first ride and find myself going ar$e over tit.

All help gratefully received!!!

I would personally get them done just for piece of mind if nothing else. That alone must be worth a few quid.

 

[DRM]

Why do the brakes need bleeding, are they spongy? if theres nothing wrong i would leave them alone, same with the forks if they're holding air pressure they must be ok,the dry lube having cured the initial stiffness.

 

[fossyant]

How much use have they had previously. Rock Shox should be serviced about 100 hours, less if in poor conditions. If you feel there is nothing wrong, and you aren't getting any problems then they should be OK. Can you do them yourself ? A lower fork service might be in order rather than a complete rebuild.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Yes, service them. The cost of letting it slip is too big. Putting a bit of oil on the stanchions will do nothing other than lubricate it for a few cycles (a couple of minutes). The wiper seals on those forks (and the mottled anodising) are designed to let a minute bit of oil behind with each extension cycle of the fork but sweep it upwards with each compression stroke. In other words, the bit of oil you put on there will after five strokes, sit on top in a nice oily ring.

Just underneath the double-lip wiper is a foam ring that's supposed to be soaked in oil so that it can lubricate the fork just below the seal. However, dirt gets in there and eventually the foam ring is just an oily pad of grinding paste. Seals only last 100 hours of operation and about 6 months of doing nothing, before going hard and useless. Service it.

 

[Drago]

Service it. It's not difficult.

 

[Cubist]

A lower leg seal on a Reba is actually a doddle if you have any spannering ability. As @Yellow Saddle states, all you've done with the dry lube is to free up the top wiper seals. There are plenty of kits on fleabay, you need a Rockshox 32 mm wiper seal pack, a few cc of 15 weight suspension oil (5cc per leg) and some decent grease. That said, any 32mm seal kit will do, they all fit the same way. There are plenty of videos on YouTube or from SRAM showing g you how to do it, or you can download the tech docs as a PDf. Scary at first, it's one of those jobs that give immense sense of satisfaction once you've done it.

Once you've got the stanchions out of the lowers, check for signs of bushing wear below the seals. You may see score marks around d the lower third or half of the stanchions.

 

[Pikey]

A lower leg seal on a Reba is actually a doddle if you have any spannering ability. As @Yellow Saddle states, all you've done with the dry lube is to free up the top wiper seals. There are plenty of kits on fleabay, you need a Rockshox 32 mm wiper seal pack, a few cc of 15 weight suspension oil (5cc per leg) and some decent grease. That said, any 32mm seal kit will do, they all fit the same way. There are plenty of videos on YouTube or from SRAM showing g you how to do it, or you can download the tech docs as a PDf. Scary at first, it's one of those jobs that give immense sense of satisfaction once you've done it.

Once you've got the stanchions out of the lowers, check for signs of bushing wear below the seals. You may see score marks around d the lower third or half of the stanchions.

Actually, it is pretty easy isn't it, looking at the youtube vids.

Cheers for all the advice, I've removed them for servicing in the next few months. In the meantime I've ordered some rigids as I'm only gonna be doing some tow path and trail until the summer.

Looking forward to a bit of off road

 

[Pikey]

Oooooo new chunky chunky tyres