So after discovering the horrors that lurked within the suspension forks on my sons bike I looked guiltily over at my daughters bike and realised I'd not touched them in the 3 years we've owned the bike. So today I took advantage of the fact she was ill and not using it to make a start. Within half an hour I'd stripped the forks out of the bike and removed the lower legs. Luckily apart from being a bit dry and dirty everything was in order. I soon had the lower legs cleaned, inspected and new seals fitted.
The upper legs were a different story though, these forks seem to be some older design and the photos in the documents I have don't match what I'm seeing. Going via Rockshoxs own links using the forks serial number also doesn't yield up the correct documents, so with the air shock side of the fork I'm flying blind. It takes a while, but we finally have a pile of bits on the bench and an empty fork leg.
With it all cleaned up and the new seals on I popped it all back together and threw it in the fork leg only to realise that I couldn't get the seal head to pop out the bottom of the leg and subsequently couldn't pop the retaining ring on. So frustratingly I took it all apart again and this time popped the seal head in first using an old mop handle I somehow had lying about, the plastic tip was the perfect size and diameter to fit in the seal head and guide it through the fork leg.
This was then followed by the retaining ring, then finally the damper assembly. The whole thing was a monumental faff compounded by the lack of instructions.
The rebound damper in the other leg was equally faffy, but at least it roughly resembled the instructions I had. Finally I had the forks back together and on the bike. A much bigger job than I'd envisaged but I'm glad I've done it. Onwards now to the rest of the bike, it needs a few bits and bobs.
