Lubricating MTB fork seals……

[sevenfourate]

I see many riding videos where MTB riders lubricate fork seals afterwards. Or at least kind of ‘flush’ some of the dirt that’s made its way past the top / visible wiper seal with Silicon spray by removing the seal spring; and bouncing up and down a few times to draw dirt to the top where it can be wiped off. I understand there’s a foam ring inside that’s designed to hold oil / grease and effectively do the lubrication though.

Others talk of using SRAM butter or Honey grease on the stanchions 🤷‍♂️

Needed ? Unnecessary inbetween regular fork servicing or ? What do you guys think about this….

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/park-tool-tech-talks-lube-fork-seals-video.html

 

[fossyant]

I clean the bike, then just spray silicon lube on the stanchions and cycle the the fork and rear shock up and down. I've had the bike 8 years and serviced the rear shock last year and it was as clean as a whistle inside.

 

[chriswoody]

Again I really don't stress about this, if I've had a particularly dirty or dusty ride then I'll wipe the stanchion off paying particular attention to the area around the fork seal.

I do keep roughly to the service intervals, particularly the 50 hour lower leg service which is a really easy job to do and keeps the seals/lower legs in good working order.

The idea of lubricating the upper legs, particularly with SRAM butter is not something I'd like to do. SRAM butter is quite thick and I can only think of the unholy mess it will make after a muddy ride. SRAM themselves don't recommend lubricating the upper legs and I'm only inclined to agree with them.

Have you downloaded the techdocs for your forks? If you go to the Trailhead app: https://trailhead.rockshox.com/en/product/search/serial you can enter the serial number of your forks and download the excellent tech docs for your forks. It will give you all the info you need to keep them running in tip top condition.

 

[sevenfourate]

I clean the bike, then just spray silicon lube on the stanchions and cycle the the fork and rear shock up and down. I've had the bike 8 years and serviced the rear shock last year and it was as clean as a whistle inside.

That seems to be the routine of many. Maybe no need to overthink or over-do ‘this’…..

 

[sevenfourate]

Again I really don't stress about this, if I've had a particularly dirty or dusty ride then I'll wipe the stanchion off paying particular attention to the area around the fork seal.

I do keep roughly to the service intervals, particularly the 50 hour lower leg service which is a really easy job to do and keeps the seals/lower legs in good working order.

The idea of lubricating the upper legs, particularly with SRAM butter is not something I'd like to do. SRAM butter is quite thick and I can only think of the unholy mess it will make after a muddy ride. SRAM themselves don't recommend lubricating the upper legs and I'm only inclined to agree with them.

Have you downloaded the techdocs for your forks? If you go to the Trailhead app: https://trailhead.rockshox.com/en/product/search/serial you can enter the serial number of your forks and download the excellent tech docs for your forks. It will give you all the info you need to keep them running in tip top condition.

The grease idea didn’t sit great with me either. I just thought I’d voice some options I’d read and see what others thought.

Thanks VERY much for the RockShox Technical downloads. Very helpful 👍

I’ll download once I’m back to work - and aim to keep to their schedules - as you do.

🙏🙏

 

[chriswoody]

One thing that I'd forgotten and did spring to my mind after writing my post, was that SRAM recommend a small smear of SRAM butter on the inside of the fork seal wiper, after you've completed a lower leg service. So this will mean that everytime the fork cycles, it will deposit a very fine layer of grease over the upper legs. This will dry up over time though.

Lower leg services are generally quite easy to do and it is surprising how dry they become in there, even after 50 hours of use. The upper leg service is a bit of a different beast, if your mechanically confident and have the right tools then it's eminently possible. I also have the lower range RockShox Recon Silver forks, so much less complicated to work on than the higher range forks like the Lyric and Pike. I also didn't know any service centres I could trust to do the job properly, so using the techdocs I was able to successfully complete the job.

Whilst I try to keep roughly to the time schedule, a lot will also depend on how you use the bike. I read an interesting article about long distance touring with a mountain bike. The bike's forks were stripped after hundreds of hours and thousands of kilometres and found to be in brilliant condition.

The key takeaway for me was that if the bike is used daily the constant cycling of the forks keeps the seals lubricated and fresh, it's when bikes are stored for weeks between uses, that seals dry up and let in contaminants.

https://bikepacking.com/plan/bikepacking-with-a-suspension-fork/

 

[sevenfourate]

One thing that I'd forgotten and did spring to my mind after writing my post, was that SRAM recommend a small smear of SRAM butter on the inside of the fork seal wiper, after you've completed a lower leg service. So this will mean that everytime the fork cycles, it will deposit a very fine layer of grease over the upper legs. This will dry up over time though.

Lower leg services are generally quite easy to do and it is surprising how dry they become in there, even after 50 hours of use. The upper leg service is a bit of a different beast, if your mechanically confident and have the right tools then it's eminently possible. I also have the lower range RockShox Recon Silver forks, so much less complicated to work on than the higher range forks like the Lyric and Pike. I also didn't know any service centres I could trust to do the job properly, so using the techdocs I was able to successfully complete the job.

Whilst I try to keep roughly to the time schedule, a lot will also depend on how you use the bike. I read an interesting article about long distance touring with a mountain bike. The bike's forks were stripped after hundreds of hours and thousands of kilometres and found to be in brilliant condition.

The key takeaway for me was that if the bike is used daily the constant cycling of the forks keeps the seals lubricated and fresh, it's when bikes are stored for weeks between uses, that seals dry up and let in contaminants.

https://bikepacking.com/plan/bikepacking-with-a-suspension-fork/

Interesting. Helpful - and thought provoking. A few titbits to chew over there. As ever - garage queens often don’t fare well…..One of my main concerns initially was in reference to keeping things from drying up as much as anything. Question answered !

And thanks very much again for all the links provided. Fab 👊

 

[fossyant]

Don't over think it. I've not serviced the Revelation forks yet - 6 years in, but looked after. The rear shock 'hisses' a bit on compression, but it's the inner part I can't service, so new oil and a clean of the air can and it's working fine still.

 

[chriswoody]

Don't over think it

An excellent piece of advice that I genuinely believe in. I have had no real problems with mine just wiping off the seals and leaving the bike for sometimes weeks at a time. It's something I should have emphasised in my posts, that whilst leaving bikes unridden for a long time will start to dry the seals, riding only every week or so will not really cause any issues.

That said, when I did service my forks I was surprised by both how little oil came out, given how much SRAM says I should replace it with and how black that oil was. That was not only from the lower legs, but also the upper oil damper on the 200 hour service. After servicing the forks definitely felt much plusher and worked much better. I'm not terribly good at keeping a completely accurate track of my hours ridden, but I do try to keep to roughly 50 hours for the lower leg I genuinely feel it makes a big difference.

 

[fossyant]

I've yet to do the forks, as they are working fine and cleaned after use, and a silicon squirt (avoid the discs). It's worked for me. The guys I ride with here haven't been doing lots of services either - depends on use. I have more issues with BB needing services with SRAM stuff.

The rear shock was an easy oil change, but no dirty oil.

I've not used the full suspension that much since getting a used CX bike, as that's more suitable locally.