water in forks

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flat-pack

Veteran
Friend has a giant rincon and has major probs with front forks, suntour XCSCR ? when bike is upturned rusty water pours out from forks ?

There are no gaitors on the forks and the chrome on the 'piston' bit is peeling away as well, has he got a duff set or is this normal ?

can he do anything to stop this hapening ?

TIA

Graham
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
If they are cheap forks then this is likely - you say chrome - hmm sounds like they are cheap.
 
OP
OP
flat-pack

flat-pack

Veteran
Thanks, that is what I was thinking, but as his bike cost more than mine I did not feel it my place. I know Giant are not the dogs but you would have thought a mountain bike would come with forks that were waterproof, there is a LOT of water coming out and he is only commuting in mostly fair weather.

Graham
 

battered

Guru
I suggest he services the forks (oil change etc) then keeps the thing under cover if poss and waits for the forks to fall apart. With luck he'll get a year or two more, the forks on my MTB commuter/hack have been worn for a long time and only now are they starting to get glitchy. As they came to me second hand 10 years ago adn have done about 10,000 miles I'm not too concerned.

If all else fails you can strip the things down, fill them with thick oil and ride it until the wheels fall off.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
I know little about suspension forks but surely there should be holes at the bottom for the water to drain out. All my normal steel forks have them.
 
OP
OP
flat-pack

flat-pack

Veteran
No holes :-(

makes perfect sense to have them tho, but hey then we would not need to buy new forks

Graham
 

battered

Guru
Holes in forks to let the damping oil leak out? Hmmm. Not the best engineering solution I've heard:blush:. I'll go with a rubber top seal and a gaiter to keep the water out in the first place.:ohmy:
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
If the water is running out when the bike is upturned but the oil isn't, then the water isn't where the damping oil is and it should have been designed to have some way of letting it drain out. If the water is mixing with the damping oil, the shock absorber is completely knackered and can't work properly.
 

spence

Über Member
Location
Northants
Where exactly is the water coming from? If it’s back past the main seals then something needs to be done and I suspect that’ll be new forks. If the chrome or whatever the stanchions are covered in is flaking then I doubt anything can be done for them, the edges will tare any new seals. Stick a RockShox Tora on it more cost effective, cheap as chips as they say.

Others have said stuff about water getting into the internals and mixing with the oil; if that’s the case then the water coming out will be a milky sludge. As it’s just rusty it suggests it been in contact with bare steel/iron ie in the uppers/lowers castings. Depending on the type of suspension - cheap Sun’s may just be elastomers - there may be no oil dampening.

The question then would be how is the water getting in? Is he jet washing the bike? If it’s from the crown then it may not be a problem at all and just sitting inside via a casting hole.

would come with forks that were waterproof,
Myself a few mates all brought Pace RC36/38 Hollowform forks around 2002/3 being £500+ you’d have thought the same but on one particularly wet ride they all suffered problems from water ingress. Pace initially denied any problem but eventually had to own up to duff seals and a lot of warranty work and loss of confidence in the market. Search the web.


Oh Giant make some cracking bikes, both for themselves and others, largest manufacturer. Probably the best VFM.
 
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