Shops Near Red Bank that Do Fork Overhaul In House?

bydabeach

Member
In another thread, someone had posted that Wykoff Cycle will do a fork overhaul in house. I have called 5 LBS near Red Bank, and each of them said that they send the for out to Fox (I have a Fox F150 RL) for service. Fox charges a MINIMUM of $175 to service a fork, and that does not include shipping. Throw in shipping, and it will probably be $235.

Someone else had suggested Halters Cycles in Skillman. Wykoff and Skillman are too far. Any options in Monmouth/Ocean or Middlesex Counties.

As another option, I see new forks on ebay and pricepoint.com that I can pick up for under $300. Seems it would make sense to get a new fork rather than service an old one?

As a final option, I was going to try doing it myself. I have repaired small engines and other mechanical equipment before. There are some videos on Youtube. Anyone else do their own fork overhaul?
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
"Overhaul" can mean a few things, but IMO means completely rebuilding the shock/fork (replacing bushings, servicing dampers, replacing all seals, etc...)

Wipers/oil (which is 90% of your daily maintenance) can be done by a monkey with the right size wrench for the bottom nuts, a mallet, and a screwdriver, but more involved maintenance of the damper or replacing bushings, etc should be carried out by a service center, and not because of difficulty, but one of time. To give you an idea of how long it would take to service just the damper cartridge. Many shops just don't have the time to service damper cartridges.

While the damper can be done yourself (assuming you already own crow's foot sockets and appropriate torque wrenches...) if you really want, bushing removal tools are very expensive for something that most owners will only do once, maybe twice for the life of their fork (with no guarantee the tool will work with future forks).

Paying them to rebuild a fork/shock is worth what they are asking, as you get back a 100% functional suspension component (or, if they deem it too damaged to fix, will sell you a replacement at a discounted rate), but only you can decide if you would rather have a new/take off as a replacement. There is no guarantee that you will be able to match the fork or shock, in particular (eye-to-eye distance and stroke have to match or be damn close), compared to what is selling on ebay/other site. Beware used suspension parts.
 

bydabeach

Member
Thanks for the reply. So if I understand correctly, Fox recommends the following annually on forks:
"Full fork service (Full internal/external inspection, damper rebuild, air spring rebuild, bath oil and wiper replacement"
and the following annually on shocks for full suspension:
"Full shock service (Full internal/external inspection, damper rebuild, air seal replacement for air shocks)"

They charge $175 for forks and $145 for shocks. Before shipping, this comes to $320, with shipping, comes to $360.

I'm new to higher end components. Do people really do this ANNUALLY? I have been riding my bike for 2 years about 100 times per year for 1-2 hours per ride without doing anything to my front fork or shock. Maybe ignorance is bliss, but it seems I would be better off just buying a new fork and a new shock every 2-3 years instead of paying $320 every year to Fox.
 

Karate Monkey

Well-Known Member
You'll find that a lot of high mileage guys aren't using suspension for that reason (among others).

The more you care for the exterior of the fork/shock (keeping the wiper clean/stanchions lubricated) the longer you can often go between (full) services. You should still be separating the fork/shock to check/replace the wipers/seals fairly regularly, as it is not an intensive service. 200 hours is a long time for seals that are constantly getting dirt/dust on them, and dealing with a tube moving through them. The dirt/dust and stanchion movement alone is enough to make whatever bath oil left in the fork worthless. Bushing play develops regardless of how clean you keep the stanchions, and can be easily felt as a feeling of knocking on a fork by locking the front brake and rocking the bike forward and backward (assuming your headset is properly adjusted!).

Full suspension bicycles take quite a bit of upkeep to continue working as well as they did when new; pivot points in the linkage need to be inspected, bearings replaced (based, of course, on riding time). Bad things happen when pivot points are ignored--bearing seats get ovalized, bearings break apart (often leading to the former).

Many people I know do mundane work by themselves, only bringing bikes in to a shop for things that are beyond them, or where buying an expensive ($200-500) tool wouldn't make any sense. The flip side is, how much is your time worth? Do you enjoy working on your bike? I stopped working on my car when it became more economical to pay someone else to do it.

The funny thing about all this is, it's not much less expensive labor-wise to maintain a 'cheap' bike. Aside from suspension/pivots on a full suspension frame, it takes just as long, more or less, to go over a $500 bike as it does a $5000 bike...
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
I used to do my own dual chamber mx forks. Lots of tricks of the trade and delicate parts in there. Slider bushings and seals need to be handled with extreme care.
 
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