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Service Fox transfer or just buy new?

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Tomass79

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I just bought a 2020 Giant Trance 29 advanced pro for a really nice price. Everything is in wonderful shape except the Transfer post was sticking. Just not returning to full stroke every time. He knocked off $250 because of this. I tried all of the home remedies and it still is slow. Last night I tried removing the collar to give it a clean but then realized after completely chewing up the finish that the collar doesn't come off on this production year of the Transfer.
So, I can send it into Fox and have them service it. Probably like $130 to $160 depending on shipping costs or just buy a new dropper. The Transfer is 150mm but I could definitely fit a 170mm on the bike. I am a little weight conscience on the build, but a few ounces are OK.
For $200 I could get a pretty decent dropper new to me, with a warranty, or should I just have Fox service the one I have. I do like the gold stanchion. Is the Transfer far superior to other droppers when it is working correctly or am I just paying for the Fox name? My wife has a Trans X $100 dropper and after 3 season it works flawlessly. All I do is a lower service clean and lube. I can't even do that on the model of Transfer. Any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
They seem to get mixed reviews. I've had a couple that never gave me any issues over several years with zero service. So I don't like that they're not self serviceable but on the other hand I've not needed to. Contrast to my OneUp which gets a little fussy without regular service but at least I can do it. Some people don't have the same luck with Fox though. I'd probably service mine if it developed a problem given my experience, and hope I only have to every several years.

With all that said, if you can fit a longer dropper I'd 100% do that.
 
#3 ·
The Transfer is horrible, even with the pretty gold color. They’ll always stick eventually, and there’s no way to service them without sending them back to Fox. The best solution is to buy another brand that actually works- in my fairly extensive experience, BikeYoke is the best dropper by a fairly wide margin.
 
#7 ·
PNW, while not great in my book, is at least as quality as the Fox and far cheaper.
 
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#10 ·
smmokan said:
The Transfer is horrible, even with the pretty gold color. They’ll always stick eventually, and there’s no way to service them without sending them back to Fox. The best solution is to buy another brand that actually works- in my fairly extensive experience, BikeYoke is the best dropper by a fairly wide margin.
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I heard if you need warranty, you need to send it to Germany?
 
#11 ·
Glee217 said:
I heard if you need warranty, you need to send it to Germany?
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Not in my experience. I had to send one BY Revive dropper back in the last ~6 years (out of 100+ bikes that had them), and it was taken care of by someone in Santa Fe in just a few days. I have no idea if that's changed or not, as I haven't had to deal with a warranty claim in over 5 years.
 
#12 ·
Yoke is so nice. But PNW is a great performer for the price. It's a shame that Transfer service is so prohibitive costwise; some older ones worked well until needing service. Now - it barely makes sense to get em' freshened.
 
#14 ·
I'd be going to another dropper. You might be able to get it working smoother but it depends on how they are put together. My wife has an older external transfer post, same issue. Only fix was to liberally squeeze chain lube in the ports at the bottom of the post. Looks like the internal routed posts have the cable holder covering those holes, not sure how to remove that part.

Pretty sad that they can't get those to work properly.
 
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#15 ·
smmokan said:
They’ll always stick eventually, and there’s no way to service them without sending them back to Fox.
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Mine started to stick, sent it to a local guy who did the rebuild for $120, now that sucker returns super fast. You don't have to send it to Fox for the rebuild.
 
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#16 ·
Carl Mega said:
Yoke is so nice. But PNW is a great performer for the price. It's a shame that Transfer service is so prohibitive costwise; some older ones worked well until needing service. Now - it barely makes sense to get em' freshened.
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I shouldn’t be admitting it in this thread but as a further data point for the OP, I have 2 Transfers - one 6 years old, and the other 5 years old. The 6 year old one is now on its third bike. The other has been on my HT from Day 1. Not a single issue with either.
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#18 ·
mtnbkrmike said:
I shouldn’t be admitting it in this thread but as a further data point for the OP, I have 2 Transfers - one 6 years old, and the other 5 years old. The 6 year old one is now on its third bike. The other has been on my HT from Day 1. Not a single issue with either.
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I think they perform great, I can't think of a dropper that returns faster when new. But because they aren't user serviceable each time you send it out for service you are simply buying time until the next expensive, down-time-inducing, repair. With the glut of good options out there that ARE user-serviceable the Transfer is just a hard sell for me.
 
#19 ·
The loam dropper is a skoche lighter, has a shorter total length for a given travel, and has an adjustable air spring. I’ve used both, the loam is my preference but the rainier also works great.

Edit: and oh yeah, don’t forgot that you can pay $3 dollars to change out the colored rubber band.
 
#20 ·
Got two Fox Transfers with kashima (gold) finish. One has worked flawlessly for almost 6.5 years. The other one (originally from 2018) had some issues when I got it on a pre-owned bike in 2020 - it would slowly go down as I rode. You said you’ve tried some home remedies but has your LBS looked at it? I would call around as some bike shops are familiar with some tricks due to Fox’s brand popularity, and if not, they themselves will tell you to send it back to Fox. You can then reassess whether to go with a different brand. In my case, my LBS replaced the cable, cut it at the right length (just that can be a source of problems when a new owner changes post height) and made several adjustments. It required about three trips to the bike shop to fine-tune it, but it has been working great for almost 3 years.

My fork on the pre-owned bike also has a kashima finish and I am OCD, so I feel all stanchions (fork and dropper) should match, but that’s my own thing. I know everyone has their favorite brand, but if I had to do it all over again, I would stick with Fox for a new dropper due to my overall positive experience plus serviceability by LBS or ultimately by the manufacturer.
 
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