[SMOKEY]

How long can you go without servicing your shocks or forks? I have had my romic and vanilla fork for a little over a year and they seem to be performing pretty well so far. No signs of damage or oil leaks. I know its recommended to at least change the oil annually but, how long can you go without causing trouble? I want to maybe give it a few more months, its been about 14 months since new. One of the reasons I ask is, I don't really see much difference in performance since when I first rode them. I am wondering if I would get my moneys worth to wait a little while longer.

 

[SSINGA]

I'm a little embarrased to admit this but my 02 Fox Vanilla RLC never had a oil change until it went to PUSH in the fall of 04. I oiled the foam rings and occasionally added some oil to the legs and that was it for 3 years.

Surprisingly, it was all still in really good shape internally according to Darren - the bushings were well within tolorance and the seals were decent. I promised it that I would treat it better from now on.

 

[Bikezilla]

The whole point of UGI is to buy something new before needing to service existing equipment.

Seriously though, I've personally found the degradation of performance is so very, very, gradual that I had no idea my fork wasn't at optimum performance until I changed the oil. Then it was like night and day. I would think the rear shock oil performance loss would be more difficult to notice since it is a much shorter stroke, operated with a leverage gain, and under a greater weight bias than the fork. Plus your arse and feet aren't going to be as sensitive to changes as your hands and arms.

I don't think it's a product-life-expectancy problem as much as it is a performance issue. Change the fork oil when you can, change the shock oil when it's most convinent. I'm NOT an expert though.

 

[airwreck]

we sent one of our romics in for an oil change and the difference was very noticable, big performance improvement. My own personal romic has been back once when it started spewing from the comp knob, been a year now, and I'm planning on sending it in for an annual oil change.

 

[tscheezy]

It's a little like a car: you can skip all the oil changes until the engine siezes, or you can do routine maintenance and extend the life of the thing. I would not go over two years of hard riding a rear shock without getting it serviced, and oil changes on forks should be at least annual. It really depends on the individual model though...

 

[Unknownrash]

I have never serviced my wifes Fox Alps 5 on her 1997 Klein Mantra. Is that bad? Still works well though. Now, I would never do that with my bikes.