Keeping your Pike in prime condition

Suspension forks put up with a lot of use, and in the UK our typically foul conditions mean you should get your forks serviced fairly frequently.

A full service from a suspension tuning company like TF Tuned will keep your forks in the best working order, but in between services you can keep your forks feeling nice and smooth by removing the lowers and giving them a decent lower leg service at home.

This process is similar for most forks out there – though we’ve used a Rockshox Pike here for illustration.

 For this job you’ll need the following:

• cable ties
• 4, 5 and 6mm Allen keys
• a bike work stand and/or vice
• syringe
• suspension oil
• clean rags
• silicon lubricant
• mallet with rubber/soft end
• torque wrench
• latex or nitrile mechanics gloves

 Remove fork and strip down

Remove fork from your bike and ensure you don’t lose bits of your headset – it’s a good idea to keep a few reusable zip ties to loop through the head tube and keep everything together. Also pay attention to the brake hose – as you don’t want it to kink, or bend unnaturally.

You need to have the fork held in a sturdy position to work – the best way is by using a vice, or the clamp of a bike work stand.  If using a vice, ensure you have some kind of padded vice jaws to prevent damage to your steerer tube.

Remove any adjusters present on the bottom of your fork, and loosen the bottom bolts a few turns with a quality Allen key.

Using the rubber end of a mallet, shock the bolts to release the damping and air rods internally, then completely remove the bolts. Take note of which side they came from.

Drain oil and clean

Remove the lower legs and drain the oil – but make sure you collect your oil and dispose of it responsibly.

Clean and inspect the upper fork legs, and pay attention to any damage. If there are any nicks or burs you can carefully file them down to minimise the damage they can do. We’ll be showing you how to do this in our next tutorial.

Using a clean rag carefully wipe the seals, and inspect them. If they are cracked or look unusually knackered – order some fresh ones.

Pay attention to the foam rings under the seals as they ingest a lot of muck and are easy to damage when cleaning them. They are cheap to replace though – it’s worth having keeping spares if you regularly ride in bad weather.

Ensure you clean the whole inside of the lower legs out, as any dirt dislodged from the seals can migrate – and later score your upper legs.

Apply fresh oil to the foam rings. A syringe makes for easy application and you won’t waste oil.

Reassemble fork

Slide the lower legs back on to the fork uppers – taking care not to damage the seals as you locate the legs.

Check your fork manual for the recommended amount of oil to be replaced in each leg for correct lubrication. When performing a lower leg service on the Rockshox Pike, note that the bottom bolts have the amount etched on for easy reference.

Use a syringe to insert the correct amount of lubricating oil in to the fork – and wipe up any excess.

Re-install the bolts in to the bottom of the legs, taking care not to over tighten. Ideally you should use a torque wrench, and refer to your fork manual for the correct torque settings.

With your lower leg service completed, inspect your forks to make sure they are assembled correctly and cycle them through the travel a few times to ensure there are no leaks. Don’t do this on a hard surface – and be careful not to damage the adjusters.

Thank you to the whole team at TF Tuned for helping us out – especially Greg for taking the time to take us through the process. If you’re looking for advice on suspension set up, or are looking for service details or performance tuning – drop them a line for friendly, expert advice.

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