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What happens if you neglect front suspension maintanance?

Bicycles Asked by arcus_mannen on March 11, 2021

My bike has front suspension, which I have never done any maintenance to, and I don’t plan to do so in the future either. I’ve owned it for 10 years now, and it’s kinda stiff by now, but other than that, no problems. I don’t really need the suspension since I don’t off-road – I just want it to hold up and not leak any oil. Will a fork with suspension do that without maintenance?

The fork in question is Suntour NEX 4610 V2.

2 Answers

It will seize which is why you are feeling the stiffness you are right now. It will also probably handle rough roads less effectively.

I would recommend doing the maintenance and that way you could get another trouble free decade out of it or just keep riding it until the wheels fall off of it figuratively speaking.

I am surprised the fork seals have held so long, but at this point I think the fork oil is thicker and probably helping the seals keep the oil in place. I doubt it will leak oil unless a seal breaks from a catastrophic failure, which is hard to predict.

Correct answer by Tude Productions on March 11, 2021

In my experience with similarly priced forks for not so long but at all-winter rain:

  1. the spring action stops being plush
  2. then, as the seals wear, rainwater enters the boots ('lowers') of the fork, making it heavy and completely rigid (fixed by turning the bike upside overnight)
  3. by now the stanchions('uppers')' surface treatment is long worn; rust proliferates
  4. at some point the rust completely seizes the fork; I have never gone beyond fearing structural integrity of the bike and my bones

On the question should you service your fork. I would rather say 'no'. It's an inexpensive fork, labour cost will be perhaps 50% of it's price. Ride it until the bushings get so worn that when you stop with the front brake, a thud sounds results from the stanchions wobbling into the bushings. Then fetch 100EUR and get a nicer fork.

Answered by Vorac on March 11, 2021

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