Rockshox 35 stiction

[fraatti]

are you sure its the fork. I was sure I had the same problem, but I tightened the handlebar top cap a bit and the clicking/looseness has gone. I was certain it was the fork - it wasnt!

Yes, that was already tightened.

Theres some discussion about right clearance.

Tight Bushings = Harshness

Do you think your fork feels harsh over small bumps? Chances are your fork lowers may have tight bushings, which is quite common! Especially on brand new forks. I knew mines were not great ... I had to apply way too much force and wiggle the stanchions almost all the way to make the uppers...

forums.mtbr.com

 

[I want my 2 Dollars!]

Yes, that was already tightened.

Theres some discussion about right clearance.

Tight Bushings = Harshness

Do you think your fork feels harsh over small bumps? Chances are your fork lowers may have tight bushings, which is quite common! Especially on brand new forks. I knew mines were not great ... I had to apply way too much force and wiggle the stanchions almost all the way to make the uppers...

forums.mtbr.com

It sounds like you know what your doing, but I had a new bike come thru with a steerer tube that was cut a tiny bit too long a couple years ago. No amount of tightening the top cap would snug up the fork because it was flat against the top cap. It was only a fraction of a mm too long. Took me a couple rides to figure it out. It dawned on me to check the steerer while out riding. Sure enough, the play that had developed on the 2nd or 3rd ride was due to the steerer being a hair long. I flipped the cap over to the non recessed side and was able to make things right. Added a bigger spacer when I got home for a permanent fix.

 

[Hamina]

Even if the Gold 35 RL is "totally junk" for professional mountain bike riding, I would like to solve the mechanical problem that my the fork has.

IF the reason would be tight bushings or should I say bearings, why it was kind of okay when I got it as new 300 ago?. What has changed? I'm quite sure the teflon or what ever layer in bearings has not increased? The grease and oil I put in to the fork should be high quality. Would it be that the oil is not working correctly? I washed the lowerlegs with brakecleaner when doing the oil change.

It would be interesting to remove the fork seals and study how much friction is left when moving the inner and outer tubes with airspring and damper unconnected and no pressure in air spring.


Quick long term solution
This issue and the time of year kind of forces me to do unplanned upgrade to fork now if I want to continue riding this summer. Buying new fork will take time pressure away for guarantee case and maybe I'll get factory fixed fork to put back to my bike when potentially selling in future.

 

[I want my 2 Dollars!]

Even if the Gold 35 RL is "totally junk" for professional mountain bike riding, I would like to solve the mechanical problem that my the fork has.

IF the reason would be tight bushings or should I say bearings, why it was kind of okay when I got it as new 300 ago?. What has changed? I'm quite sure the teflon or what ever layer in bearings has not increased? The grease and oil I put in to the fork should be high quality. Would it be that the oil is not working correctly? I washed the lowerlegs with brakecleaner when doing the oil change.

It would be interesting to remove the fork seals and study how much friction is left when moving the inner and outer tubes with airspring and damper unconnected and no pressure in air spring.


Quick long term solution
This issue and the time of year kind of forces me to do unplanned upgrade to fork now if I want to continue riding this summer. Buying new fork will take time pressure away for guarantee case and maybe I'll get factory fixed fork to put back to my bike when potentially selling in future.

Mine was awful as delivered. The bike shop rebuilt it and it was 10x better. I immediately swapped it for Yari, so don't have a really good idea of how it rides as I was just getting to know the bike

 

[RodC]

Even if the Gold 35 RL is "totally junk" for professional mountain bike riding, I would like to solve the mechanical problem that my the fork has.

IF the reason would be tight bushings or should I say bearings, why it was kind of okay when I got it as new 300 ago?. What has changed? I'm quite sure the teflon or what ever layer in bearings has not increased? The grease and oil I put in to the fork should be high quality. Would it be that the oil is not working correctly? I washed the lowerlegs with brakecleaner when doing the oil change.

It would be interesting to remove the fork seals and study how much friction is left when moving the inner and outer tubes with airspring and damper unconnected and no pressure in air spring.


Quick long term solution
This issue and the time of year kind of forces me to do unplanned upgrade to fork now if I want to continue riding this summer. Buying new fork will take time pressure away for guarantee case and maybe I'll get factory fixed fork to put back to my bike when potentially selling in future.

my fork presented problems around 350 km.
I sent it to warranty to specialized. It came back and worked better, but they didn’t told me what they did.
anyhow the better is not good enough.

if yours is on warranty, use it! And avoid wasting time and money.

 

[nasamorpheus]

My RockShock gold 35 on my two weeks old cube stereo hybrid 140 is terrible, terrible.. My cross country 100mm Rock Shox 30 Silver TK on XC bike is better I swear. I read reviews online and they are praising this fork how good value it is. They are all paid from RockShock to sell us this crap fork. I noticed right away that it sticks at points along the stanchion, when pressing down easily and coming back. What can I do, should I take bike back in shop? I wish I could try someone else gold 35 to see if it is only my fork problem.. I would never bought a bike with this crap fork. I noticed that cube base stereo hybrid 140 model for 2021 has other fork, silver one. Looks like they know that is something wrong with gold 35 versions

 

[RodC]

My RockShock gold 35 on my two weeks old cube stereo hybrid 140 is terrible, terrible.. My cross country 100mm Rock Shox 30 Silver TK on XC bike is better I swear. I read reviews online and they are praising this fork how good value it is. They are all paid from RockShock to sell us this crap fork. I noticed right away that it sticks at points along the stanchion, when pressing down easily and coming back. What can I do, should I take bike back in shop? I wish I could try someone else gold 35 to see if it is only my fork problem.. I would never bought a bike with this crap fork. I noticed that cube base stereo hybrid 140 model for 2021 has other fork, silver one. Looks like they know that is something wrong with gold 35 versions

Mine was a disaster. Sent to warranty. They fixed it, but it was not good enough. Even after warranty this 35 gold is really bad.

I bought a fox38.

 

[RodC]

Nicer

 

[nasamorpheus]

Mine was a disaster. Sent to warranty. They fixed it, but it was not good enough. Even after warranty this 35 gold is really bad.

I bought a fox38.

1500 eur .... my wife would kill me

 

[urastus]

I don't doubt anything that has been said here. I have the same forks, I think. They're on a 2020 merida e140 LTD. Mine seem OK. The area I ride in is rocky and hardpack. Lots of chatter between big steep climbs and big steep descents with drops. I've been getting into jumps as well, which is a first for me. I do clean the shock, fork and seat dropper with isopropyl alcohol, and then a smear of shimano brake oil (excess from bleeding). I then work everything and wipe the subsequent oil rings that hold whatever dust there is. All the stanchions (dropper, shock, forks) still have a smear of oil. Not sure if this is enough to resolve what you guys have been talking about - I'm guessing it isn't. I have 1300km up now so I think I'll do one of those 50hr services. It's also possible that I'm not experienced enough to feel a good fork from a not so good fork. I initially spent time recording and getting the settings right - I like to get all I can from what I have. They are only 140 (well rear is 130mm), and even with jumps they're lucky to bottom once a ride; mostly they are about 95-98% used, which is what I really like. Maybe the problem doesn't exist with newer stock? I am light on suspension though, despite my weight (80kg, 85 with gear carried). I took the two tokens out of the shock so that I could put more pressure in to get the 30% sag and a firmer, less bouncy ride. Forks are only at 50psi and feel firm to me when riding. I haven't cased anything yet though; even the two metre drops are smooth which is more a credit to their design than my riding abilities.

 

[nasamorpheus]

I don't doubt anything that has been said here. I have the same forks, I think. They're on a 2020 merida e140 LTD. Mine seem OK. The area I ride in is rocky and hardpack. Lots of chatter between big steep climbs and big steep descents with drops. I've been getting into jumps as well, which is a first for me. I do clean the shock, fork and seat dropper with isopropyl alcohol, and then a smear of shimano brake oil (excess from bleeding). I then work everything and wipe the subsequent oil rings that hold whatever dust there is. All the stanchions (dropper, shock, forks) still have a smear of oil. Not sure if this is enough to resolve what you guys have been talking about - I'm guessing it isn't. I have 1300km up now so I think I'll do one of those 50hr services. It's also possible that I'm not experienced enough to feel a good fork from a not so good fork. I initially spent time recording and getting the settings right - I like to get all I can from what I have. They are only 140, and even with jumps they're lucky to bottom once a ride; mostly they are about 95-98% used, which is what I really like. Maybe the problem doesn't exist with newer stock? I am light on suspension though, despite my weight (80kg, 85 with gear carried). I took the two tokens out of the shock so that I could put more pressure in to get the 30% sag and a firmer, less bouncy ride. Forks are only at 50psi and feel firm to me when riding. I haven't cased anything yet though; even the two metre drops are smooth which is more a credit to their design than my riding abilities.

You are running very low pressure, I will try to reduce it will see if it improves something

 

[urastus]

You are running very low pressure, I will try to reduce it will see if it improves something

Well it depends - how much of your suspension are you using now? If you're not using it all, then it's worth going lower pressure. It isn't low pressure for me. If I needed more I'd add it. I was running 45psi, but then started getting into jumps and was bottoming out each ride because of it. Without the jumps / drops etc, I'd probably have 10 - 15mm left. It felt good to me at 45 too. And I am getting into the berms more too - really pumping into and out of them. I'm always surprised that I haven't bottomed out - I keep checking after I think I've pushed hard. My challenge now is keeping my feet on the pedals when the bike goes light (getting air) - I must be lifting more than the bike?

Apparently my fork has no tokens.

 

[James_C]

I have a lyrik with some "stiction". Recently did a lowers service on it and noticed that the stiction seems to come from the air side. So not the bushes which are in the lowers which were removed at the time.

Tbh I am not sure how much of an issue the stiction is. I certainly can't feel it when riding, only compressing from standing.

The fork feels a lot better with just a lower service done. Maybe I left doing it too long. (approx 6 mths, 1300 km.)


RE keeping feet on pedals, try taking off with your heels pointed down, toes up.

 

[urastus]

RE keeping feet on pedals, try taking off with your heels pointed down, toes up.

Yeah, OK. My partner came across something similar apparently - front foot like that, rear foot toes down heels up. It's supposed to be like a wedge. I've been aware of it going into jumps, exiting berms etc but it doesn't seem to gell with the push in then absorb thing. What you say sounds easier as far as push in and absorbing goes too. My left foot is manky with limited range of motion - but people do a lot more than me with less Thanks. That is something I definitely do when going down steep stuff and braking (heels down, toes up, bum back).

 

[Mikerb]

I dont know what the difference is between the Rockshox 35 and the Revelation. I had the Revelation and the only way I could get it to work reasonably well for me was to remove both tokens and turn rebound back to only 1 or 2 stops from full fast. I ran it at 65 psi.
Having now changed to a Lyric Ultimate the big difference is that I have both small bump sensitivity and good progression, a combination I could not achieve with the Rev. My impression is that some brands specify a far too slow damper tune for their forks from Rockshox simply because they are for an emtb

 

[RodC]

I don't doubt anything that has been said here. I have the same forks, I think. They're on a 2020 merida e140 LTD. Mine seem OK. The area I ride in is rocky and hardpack. Lots of chatter between big steep climbs and big steep descents with drops. I've been getting into jumps as well, which is a first for me. I do clean the shock, fork and seat dropper with isopropyl alcohol, and then a smear of shimano brake oil (excess from bleeding). I then work everything and wipe the subsequent oil rings that hold whatever dust there is. All the stanchions (dropper, shock, forks) still have a smear of oil. Not sure if this is enough to resolve what you guys have been talking about - I'm guessing it isn't. I have 1300km up now so I think I'll do one of those 50hr services. It's also possible that I'm not experienced enough to feel a good fork from a not so good fork. I initially spent time recording and getting the settings right - I like to get all I can from what I have. They are only 140 (well rear is 130mm), and even with jumps they're lucky to bottom once a ride; mostly they are about 95-98% used, which is what I really like. Maybe the problem doesn't exist with newer stock? I am light on suspension though, despite my weight (80kg, 85 with gear carried). I took the two tokens out of the shock so that I could put more pressure in to get the 30% sag and a firmer, less bouncy ride. Forks are only at 50psi and feel firm to me when riding. I haven't cased anything yet though; even the two metre drops are smooth which is more a credit to their design than my riding abilities.

if you had the stiction issue, you will notice it. No matter if you’re r experienced.

try riding a friend bike with a similar type of suspension and evaluate.

 

[Hamina]

Not sure if this is enough to resolve what you guys have been talking about - I'm guessing it isn't. Forks are only at 50psi and feel firm to me when riding. I haven't cased anything yet though; even the two metre drops are smooth which is more a credit to their design than my riding abilities.

I did full service and lower leg service with high quality grease and oil. End result was maybe 10% better.

I don't find any correlation between stiction and fork air pressure or tokens because the stiction was (in my unit) there even when I moved the lower leg with upper during assembly without any pressure. I even tried with only one at a time with left-to-right side etc.

There must be too tight clearance somewhere at causes too big static friction. It's in the stanchions or between to several O-rings and the tube.

The fork was quite okay when I got the bike but ended being rubbish in the first 400km. The difference to my current Cane Creek Helm coil 160mm is like from different planet.

 

[Softsand]

I did full service and lower leg service with high quality grease and oil. End result was maybe 10% better.

I don't find any correlation between stiction and fork air pressure or tokens because the stiction was (in my unit) there even when I moved the lower leg with upper during assembly without any pressure. I even tried with only one at a time with left-to-right side etc.

There must be too tight clearance somewhere at causes too big static friction. It's in the stanchions or between to several O-rings and the tube.

The fork was quite okay when I got the bike but ended being rubbish in the first 400km. The difference to my current Cane Creek Helm coil 160mm is like from different planet.

I'm also someone else that tried servicing them but the stiction even just pushing the lowers onto the stanchions was not good. Plush is what they weren't. My SO didn't complain but I ended up selling the Rockshox's, giving her my Fox 36's and I got some DVO Diamonds. Much better for quite a small changeover. We're both happy now.

 

[urastus]

if you had the stiction issue, you will notice it. No matter if your experienced.

try riding a friend bike with a similar type of suspension and evaluate.

Yes, you're right. I should have considered the question - stiction would be obvious. Mine have never had stiction - I would have known straight away. As already said, before every ride I clean and oil the stantions, then cycle the forks up and down as hard as I can, then wipe off excess oil. I've never noticed stiction. I have a merida - is it possible that specialized have asked for something slightly different in their forks? Or are they all the same off the shelf? Maybe mine are just newer and they've changed something in manufacture? Nothing unusual in my forks at all - they just work as I'd expect.

 

[Mikerb]

The 35 is a budget fork and levels of friction on the damper side will be higher which some may call sticktion whilst others just interpret it as a lack of sensitivity.
I had the Revelation and in order to get that eith some degree of small bump sensitivity I removed all the tokens, ran a lower than recommended pressure, dialed rebound to almost full fast and turned LSC up 2 clicks from open. That was as good as I could get it and I still only invariably used 90% travel. It worked OK........but changing to a 160mm Lyric was significantly better!

 

[urastus]

I posted this somewhere else, but here probably makes more sense. I've dismantled forks and cleaned them for the 50hr service (have done about 120hrs). The oil on the air side was dirtier. The foam rings were black! I clean stanchions before every ride - is that normal or are the seals letting too much stuff through? I can only get the foam rings so clean, even after putting them in a container with isopropyl alcohol and shaking them like a cocktail for 5 mins. I'll reuse these, but in future I'd just like to replace them. Does anyone know where I can get them in bulk? I've researched - a lot of them from china look pretty dodgy - I'd like original if that is possible.

 

[rookie65]

Can someone please confirm the exact weight and quantity of oil for each leg?
Thanks

 

[Tony]

Can someone please confirm the exact weight and quantity of oil for each leg?
Thanks
[/QUOTE

Try the rockshox site

https://www.sramconnect.com/globalassets/document-hierarchy/service-manuals/rockshox/front-suspension/gen.0000000005952-2020-fs-oil-air-coil-token-specification-english-rev-a.pdf

 

[microfiz]

I "had" this fork on a used bike I bought. The stiction was the worst I've ever felt, considering the bike was only 8 months old with 300 miles. I tore into it and relubed the lowers per SRAM instructions and improved it significantly. However, it still had stiction at the beginning of travel (so much so that it did not extend to full travel at static). I was going to swap out the air spring and also install an RCT3 damper when I read this:

Rockshox 35 Gold RL Disassemble – What's Inside?

Haven't seen much online about the internals of the RS 35 Gold RL. This fork features on bikes all the way up to the $3k price-point (or double that in the case of eMTB's) and supposedly has RS vaunted Debonair air spring but is it any good? Can it be upgraded? I recently pulled this fork apart...

www.mtbr.com

Anyway, this fork is hopeless. You can try to do the lube service, maybe even follow some of the alterations made in the damper side of the thread mentioned but personally, I suggest you switch it out.... I did (and I am NOT that sensitive to fork performance). I ended up getting a Pike RCT3 and additionally installed an Angleset. When I got this bike with that shit fork, I had serious buyer's remorse. After the Pike swap, I'm about ready to sell all my other bikes. The change was THAT good. With the Gold RL, the stiction was so bad that the front was packing after compression. With the "proper" Pike fork, I had a lot of front traction due to damper, but I was also able to lift and pre-load the front (to jump, bunny-hop, etc) that I wasn't able to do with the Gold RL.

Do yourself a favor and don't even struggle with it.

 

[nasamorpheus]

I "had" this fork on a used bike I bought. The stiction was the worst I've ever felt, considering the bike was only 8 months old with 300 miles. I tore into it and relubed the lowers per SRAM instructions and improved it significantly. However, it still had stiction at the beginning of travel (so much so that it did not extend to full travel at static). I was going to swap out the air spring and also install an RCT3 damper when I read this:

Rockshox 35 Gold RL Disassemble – What's Inside?

Haven't seen much online about the internals of the RS 35 Gold RL. This fork features on bikes all the way up to the $3k price-point (or double that in the case of eMTB's) and supposedly has RS vaunted Debonair air spring but is it any good? Can it be upgraded? I recently pulled this fork apart...

www.mtbr.com

Anyway, this fork is hopeless. You can try to do the lube service, maybe even follow some of the alterations made in the damper side of the thread mentioned but personally, I suggest you switch it out.... I did (and I am NOT that sensitive to fork performance). I ended up getting a Pike RCT3 and additionally installed an Angleset. When I got this bike with that shit fork, I had serious buyer's remorse. After the Pike swap, I'm about ready to sell all my other bikes. The change was THAT good. With the Gold RL, the stiction was so bad that the front was packing after compression. With the "proper" Pike fork, I had a lot of front traction due to damper, but I was also able to lift and pre-load the front (to jump, bunny-hop, etc) that I wasn't able to do with the Gold RL.

Do yourself a favor and don't even struggle with it.


View attachment 49464 View attachment 49465

It is sad, those reviews of Rockshox 35 made me take the bike with that fork. The reviewers are paid to say how good is the fork and bla bla .. that is terrible. I won't read any review anymore, only forums, mouth to mouth, real people... I am so angry, I won't buy anything from Rockshox anymore and for sure I won't read any reviews anymore, even on this side. Now I will have to spend additional 500 EUR or more for the new fork, i wished I bought Scott genius with marzocci bomber. Thx cube for selling me useless fork. I won't buy anything from you either any time soon

 

[microfiz]

It is sad, those reviews of Rockshox 35 made me take the bike with that fork. The reviewers are paid to say how good is the fork and bla bla .. that is terrible. I won't read any review anymore, only forums, mouth to mouth, real people... I am so angry, I won't buy anything from Rockshox anymore and for sure I won't read any reviews anymore, even on this side.

Hey man... I understand how you feel.... I also wouldn't say that all RS products are pooh because they're not (I have two Pikes and a Boxxer WC fork, I also have a Factory Fox 36 Kashima that was pooh until I did major work on it). I would take the reviews with a grain of salt and just do a basic search. Usually, when a fork is bad (like the RL), there is overwhelming evidence in the forums (google Fox 36 harsh, or Gold RL stiction... lol!).

Good luck man.

 

[Darren]

It is sad, those reviews of Rockshox 35 made me take the bike with that fork. The reviewers are paid to say how good is the fork and bla bla .. that is terrible. I won't read any review anymore, only forums, mouth to mouth, real people... I am so angry, I won't buy anything from Rockshox anymore and for sure I won't read any reviews anymore, even on this side. Now I will have to spend additional 500 EUR or more for the new fork, i wished I bought Scott genius with marzocci bomber. Thx cube for selling me useless fork. I won't buy anything from you either any time soon

If they don't work properly send them back and get them repaired. I had this problem and tried to remedy with oil changes and servicing but nothing worked completely so I sent them back to SRAM and they came back with no stiction at all. They are not the best sure, but they can be made to work properly - I would say it's a QC issue rather than a design issue.

 

[Drsooty]

I've got this stiction issue and will likely need to send back for warranty repair. Im in discussions about that now via email. I get a little bit of suspension movement, but not the full amount. Have tried lube and LBS have checked it out. How long will this warrantly repair normally take? 4 weeks?

Annoying because I'm loving riding at the moment, on a fitness kick, and we have a baby due March 24th. So after that my riding will be limited!

I considered changing the forks and getting 29" on the front for a mullet setup. But it is about £1k to get everything as far as I can see, too much.

How safe is it to keep riding for now and send back for repair in March?

 

[microfiz]

What are you riding at the moment?

Fork stiction is not necessarily a safety concern unless you're really pushing your bike to the limits where fork performance is critical. Usually, the sticition I experienced on that crap 35 Gold RL only occurs in the beginning of travel (where the "air" spring resistance is fairly low), so I think you'll be fine riding it until you lose sleep in March (lol!). Congrats btw. =)

Luddites are gonna say don't do the mullet (void warranty, mess up design intent, blah, blah) but I say you do what works for you. i have altered this bike's front so much to my liking that it ended up being my favorite bike (sold my fancy carbon). FYI, it's got a 1.5 degree angleset, 160mm Yari (and soon to be 170mm Lyrik internals because I can) 29er fork but still rocking 27.5 wheels.

 

[Darren]

I rode mine with stiction for 9 months before I sent them back - as microfiz stated it's not a safety issue rather a comfort one. The forks will still absorb bigger hits, it's the small bump compliance that is affected most and setting the sag right can be a pain.
Mine went off and I was told 10 days to fix from receipt - they were back on my bike within 2 weeks - I took them into the shop without my bike so as to not have to wait for the shop to strip down and store my bike.