Shocking situations

[Swissrider]

I went to one of my local LBS yesterday and asked about giving my Fox rear shock a 50 hour service (removal of air can, replace seals and oil), asking about a service kit. I was told that I should let the shop send it off to Fox for this job and it would cost about chf 200 (about £190) and it would take about a month and a half! I pushed ahead with asking for a service kit and was (reluctantly) told they could order one for approximately double what they cost on line. This is in Switzerland. It seem ridiculous to have a situation where one has to have one's bike off the road for a month and a half every 50 hours! Also, I don't understand why this is a job the shop can't do themselves. I would have thought a competent mechanic could do this in about ten minutes. On youtube you can watch a video of a mechanic doing a 200 hour service on a Rockshox rear shock, changing all the seals, including the damper chamber in 21 minutes. A 50 hour service is not that difficult. In my opinion, bleeding brakes is more complicated and fraught than doing a small shock service. Thank goodness there is a wealth of information on how to do this job and I would think that most people could tackle this.

 

[Expidia]

Yep, order a kit yourself and learn to do your own maintenance! Only down time will be the time it takes you to do the job yourself.

 

[Swissrider]

Yep, order a kit yourself and learn to do your own maintenance! Only down time will be the time it takes you to do the job yourself.

Agree. Kit is on order! I like to do all my own maintenance, on my bikes and motorbikes. For me it is part of the pleasure of owning a bike. I was just shocked that the shop thought it was acceptable for a bike to be off the road for a month and half and cost 200 quid for what is probably a fifteen minute job for an experienced and competent mechanic. I've written to Fox to see what they think.

 

[steve_sordy]

At least consider letting the service company do the suspension servicing whilst the bike is in warranty. Twice I have had shocks with an issue unknown to me at the time that was replaced under warranty free of charge. Without an expert looking at the components and recognising what they were seeing, both of those problems would have continued to deteriorate until suddenly I would have had to pay and probably a lot more.

Six weeks for a service turnaround is excessive I believe. In the UK, most if not all of the service centres offer a booking system and a 3-day turnaround; receive day 1, despatch day 3. So you are not deprived of your bike for very long at all.

 

[Swissrider]

At least consider letting the service company do the suspension servicing whilst the bike is in warranty. Twice I have had shocks with an issue unknown to me at the time that was replaced under warranty free of charge. Without an expert looking at the components and recognising what they were seeing, both of those problems would have continued to deteriorate until suddenly I would have had to pay and probably a lot more.

Six weeks for a service turnaround is excessive I believe. In the UK, most if not all of the service centres offer a booking system and a 3-day turnaround; receive day 1, despatch day 3. So you are not deprived of your bike for very long at all.

I would, but six weeks is too long to be without the bike, and chf 200 is too much for a simple and quick job, especially when I can do the job myself. There is not much that can go wrong with the air can (apart from leaks) but if I suspected a damping issue, this would be a warranty case.