Mountain bike forks and shocks are expensive, high-tech products that require regular maintenance to keep them performing at their best. While manufacturers recommend specific service intervals, some riders choose to follow them while others do not.
Share your perspective on suspension service intervals and any lessons learned in the comments below!
As needed.
I find that forks are much easier to service, and I enjoy doing it. Shocks, on the other hand, not so much. Especially so a full service, the biggest POA being the 350psi air or nitrogen fill. Air can service with fresh FLOAT fluid a couple times a year definitely helps the longevity and consistent feel. Let us not forget the dropper post. Two to three times the frequency of service necessary, not for performance issues but simple filth.
Like today’s drivetrains, the high price of quality suspensions drives me to keep them cleaned and well lubed. I simply need to squeeze all the usable life out of them in order to keep running my preferred set up of Fox suspension and Shimano XT/XTR.
I find once a season/year is enough to keep mine going strong.
It depends, really. The forks are pretty easy, so I do those every season.
After incurring about $600 in shock rebuilds this past year (one for a DPX2 that was over due, and twice for an X2 Factory that’s been crapping out about every 40 hours) my new strategy going forward is to will be to do air cans but to otherwise just run the shocks into the ground then replace them with a DVO so I can service them myself.
I fall into the “I have no idea what the service interval is” category, but despite that, I have my shock and fork serviced once a year in the winter at my LBS. I average around 600 trail miles in mostly dry conditions each year.
Much depends on mileage and more depends on environmental influences.
That is why “as needed” comes into play. Higher mileage on that odometer? Do a service more often. Muck n grunge environments definitely require the service frequency to go up.
These shocks are silly expensive to replace, so stands to reason…
I run mine about 2 years before a full rebuild with 1000+ miles ridden each year and have had no issues.
You can service these things?
The poll should have offered annually. I feel like it’s pretty common in the winter to take bikes in for suspension service whether or not the hour interval has been met.