My fork extended by 40mm!

[Ezkaton]

Hello Ladies and Germs,

On my joyful ride home this afternoon after some glorious overtime at ye-olde-work... I disembarked my precious lady to purchase the wonderful fluid known as Coke at a nearby store.
As I removed my lovely self from the bike, the fork compressed a little, then as I un-weighted them, I hear a clunk and my fork extends its travel by 40mm!

Previously I had 140mm of stanchion showing, now I have an enormous 180mm!
Furthermore, if I weight the fork it just sinks into the travel like it has a mere 40-50psi (my normal is around 90), reaches the 3/4 mark, clunks again, then sinks until the end of the travel.
Un-weighting it has no clunk when returning, but 'thumps' when it reaches the top.

Now, I don't know if it's related, but I had my fork serviced about a month ago... is it possible that something wasn't put back together quite right?
Did my damper shit itself?
Something else?

I just got my bike back after getting a pivot bearing change and was looking forward to a nice ride this Sunday, then this happens!

Any ideas or experiences with this, anybody?
How frustrating.

Here's a short video I made when I got home as an example of the problem.
[video=youtube;gr9QeEtCJ4E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr9QeEtCJ4E[/video]

 

[hazza6542]

Kashima coating really is just that plush.

Can you feel it hitting something when you hear the clunk?

 

[Ezkaton]

Not really 'hitting something', I guess, but I can definitely feel when it clunks.

 

[T-Rex]

I had exactly the same thing happen to my 2010's.

I'm onto my second glass of red, so can't EXACTLY remember what broke inside, but it needed a complete strip to replace some dicky little part. You need to be very careful riding it home, don't let it top out or you will do more damage.

Give me 5 minutes and I'll remember what it was...

 

[Ezkaton]

Yeah I rode it home softly... when I'm sitting on the bike the travel is sunken most of the way.

I noticed the lockout wasn't working after the service, and still does not function... shock pump is also reporting 30psi.

 

[T-Rex]

OK, it's come back to me now.....

The big circlip inside the air side which retains the topout spring wasnt seated correctly and fell out, the fork then overextended, and the piston on the damping side bottomed out on something it should never come into contact with, this punched the little retaining circlip that holds the piston assembly together off the top of the internal shaft. The circlip was rooted, that was the dicky little part referred to above, but fortunately the rest of the piston assmebly was OK.

All in all, an impressive bit of internal fork carnage.

In hindsignt, given I had just serviced the fork, this was probably worth a post in the Fuckwits thread.

 

[Ezkaton]

So, given that my fork was recently serviced also... should I be speaking to my LBS?

If it's what you say, it sounds like the reassembly process wasn't done properly?
If that is the case, is it up to the LBS to rectify this at no cost (other than maybe parts)?

I have a feeling I'll be stung the full price of a fork service + parts. :/

 

[T-Rex]

I wouldnt jump to the conclusion that they had re-assembled it wrong, like I did. Literally the first time the front wheel got airborne I reckon the big circlip fell out, unfortunately I had just ridden 15k on the road to get to the local track, so didn't have a choice but to keep going. Plus I didn't actually realise I had a problem intil half way around the loop when it started clunking on the topout.

In your case you have been riding it for a month, and it's been OK up to today. So somehting might have just broken, unrelated to assembly. But I would definately take it back to the LBS as your first port of call.

 

[merc-blue]

Its a 50/50 call on reassembly error vs parts failure, could be either could be part failure encouraged but abit of heavy handed tech work. they are a double round circlip in the fork lower which can easily be bent and will not reseat correctly or the edge of the clip groove can get damaged etc. I would go see someone like Tekin (I see your in Melb)
There are also a few other things that may happen but you should stop compressing your fork and let all the air out as its currently using the damper as a travel limiter which mean the damper is likely going to need to be repaired.

 

[Knuckles]

Is the foot bolt still there?

 

[Wombatone]

Sounds like your bikeshop has put an electric staplegun inside your fork ,just wrong.
Go back to the shop and get them to fix it.
Once it works again put it on ebay (everyone likes Kashima) and get a decent fork.
The 32 Foxes are absolut garbage.

 

[Ezkaton]

Is the foot bolt still there?

'Tis.

Sounds like your bikeshop has put an electric staplegun inside your fork ,just wrong.
Go back to the shop and get them to fix it.
Once it works again put it on ebay (everyone likes Kashima) and get a decent fork.
The 32 Foxes are absolut garbage.

It will continue being used as a new fork isn't in my budget until I complete my DH build.
I did have my eye on a 140mm 2015 Revelation for when it's finished though...

I guess I'll take the fork off after I eat and take it down to ye-olde-LBS in the morning. :/

 

[SummitFever]

You could drop the lowers and see if the circlip is still in place. Sounds like its not. Probably an assembly error at the LBS. The circlips do not fail in a way that leads to over-extension.

If you got the time/patience then take it back to the LBS. If you need to ride it, drop the lowers and re-install the circlip properly.

 

[Ezkaton]

I think I'm going to just take it to Tekin after work tomorrow.

They're only a suburb away and seem better at/for this kind of thing.

I'm not confident about pulling my fork apart myself.

 

[DMan]

Sounds like your bikeshop has put an electric staplegun inside your fork ,just wrong.
Go back to the shop and get them to fix it.
Once it works again put it on ebay (everyone likes Kashima) and get a decent fork.
The 32 Foxes are absolut garbage.

What a load of shit. There's nothing wrong with the 32 factory series if they're used for what their designed for. But I'd go back to your LBS if it was serviced quite recently. Can't hurt to talk nicely and see if they come to the party seeing they serviced it.

 

[Lard_ass]

Agree, nothing wrong with the 32 fox forks, could be a simple fix like the little black spacer may have not been installed correctly,

 

[Wombatone]

What a load of shit. There's nothing wrong with the 32 factory series if they're used for what their designed for.

Agree,just quite sure these things were more designed to look pretty(nice Kashima) and not so much to handle tuff day to day mountain biking.

The 32's must be the most overhyped, under-performing fork out there and if they would not come standard OEM on most bikes they would not sell a single one.
So if you want your bike to look pretty get a Fox ,if you want long term reliability to ride hard look elsewhere.

 

[DMan]

Agree,just quite sure these things were more designed to look pretty(nice Kashima) and not so much to handle tuff day to day mountain biking.

The 32's must be the most overhyped, under-performing fork out there and if they would not come standard OEM on most bikes they would not sell a single one.
So if you want your bike to look pretty get a Fox ,if you want long term reliability to ride hard look elsewhere.

And that's because you're a pro rider. Sorry man I didn't factor that in...:boink:

 

[teK--]

With the whole 32mm isn't adequate debate my view is it depends on rider weight and style/terrain.

I'm on the light side I found 32 was fine for XC to trail riding but beyond that the 34 is definitely stiffer in the tracking department.

I imagine heavier riders would need a 34 even for trail duties.

 

[Wombatone]

And that's because you're a pro rider. Sorry man I didn't factor that in...:boink:

No need to get personal now is there? Feel free to play the man and not the issue at hand.

If say, I would be sponsered by Fox, I would have no problem with changing my forks every time they stuff up.
As I am not in this un-fortunate boat,I can pick and choose which fork to ride.
All late model 32's I had were all buggered within 6 month of use and spend more time in the shop than on the bike.

You can feel free to spend your cash (and they are not cheap) on Foxes if you like but do not expect me to recommend these things to anyone while there are so much better performing forks out there.
I will leave this job to the Fox sponsered Fox riders.