Service Your RockShox Recon RL Fork MORE Often. Full Tutorial: Upper & Lower Stanchions Overhaul. 

Recon RL is a worst fork I ever used :D bad damper, bad sealing, oil leak, etc

@@Lezz015 sounds like you're using an entry XC fork to do Enduro or something 😂 I haven't had any issues after three years of continuous usage with regular maintenance, there's also a considerable difference between the TK and the RL damper.

@@Asthbendriel no :) I'm using bicycle just for commuting, to have some fun or as a fast and cheap transport. I have some bicycles with different forks such as magura, manitou, fox and rockshox. So rockshox forks are worsts fork I ever used, except very cheap or chinese forks. For example, manitou much better due great dampers. I also had a recon silver fork. I have a SID RTL with MC DNA damper. It have some oil leaks near compression knob and it failed because plastic sping broke.

@@Lezz015 the way you're using the fork and the results you're getting don't make sense at all to me, are you a heavy rider or don't maintain the fork at all? I use the Recon RL for natural trail riding, average 40-60Km rides every weekend and short rides along the week. For three years the fork have gone through dust, dirt, moss, roots, mud, clay, crossed rivers, basically almost anything but ice and snow because it doesn't snow over here, and the fork works as day one and in all the three years I haven't had a single leaking issue or sensitivity loss because of the damper. I don't get much air time with this fork at all, but hey it's a 100mm fork, it's not meant for gravity lol. On the brands side of things, I haven't used or seen a Magura fork around here, but doing a quick research I couldn't find a brand new $250 29er Magura, same goes for Fox and the only fork Manitou offers at that price range is the Markhor, which haven't used but looks like a very good fork, but nothing earth-shaking. You can't expect a $250 fork to work as good as a $600 - $700 fork, but it's hell of value for the money you're paying compared to other brands like Sr Suntour for the same price range.

@@Asthbendriel I served SID more than riding it. But I think that I'm a heavy rider, I'm over 100kg with backpack. RS SID had this some problems: 1) a broken damper(you can google about this problem). 2) a cracking steerer(this is a common problem). 3) knocking out dust seal due to air leakage from negative air chamber(it happens only in cold weather and in I should change sealing o-ring) 4) I cannot setup spring for my weight, because there is no tokens in positive air chamber So I'm just tired with this fork. It has only one advantage - weight :) Many people says that they can find RS spares easily and can't find anything for the manitou. So okay, but RS forks have toooooo much plastic parts. You can see broken snap ring on this video, one latch is broken. And you can damage damper while riding on RS fork because there is no high speed bypass(shimstack or something like this) and every bump can do it. Just lock or add compression and hit you fork quick and you have a chance to damage damper. In 2018 I bought a brand new manitou marvel on ebay for 90 eur. So i think this is a good price. Also you can find a brand new, new, mint or used fork on the ebay. Also you can try to buy on on crc or bike-discount on sales. I do not recommend to buy magura fork. It'a far better than RS but not so good as manitou. Check this video about markhor ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-drvxGGtuTu4.html

Strange how a person thinks lack of explanation is better.

Did it work? ;)

Bad thing is he brushed around the dry dirt and scratched everything. 😵 Running water would have been better.

Exactly, use some damn water on those forks.

Да, все говорят что не доливают масло. Лично у меня было залито 110 мл, хотя должно быть 150 мл.

that's not true at all

currently watching and this is absolute torture! STOP FUCKING BRUSHING MAN

You can both skip 10s ahead past those parts ya know. Geez people are so ungrateful these days.

be water my friend……….or be punched………

A lot of people really like the cleaning ASMR, just skip ahead like the rest of us.

haha yeah I feel bad just imagining servicing the whole fork as Sickbiker just did

Andrei Dolgushin tbh I would be down, helps with mechanical experience

Touch them and you'll notice. Check for elasticity and suppleness. If they lack these, replace. Usually if you maintain your bike, trat it well and re-grease/oil every few months (every 3-6 months depending on how much you use the bike) the rubber lasts a long time.

For foam rings, use Rockshox Redrum or Fox Float Fluid

Да, всё правильно пишете, надо замачивать в 15 W. Можно без проблем в хорошем синтетическом, моторном масле и это же масло в штаны вилки налить, по 6 мл.

Me too

No worry itd just the toads and the insects in your area

Not sure about you but I'm not putting my car suspension through the same kind of abuse as my bike 🤙

Yeah I Huck to flat my car just about every other day

Don Novicki yeah it’s just the oil. It’s normal on most RockShox

$85 an hr × 3 hours

this guy don't understand nothing of fork. mistake oil. don't send him the fork, it's the end of fork. see others videos

@@HighVybeTribe From where did you take that price?? WTF With 250$ i buy a new fork :))))) or a bike

​@@syovol But he does it so great that really makes everybody belive he knows like a PRO JAJAJAJA!!!

What happened ?

@@sijmes COVID happened. I couldn't buy the service kit cause it was out of stock and I know my dust seals are badly in need of replacing if I open the fork. So haven't done it yet! I did see it was back in stock last week. So I guess I'll try to order it soon and then get working on the fork when I get some time again! But I won't do the spacer removal thing unless curiousity gets the best of me when I have the fork disassembled. Reason being is that I'm buying a second hand all mountain MTB tomorrow (possibly) and I wish to keep the XC geometry of this hardtail intact for long distance tours. But I did see videos of people doing this and apparently it works fine.

it's whatever your manual calls for. It's going to be different for each variant of this fork.

ideally yes, but if it's been stored in a cool dry location, should be fine, and do a service after 50 hours

everything is set up.

Надо новую перебрать так как это сделал автор ролика. Во-первых, с завода не доливают масло 5 W ( Лично у меня было залито 110 мл вместо 150 мл). Во-вторых, практически во всех новых вилках, при разборе, внутри присутствует металлическая стружка. Нужно всё вычистить и по-новой собрать.

pretty much the same.

I would not consider this a high level of effort. Want to get as much life as I can out of my $250 fork!

@@olneymaryland77 - *I finished a full rebuild of a 2011 Recon Silver TK. Each 150 mL bottle of suspension fluid was between $8-12. I needed three. The picks were about $16. Rebuild kit with seals was about $30. A vial of SRAM grease was about $15. Basically, supplies are at least $50. Moreover, the compression damper side of the fork is a pain to remove the lower legs. You can enthusiastically decry better forks, but the time spent maintaining lower-tier forks ends up being just as expensive. They’re harder to maintain, basically.*

@@savoirfaire8979 That sounds like a lot of fork oil... I have a friend that works at a bike store and can get me the ~200mL I will need for free, I already have picks (of course?), seals - $30, Sram Butter - got it. Yeah a $250 fork is pretty entry level, but, I'm not made out of money. $30 on a $250 investment, done probably annually -- pretty fucking good IMO

@@olneymaryland77 - *Bike stands are at least $60 for a decent one. Also, Time spent on learning is money. The hidden costs add up. It’s OK, tho. I’m glad that people are willing to use inferior forks while they eat my dust after passing them on trails....;-D*

@@savoirfaire8979 OK Mr. dentist. . .Who said you need a bike stand? "Time spent learning is money" Look, good things don't come easy, and you've got to start somewhere. Its called an investment in your tools, and your knowledge & skills. Sure sounds like you would rather pay some $$$ for someone to *hopefully* do it right for you. I prefer a DIY approach.

there is another alternative of oil

Looks to be the same process according to the service manual. www.sram.com/globalassets/document-hierarchy/service-manuals/rockshox/front-suspension/2016-2017-30-recon-sektor-service-manual-english-.pdf

possibly not the same oil levels.

It's due to the oil bath and damper design. Honestly I just got used to it on my suntour fork. I kinda like it.

long story short, he is just being cheap. when doing a lower leg service, it is only necessary to replenish the lubricants, however for a more in depth service like this, it is recommended you replace all the seals, however i guess it is not really necessary unless they are damaged. this service is supposed to be done annually, so if the seals start to perish he should still catch it before running into issues. i do still think that he should just replace them all anyway, since the kits are pretty inexpensive nowadays, priced around £15

You don't bottom out your car suspension on almost every ride.

Can you tell me if the ring that holds the plastic thing in the upper leg compression chamber is facing down or up ? It won’t click on on my fork

thats right, also use grease instead oil for the foam seals, e.g. SRAM Butter it will remain better on the foam seals

Its all part of the process baby, I appreciated it.

yeah the washing was a bit dragged out. You do want to make sure there's atleast no big clumps but since you are going to be cleaning the insides of the legs anyway, might as well just do the total cleaning when they are apart. I just sprayed my fork down with windex and wiped it off before taking the lowers off, since mine was pretty clean to begin with.

yeah, there's no way to skip ahead!

Could have save a ton of time with a waterhose

NO 6 minutes and 29 seconds of bike SCRATCHING! He had a bucket of water from the beginning, WTF?

I had same issue - easy fix, check this out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1n4_rp2Aj2o.html

I'm facing same issue right now. Please let me know if you happen to know the reason

Did you need to increase the amount of oil in the damper side? Can the spacer be removed/changed without losing any oil?

@@Scottydont1978Used same amount of oil as service advises and works fine, but in theory you should add a little more. You will lose the existing oil when doing this, if you remove the spacer and don't replace with it with a smaller spacer on 130mm forks you're get 150 travel this will give you problems, I suggest only going to 140 travel, good luck

@@norseman3919 why going to150 will cause problem ? It says in the service manual that the spacers are optional.

@@xyzDJzyx 150mm from 130mm will change the geometry to much for a short travel bike(make climbing hard going) , and apparently the lockout won't work, you could always give it a try and if no good go back to the original setting or 140mm

@@norseman3919 Yes but my goal is to increase descent performance. More travel and slacker angle is good for me and I am lightweight.

yes, its rebound

That thing is a PITA, I disassembled my judy silver fork and removed that piece on the air spring leg, after trying very very hard to install it again I decided to not remove it from the damper side. Best decision ever, I think that trying to install that thing on the damper side is harder than install it on the spring side (you would have to use something to keep the seal in the leg). Try heating the plastic piece on hot water, it worked for me. NOTE: I'm talking about installing again the black plastic piece shown at 24:41, the ones on my judy are different.

@@totoxahc looks super easy on the video 😄

@@totoxahc I can't get the black clip on the damper side on either. Does heating it up actually work or should I try sanding down certain parts of it to make it fit better

@@Wintersoldier-bx2xr heating it allowed me to install that piece again. It is still hard but a little easier. I would not sand it. Just leave it for a moment in hot water and try again

@@totoxahc Too late lol, I rounded off the bottom side that sits flush with the tube with a dremel. It went right back on.

was thinking the same.

It's kind of the point of this video. Showing people, who don't know, good cleaning practices and procedure. Keeping your bike parts clean and in good working order will ensure a much longer life span, and smooth functionality. Try walking away from this with some knowledge. Or leave it all filthy, and when parts start failing, from being all gunked up, waste money on replacements that you wouldn't have needed if you took the time to clean parts and do things right.

@@gardenstateflatlandb it should be edited in two parts. as it is now, by the time he is done cleaning a part, i forgot what was going on.

Or just hose the bike down and dry it off, use a brush if there happens to be stubborn mud. Gently touching with a brush, brushing comically soft to parts that aren't even dirty, and using his fingers to slowly wipe away dirt is ridiculous. No one cleans like that.

Once a year is fine

Did you figured it out? I have the same problem

Recon forks have a 20mm black spacer that can be removed to increase the travel.

I use dirt bike/motorcycle suspension oil of the same weight, works fine for me.

it would be ok for a coil fork, no problem. I did that a few times with Suntour and worked fine.

Rebound adjustment

@@samteks125 I wish they used a regular rebound adjustment knob. I just purchased a recon silver rl and I tried to find a replacemnt/backup key on amazon and ebay but no luck. That things just waiting to fall out and get lost.

That is the expansion speed settings

I was thinking the same thing! Also, NEVER push down on the crown like that @10:05

@Gergő Ollé Cause manufacturer say it in service manual. It is smth about "adjusting negative air spring" , same has FOX forks. Should find details by yourselves but, it's necessary add the oil

Try Rockshox wesite. They will almost certainly have a very comprehensive guide to your fork and instructions on how to service it as well as a huge spares catalogue...

check out sram.com/service. they have all the oil volumes there. I think he didn't do it for this video because it varies depending on the travel and size of the fork.

Read ihsan ulusoy comment it might help you.

my question also

If you want it more plush run thinner oil. 15w is stiffer than 5w

The manual says 5wt for the damper, 15wt on the damper side lower leg

I think it depends on the fork model

@@benjaminaquino8755 those are the levels for the recon

Both work perfectly !

the manual says either is okay

you can but depending on the compound of the grease it can absorb dust and create some friction, on the other hand any kind of suspension grease (not just sram butter) can be used.

@@here_is_gabe cheers for the reply 👍🏼

Fork movement may get jerky when using the wrong lube, but you may well have found out by now.

Thats exactly the fork i bought a Week ago to put onto my Bike. The Pre owner wrote something like good Condition, but i can swear it maybe never had a service so far.. The Money i paid for both, fork and service supplies, would be enough for a brand new 2016 Recon in Sale. I guess at least it will teach me something..

@@jasperhusmann6888 - Honestly, I fretted for over a year on whether to attempt rebuilding my stock fork. The RU-vid videos were intimidating. The service manuals were confusing. But I decided that I needed to try and learn because I would never trust someone to service my equipment properly. It’s hard to verify if a bike mechanic used new seals or o-rings, for example. Verifying the quality of their work would require opening the fork and looking. At that point, I figured that I would just do it myself. I serviced my second fork yesterday and realized that it’s pretty easy once you learn the basics. I regret waiting so long to develop the courage to take my forks apart.

@@savoirfaire8979 I will try my best to learn it for similar reasons. I want to do as much as possible by myself. first because i want to get know my bike and what it needs and second because repaircosts at our local bikeshops are damn expensive . also the workshops are at super high demand right now. I guess it will be expensive to start with, because of all the tools and materials you need, but later it will save me money and prevent getting ripped off by some mechanics, that just do unnecessary repairs and demand an unrealistic price at the end. Im currently studying social work and want to work with kids and young adults. so maybe it will help me later and i can repair their bikes with them. Have a good time and bike on. DIY or Die ;)

@@jasperhusmann6888 how much was the service charge ? btw how much is a new recon ?

@@sdqsdq6274 i bought one from eBay for 120 Euros. When i realized, that it needed a Service i wrote the guy to complain a little bit because he told me it was in perfect condition and he paid me 20 back for the service kit. I also needed 2 kinds of oil so in total it was like 140 euros

did you try the offbrand oils? i see a lot of people using them

@@alexambro4998 i did, and it worked well. Oils for motorcycle shocks are the same and much cheaper. Buy a quality oil for motorcycle shocks would be my advice, just use the appropriate viscosities per the rockshox manuals

oh dear