Why DIY-ing your forks and shocks isn't a great idea

We love riding bikes, and we love being smart with our money, right? Right!

So when it comes to suspension servicing, what’s the harm in trying to save a few dollars by doing it ourselves at home?

Turns out: quite a lot.

DIY suspension servicing comes with a host of problems ranging from mildly inconvenient to expensive and dangerous. And that’s even before we talk about kissing your warranty goodbye.

With decades of suspension servicing experience behind us, we’re going to look at what kind of equipment and experience you actually need to do it properly, and all the ways it can go wrong, including the risk of catastrophic failure.

So if you’ve been tempted by ‘service your own shock and $$$ave!’ on YouTube or forums full of people saying you just need Allen keys and a bench vice to do a full strip-down, put down that wrench and take a read.

We’re going to save you a lot of time, trouble, and potentially an ambulance ride.

Problem 1: You need more tools than you probably think

Removing your rear shock or forks from your bike? No problem, if you’ve got a set of Allen keys.

Need to unscrew your fork lowers? That’s pretty easy, too.

So far, so good if you’re just doing a fork lower or rear shock air canister service.

If you want to take things further, however, it’s unlikely you’ll have everything on hand that you need to do the job.

Here is a sample of what’s required:

• Appropriate seal drivers
• Bushing tools
• Regulator and fill tools
• Repressurising equipment
• Vacuum-filling machine
• Nitrogen tank
• A myriad of other specialist tools and gauges

Without specialist tooling (and, more importantly, the knowledge on how to use those tools properly), you’ll only ever be able to do an air canister or fork lowers service, rather than pulling your damper apart.

But that’s probably a good thing, as you’ll see in a minute.

Problem 2: You need specialist knowledge to fix particular problems

Let’s say your stanchions keep getting stuck down, or your shock sounds weirdly squelchy when compressed. A basic service and oil refresh will fix these problems, right?

Nope.

If you have issues such as cavitated oil or rebound problems, your forks or shock will need a complete strip-down and rebuild to fix them. This work includes servicing the damper, which—based on just the tools required alone—you’re very unlikely to be able to do successfully at home.

Now, we’re not saying that it’s not worth doing a lower leg or air canister service, however. These are basic maintenance services which will minimise wear and keep your suspension running better for longer. (And, as mechanics, we also appreciate riders who want to make an effort to keep their bikes running well.)

However, a lower leg or air can service is not the same as a full service, and can’t fix the same issues.

So if you see ‘Fix ALL of your suspension problems with this one simple trick!’ on YouTube, unless that trick is ‘take it to a service suspension centre’, keep scrolling.

Problem 3: DIY can be dangerous

It is extremely easy for a fork or shock service to go wrong, often catastrophically.

Why? Because suspension can turn nasty—and expensive—faster than a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

Yup, it can explode.

The damper of a rear shock is pressurised from anywhere from 150 psi to 600 psi – that’s a lot of pressure in a very small space. If you try to disassemble a shock and don’t know how to do it properly, it can—and probably will—blow up in your face.

Best-case scenario: you’re covered in oil.

Worst-case scenario: you’ve lost an eye.

You might think we’re kidding. We’re not, and have seen the aftermath when people have attempted to dismantle a damper without understanding the depressurising process.

Don’t risk it. Your face doesn’t need an unscheduled piercing.

Problem 4: Reassembly can be fiddly

When you’re dealing with suspension, particularly rear shocks, you’re dealing with a lot of very small parts that are put together in a very specific order in order to make the shock work.

If you lose a part—which is pretty easy, considering that you’re dealing with o-rings, valving and small components—, you won’t be able to rebuild the suspension properly.

If you forget exactly which order each part has go in, you also won’t be able to rebuild the suspension properly.

This goes double for a situation in which you’ve exploded your shock, and now have to find alllllll of the bits that were inside it before it detonated and are now scattered to the far ends of your garage/work space/shed.

That is, if you're not in hospital.

Despite what Reddit may tell you, fork dampers are also far more complex than they were 10-15 years ago; many are more like shock dampers now.

While a lower leg service isn’t super-complicated, if you don’t install the seals correctly, you can easily get oil leaks, which means you have to start all over again. (Or your lowers and front wheel could fall off when you go over a jump because you either didn’t tighten the fasteners properly or forgot to fit them altogether.)

Hurray!

You’ve wasted a bunch of time for no reason.

Or are possibly now on your way to hospital.

Problem 5: Testing can be difficult

Without proper testing and pressurising facilities, you often won’t know if your fork or shock service is actually successful until it’s back on your bike and you can take it for a ride.

Say you’ve done your basic service and you’re pretty sure it’s all gone to plan.

You bolt your suspension back into place, jump on the saddle and get ready to head off on the trails but…wait, what’s that noise?

Why isn’t the lockout working? What’s that liquid seeping out of the base?

Now you have to go back to square one and start again. More wasted hours that you’re now going to have to spend pulling things apart, putting them back together and hoping for the best, rather than going for a ride on your (professionally serviced) suspension.

Problem 6: Mistakes can be very expensive

If you get things horribly, horribly wrong, DIY suspension servicing can turn out to be unexpectedly expensive, potentially to the point of having to buy a new fork or shock to replace the one you botched.

Here are some home mechanic wrecking jobs that we’ve been presented with:

• fork stanchions full of gouges because someone used a screwdriver instead of the correct tools
• a plastic bag full of shredded metal scraps that used to be a shock (pre-rapid unscheduled disassembly; fortunately the owner was only mildly concussed)
• fork internals with cross-threaded bolts
• incorrect oil volumes and air pressures
• valving reassembled in the wrong order so the damper doesn’t function
• forks filled with olive oil (in this economy?!)

Shredded seals, incorrectly filled dampers, scratched components, cracked top caps, things installed backwards and upside-down – we’ve seen it all.

You know what’s cheaper than having to replace a fork/shock because you decided to use a hammer instead of the proper tool? Just getting them professionally serviced in the first place.

If you want to experiment and don’t care about running the risk of having to replace your suspension at the end of it, then go for it.

Otherwise, put down the screwdriver and take your parts to a specialist suspension centre.

Problem 7: Warranty issues

It sounds like an obvious thing, but you’d be surprised how many riders don’t know it: at-home suspension work will almost always void your warranty.

All major brands all have specific servicing schedules and techniques, and their suspension is designed to be serviced in a certain way.

Without this knowledge, there’s a high likelihood of something going wrong, and you won’t be covered, even if your suspension is still technically within its warranty period.

OK, I get that there are risks, but I still want to service my own suspension

If you haven't been scared off by the possibility of exploding components or costly mistakes, some manufacturers now offer online servicing videos.

Check to see if there's a video available for your specific model of fork and/or shock.

If there is, watch the video, and really pay attention to it.

What you’re looking to discover is:

1. if you possess the specific equipment, but also (and possibly more importantly)
2. if you possess the specific skillset to do the work.

If you think you should be able to muddle your way through the job somehow, or it will make more sense once you get things apart, or you can improvise some of the tooling with other stuff you have lying around the shed, stop right there.

Unless you understand every process and have the exact equipment on hand, chances are you’ll mess things up royally.

How to properly look after your suspension

1. Stick to the basics—cleaning stanchions and air can maintenance are fine, but anything beyond that needs proper tools and knowledge.
2. Get your suspension serviced at recommended intervals—or sooner if you ride hard and often.
3. Finally, if it involves dampers, internal seals, oil weights or nitrogen, leave it to an expert.

“I have a friend who’s really good at servicing his own stuff.”

Hot tip: if you Know A Guy (everyone knows a guy, don't they) who says he services suspension at home and can do yours 'no problem', be cautious.

If you’re seriously thinking of getting him to work on your forks or shock, test him out: before handing anything over, ride his bike and see what it actually feels like.

You might decide to go for Plan B instead.

In conclusion

We love it when people want to look after their bikes.

However, some aspects of bike maintenance aren’t worth risking at home, especially when they have the potential to injure you.

There are still plenty of ways to save money on bike maintenance, and by having your suspension professionally looked after, you’ll be able to hit the trails knowing that everything’s working safely and properly.

Plus, now you have more time to ride, rather than hunting for an o-ring that shot off somewhere into the corner of your shed.

Need an expert to look after your suspension? It’s one of our specialties!