Suspension Service

Suspension is the part riders neglect most, mostly because it fails gradually rather than all at once — by the time it feels "off", the oil has usually been degraded for a while already.

Why it matters

Fork and shock oil breaks down with heat cycles and gets contaminated over time, just like engine oil. As it degrades, damping gets inconsistent — the bike deflects more off square edges, dives under braking, or feels harsh in small chatter even though it's plush on big hits.

General service intervals

There's no single number that applies to every fork and shock — it depends heavily on the specific design, spring type, and how hard and how often you ride. As a rough starting point many riders use:

• Fork oil: somewhere in the range of 20-50 hours of riding for a basic oil change.
• Full fork seal/bushing service: roughly every 40-80 hours, sooner if ridden in wet/sandy conditions.
• Shock service (oil, seals, nitrogen): often a bit less frequent than fork service, but again varies a lot by shock design.

Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your manual or a suspension specialist, not as a fixed rule — the correct interval for your specific forks and shock can be meaningfully different.

Signs it needs attention now, regardless of hours

• Oil visible on the outside of the fork legs (a leaking seal).
• A harsh, "notchy" feeling over small bumps that wasn't there before.
• Noticeably more dive under braking, or the bike sitting lower in the stroke than it used to.
• Clunking or knocking noises from the shock linkage.