Rear Shock Puked Oil on my Bike Rack

Fanatic

Fanatic

Member
My rear shock (Fox RP23) blew today, but it didn't happen on the trail.

I put my bike on the back of my car in the morning and then left for the trail about an hour later. I am not sure why, but oil seeped out of the propedal lever on my rear shock and left a puddle of oil on my driveway.

The weird thing is that I have no oil on my garage floor, so I know that the shock did not start leaking until it was on my rack.

Have any of you had this happen? Is it possible that the sun heated the rear shock so much that it over pressurized and made an O-ring fail?

I called Jenson and they said that I would have to send the shock back to Fox to have it serviced. $170 and a week and half of no riding is bumming me out.
 
Chit happens. That's as good reason as I have.
If you have it serviced at a shop maybe they will give you a free loner bike or shock.
Just had my Fox shock serviced ( $203.00 :gag: after the rebound blew. Shop put a loner shock on so was able to ride anyway ( not really much riding, it was during the time we had the little drizzle here in So cal.).
 
For $179.00 (plus ~$40.00 for round trip shipping) you can have your RP23 upgraded by Avalanche Downhill Racing (in Connecticut). I had my 2012 Giant Trance X1's RP2 upgraded by Avalanche with their SSD/HSB (Speed Sensitive Damper/High Speed Blowoff) Technology in mid-2014 because I could never get it to perform very well--and the upgrade made a world of difference in the best possible way. In fact, I liked it so much that last October I had Avalanche make the same SSD/HSB upgrade to my 2015 Niner WFO 9's Monarch Plus RC3, as well as upgrading its Pike with their Open Bath Damper Cartridge so my suspension would be dialed front and rear--and it is--dialed that is.

If interested, you should call Craig Seekins, the owner/operator of Avalanche, and talk to him about the upgrade. He is extremely knowledgeable about MTB suspension--as he's been running this business for many years now--and very friendly, and he'll answer any/all of your questions, and make your suspension do whatever you want it to do--within reason that is. But I believe that he generally only upgrades shocks that are in good working order--so you'd definitely need to disclose and discuss your current issues with him at the very least. But I think that he might still work on your shock if it seems like its issues are relatively minor and/or easily remedied--but IDK. I'd be very surprised if he couldn't get your shock sorted out for you.

Also, @herzalot--a self-proclaimed suspension snob--has used Avalanche (I believe he had his CTD rear shock upgraded with their SSD/HSB Tech) before and it seems like he's always praising and recommending them. Maybe he'll chime in here?...

Good luck getting it sorted regardless.

Check it out.

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Fox DHX/Fox Float RP23 SSD Mods.htm

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/generic/Why Avalanche Suspension.htm

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Reviews/Reviews.htm
 
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Fanatic said:
I have a loaner bike for Monday, so I should be okay. I rode my dad's single speed today and really enjoyed the simplicity of the bike (less parts to break)...Then I thought about @Faust29 and reconsidered how singlespeeds don't have many parts to break. LOL.
Click to expand...

I go through my share of parts, but there is something about the simplicity of 1x1... :thumbsup:

Try it a few more times and you may get hooked...
 
PATKOUG said:
For $179.00 (plus ~$40.00 for round trip shipping) you can have your RP23 upgraded by Avalanche Downhill Racing (in Connecticut). I had my 2012 Giant Trance X1's RP2 upgraded by Avalanche with their SSD/HSB (Speed Sensitive Damper/High Speed Blowoff) Technology in mid-2014 because I could never get it to perform very well--and the upgrade made a world of difference in the best possible way. In fact, I liked it so much that last October I had Avalanche make the same SSD/HSB upgrade to my 2015 Niner WFO 9's Monarch Plus RC3, as well as upgrading its Pike with their Open Bath Damper Cartridge so my suspension would be dialed front and rear--and it is--dialed that is.

If interested, you should call Craig Seekins, the owner/operator of Avalanche, and talk to him about the upgrade. He is extremely knowledgeable about MTB suspension--as he's been running this business for many years now--and very friendly, and he'll answer any/all of your questions, and make your suspension do whatever you want it to do--within reason that is. But I believe that he generally only upgrades shocks that are in good working order--so you'd definitely need to disclose and discuss your current issues with him at the very least. But I think that he might still work on your shock if it seems like its issues are relatively minor and/or easily remedied--but IDK. I'd be very surprised if he couldn't get your shock sorted out for you.

Also, @herzalot--a self-proclaimed suspension snob--has used Avalanche (I believe he had his CTD rear shock upgraded with their SSD/HSB Tech) before and it seems like he's always praising and recommending them. Maybe he'll chime in here?...

Good luck getting it sorted regardless.

Check it out.

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Fox DHX/Fox Float RP23 SSD Mods.htm

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/generic/Why Avalanche Suspension.htm

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Reviews/Reviews.htm
Click to expand...

Concur 100%. Craig will work magic with your RP23. He turned my CTD Float into Cane Creek quality damping. I was very happy with it on my 140 mm travel Knolly Endorphin. Be forewarned however, if you like a "locked out" climb switch that basically prevents your suspension from moving and keeps your bike from sagging, the Avalanche modification is more like the Cane Creek that allows sag and some suspension movement in the "locked out" position, but it is highly damped so it does not bob. I do believe you can select the amount of "pro pedal" that you want in your modification. Talk to Craig.

When I Avy'd my shock (December 2014), it took about 10 days total and cost about $179.
 
Thanks @PATKOUG and @herzalot for the Avalanche Contact Info. I talked with Craig on the phone for about 30 minutes. I might have bugged him a little, because of my shock ignorance, but he walked me through the issue. I guess that the 2012 RP23 shocks are known to fail in the lockout area. I preferred my shock in the stiffer setting, so I always left my switch in lockout and never touched it. I guess that the O-Ring will degrade over time and the upper section is not replaced in a normal shock service. Craig told me that the lockout failure is considered catastrophic and that I would be better to buy a new shock rather than spend the money to fix it. I guess that FOX would charge me almost as much as a new shock anyways.

Craig recommended the Fox CTD rear, because it has a blow off built into the shock body to avoid the failure.
 
Fanatic said:
Thanks @PATKOUG and @herzalot for the Avalanche Contact Info. I talked with Craig on the phone for about 30 minutes. I might have bugged him a little, because of my shock ignorance, but he walked me through the issue. I guess that the 2012 RP23 shocks are known to fail in the lockout area. I preferred my shock in the stiffer setting, so I always left my switch in lockout and never touched it. I guess that the O-Ring will degrade over time and the upper section is not replaced in a normal shock service. Craig told me that the lockout failure is considered catastrophic and that I would be better to buy a new shock rather than spend the money to fix it. I guess that FOX would charge me almost as much as a new shock anyways.

Craig recommended the Fox CTD rear, because it has a blow off built into the shock body to avoid the failure.
Click to expand...
Hey Aaron - don't leave your climb switch/lockout in the on position. It might result in catastrophic failure of the shock.:confused: :bang: o_O :(

I am glad Craig was able to steer you the right direction. So many others would have just told you to send it in and waste your money.

The Cane Creek air and the DVO Topaz have a blowoff built into their damper to protect the shock. In fact, I think all air shocks have that now.

BTW, if your shock is the right size (200mm x 57mm or 7.875" x 2.25"), I have a freshly rebuilt (by Cane Creek) DB Inline that you could borrow just to see how it feels. But don't you dare run it with the climb switch on while bombing down hill, even though it has blowoff protection. It's just unkind.

I just checked the specs, I think your bike takes that size shock.
http://www.bikeaction.de/fileadmin/techgarage/techmanual/2013RMB_TECHMANUAL-Jan9.pdf?_=1448274951
 
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herzalot said:
Hey Aaron - don't leave your climb switch/lockout in the on position. It might result in catastrophic failure of the shock.:confused: :bang: o_O :(

I am glad Craig was able to steer you the right direction. So many others would have just told you to send it in and waste your money.

The Cane Creek air and the DVO Topaz have a blowoff built into their damper to protect the shock. In fact, I think all air shocks have that now.

BTW, if your shock is the right size (200mm x 57mm or 7.875" x 2.25"), I have a freshly rebuilt (by Cane Creek) DB Inline that you could borrow just to see how it feels. But don't you dare run it with the climb switch on while bombing down hill, even though it has blowoff protection. It's just unkind.

I just checked the specs, I think your bike takes that size shock.
http://www.bikeaction.de/fileadmin/techgarage/techmanual/2013RMB_TECHMANUAL-Jan9.pdf?_=1448274951
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer. I could tell Craig winced when I told him that I left my shock on the climb mode. I am not really confident with suspension tuning, so it would be cool to have someone ride my bike and give me some suggestions. JesonUSA has a Fox CTD open box shock for a good deal right now. Craig told me that anything newer than 2014 should have the blowoff. He also steered me away from the EVO, because it has had the same history of failures.
 
herzalot said:
Hey Aaron - don't leave your climb switch/lockout in the on position. It might result in catastrophic failure of the shock.:confused: :bang: o_O :(
Click to expand...

Running a single speed as a loaner? Leaving the shock in the lockout position?

I think we need to switch this conversation to which gear ratio you're going to run on your single speed build. It's time to come out of the closet and join the dark side! :p
 
I have 2 - 200x57 fox shocks. Both are CTD Evo's, but both work just fine and I'll let one go for 50 bucks if you want to back rolling again cheaply.

Regarding avalanche... I had them do mods to a CTD Factory Kashima for my trance... That turned out to be an epic shock. I recently replaced it with a monarch plus debonair rc3 which was also re-worked by craig. Both shocks are just simply a non issue. They have become sort of like a crankset. It went from thinking/talking about my rear shock during and after every ride, and now like cranksets, I just don't notice it. The suck is there, does it's work without muss/fuss.
 
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