In Randy’s words, the seals, oil, and foam rings all “looked like it could have been ridden once.”
After I watched him pull the lowers and carefully inspect everything, I was shocked.
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I expected the fork to be shot, blown, dry-rotted, and full of sand-especially after something along the way ripped off one of the metal dust seal retainers, something Randy said he’s never seen in all his years doing this. Then, there was more bikepacking in Oaxaca, as well as a lot of day rides that were even dustier and rougher at times. There was a lot of rocky, dusty, and even salt water caked rugged dirt roads in Baja, fully loaded. For the record, those weren’t easygoing miles, either. After we got home some two and a half months and 1,600 miles later, I brought my fork back to Randy and had him tear it down and see how it fared.
I was running a Fox 34 110mm, and Virginia had a RockShox Pike 120. Randy serviced both of our forks just before we left on our trip to Mexico. Randy handles the majority of the “heavy-lifting” suspension work for our local bike shop, too. Randy has been in the suspension game for nearly a decade, previously working at another suspension specialist company, where he serviced and upgraded forks and shocks, and even developed innovative ways of doing so before the major bike suspension players offered service support programs. Randy Collette is a local small business owner here in Brevard who runs MTB Suspension Service (DBA as Collette Machine and Tool). One such checklist item was getting our forks properly serviced by a trusted technician. Before setting out, we took a few precautions to inspect, service, and make sure we had the right tools and spare parts on hand in case of issues. On our Baja Divide trip-and then on to Oaxaca-last winter, Virginia and I brought all three of those “risky” components. Hydraulic brakes, dropper seat posts, and suspension forks all come to mind. Either way, a lot of folks are still skeptical of a few modern technologies when planning for a long and remote bikepacking trip. And the world is a smaller place-that is, in terms of being able to access parts and service. Mechanical brakes, 36-spoke wheels, QR dropouts, and zero moving suspension parts were all tactical selections made to ensure that your bike was bombproof and field serviceable wherever your travels took you.īut things have changed. It wasn’t that long ago when big bikepacking trips called for strict adherence to old bicycle standards.
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