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Presumably they have fewer internal parts than air forks so are they easier to strip down and fully service than air?
Slightly easier because there is no air spring to service but they're not particularly difficult or time consuming. You still need to do lowers services regularly. That's the best thing you can do for suspension performance. Don't make a decision based on ten minutes less work every few months.
Somewhere between kinda, and it depends.
On most forks it's as simple as unscrew the top cap, check there's still some oil visible on the sides of the stanchion, wipe with your finger to check it's not dirty and replace it. But then lots of coil forks still have a piston of some sort that needs greasing, it's just not an air tight seal.
The only extra work is when you come to the annual service and there's a couple of extra parts or o-rings to swap. But if you're like me, you never do and just change the oil every few months until something leaks.
Buy them based on the performance you want. Air springs are massively* better than they were 20 years ago but still aren't perfect. Conversely coil springs limit your to one spring rate or expensive replacements, and weigh quite a bit more. Also consider whether you actually need that nth degree of performance. I used to have the all singing and dancing mission control Lyriks with a coil spring 'uprgade'. They were the dogs bollocks, buttery smooth, and you could tweak the settings to be perfect in any situation. Conversely my 35's have compression (zero to lockout) and rebound, and you can add tokens to the air spring. They don't feel as composed and perfect as the old forks, but TBH they still get out of the way when you hit something, and do it fast enough and controlled enough that it makes zero difference.
*I think a lot of the coil spring mythology stems from the fact that Marzocchi used them for a long time, and their forks (whilst they were made in Italy) were in a whole other league to Fox/Rockshox/Manitou. And their earlier air springs were much better too, although weren't very sophisticated.
IMO in servicing are mostly not about coil or air spring but cartridge based damping units which need more tools and skills than old open bath forks.
Yeah, the effort is all about the damper not the spring leg. The only "extra" bit in an air fork is an o-ring or two, but then you don't have a spring to grease/be in the way etc, and you can more easily cycle the forks if needed cos the spring (air) isn't there until you want it to be.
they are easier to service in that you can service them a lot less, i find
howsyourdad1
Full Memberthey are easier to service in that you can service them a lot less, i find
Agree with this. Always found performance drop-off was higher with air forks. Assume it's the piston seal needing a fresh supply of lube that makes the difference.
but then you don’t have a spring to grease/be in the way etc, and you can more easily cycle the forks if needed cos the spring (air) isn’t there until you want it to be.
Unscrew top cap, cycle fork, screw on top cap, settings are instantly back where you left them.
A little bit but not enough to really matter tbh- air springs are dead simple too.