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Just bought myself an old Jekyll in really nice nick, all looks to have done very low mileage - however(!) the lefty fork makes a grinding noise upon compression and doesn't feel to smooth at all. I haven't has a set of forks for about 10 years so have no idea what I'm doing and my local bike shops don't really want to know. A quick Google search suggests that they use needle bearings which can sound funny, but I'm convinced this isn't right. Any ideas what might be going wrong here? Cheers!
Speak to TJ or ernie ....
Or more helpfully try Thumbprint or Noahs Ark
It needs a service old bean, send it to TF Tuned.
The needle bearings can have a slight rumbly feel, but shouldn't be grinding.
It's probably full of crap. They are great forks when serviced though 🙂
cheers for the replies guys, bit of a pain as bought off ebay for a fairly premium price (been looking for a decent nick jekyll/lefty for ages!)and was described as being excellent all round - only just found out the guy used it to ride roads. looks like a pricy service is the way forward 😕
You can lift the boot and give the stanchion some grease for now, so it's a bit smoother with the needle bearings. Probably need a bearing reset too.
Jimalmighty - Member
It needs a service old bean, send it to TF Tuned.
TF Tuned only deal with the newer stuff, nothing as old one fitted to a Jekyll.
I can't recommend Tony @ Thumbprint enough, yes it's pricey as their not that common. I recommend you send them in to him to be checked over, but take a look at the price 140mm lefty's max are selling for on fleabay before commiting if it's gunna be a major rebuild, as a newer one (even if it need servicing) maybe a better investment
go with noahs cheapest service around.Once done should be fine for a couple of years.They do work out economical.If youre handy with a micrometer try here http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=221683
which lefty is it?
some of the older air forks are hard to get serviced due to rarity of the tools
Lefty Max 130/140 coil sprung ones are not too bad to service yourself, spares could be a pain if required
if it's later than 2004/5 (ie metric) apparently you can use the latest internals as a straight swap out (not cheap)
mtbr forums are your friend
I recently had my lefty serviced by Evans and it feels like a new fork now. Great service and convenient for local pickup which saved on postage (for me anyway). Highly recommended and reasonably priced too!