There are so many mid-priced RockShox forks around that it’s hard to pick the best, but we reckon this hot-rod Recon is a value winner. We often meet the Recon on complete bikes, and it always does a cracking job of making mid-price bikes feel top-class in suspension terms. It can do the same for your bike, too The main difference between most Recons and most Rebas is that the more expensive Reba comes with a lighter alloy steerer. However, the Recon Race gets that too, leaving it only 18g heavier than the Reba. It’s got the same durable, steerable structure elsewhere, too, making it a sturdy enough fork even in its longer-travel incarnation. On the bike it’s pretty much impossible to distinguish the Recon and Reba. The solo air spring ramps up noticeably deeper in the stroke, but not so much that you can’t get full travel. You have to be pushing it really hard for the Motion Control damping to become clattery rather than reasonably controlled.

Rockshox Recon 335 Service Manual A wide selection of high quality products from Rock Shox. Lyrik Solo Air Service Kit AM 2012+. RockShox Lyrik Solo Air Service Kit. £30.00inc VAT.

While Recon lacks the Reba’s adjustable negative air spring that lets you adjust the initial stroke sensitivity, its pre-set behaviour is pretty much the same as what we run Rebas at anyway. Given that most riders – even experienced ones – don’t really know what a negative spring is for, it also removes the potential for people to ruin the set-up of their fork. The same applies to the lack of Floodgate adjustment on the compression circuit. Instead you get RockShox’s excellent Poploc lever, which effectively turns the fork off for steep road climbs or sprints – which is all most racers want. Xml validatorbuddy keygen for mac. You even get a metal top cap on the air spring for that quality feel. If we had one gripe, it’s that the permanent V brake studs and IS (rather than post mount) disc brake mounts make the fork look dated. With RockShox’s legendary reliability, the actual performance is unlikely to age, though, giving another reason why it’s our clear value winner.

Get inspired by our deals. Guy started filling his brain with cycle stats and steaming up bike shop windows back in 1980.

He worked the other side of those windows from '89 while getting a degree in “describing broken things covered in mud' (archaeology). Dug historical holes in the ground through the early '90s, then became a pro bike tester in '97. Guy has ridden thousands of bikes and even more components the world over since then and can remember them all in vivid, haunting detail. Can't remember where the car keys are, though. Age: 45.

Height: 180cm / 5' 11'. Weight: 68kg / 150lb. Waist: 76cm / 30in. Chest: 91cm / 36in.

Discipline: Strict sadomasochist. Preferred Terrain: Technical off-piste singletrack and twisted back roads.

Up, down, along — so long as it's faster than the last time he did it he's happy. Current Bikes: An ever changing herd of test machines from Tri bikes to fat bikes and everything in between. Dream Bike: His Nicolai Helius AM custom tandem. Beer of Choice: Theakston's Old Peculier (not Peculiar).

Location: Yorkshire, UK.

I’ve got Rockshox Recon SL with manual (i.e. Not remote poploc) lockout forks which are about a 18 months old. The lockout has stopped locking out the fork. Anyone had this? Is it likely to be something trivial which stripping down that bit of the fork (using the instruction on the SRAM website) will reveal? OR does it mean something has snapped/failed which will need expert attention anyway?

I can’t actually work out how the lockout works from the pics on the SRAM site, I’m assuming it will be more obvious once disassembled? Duuno if this helps, but on all three of my RS forks this happens.

Its always due to damper fluid leaking past the inner lower damper seal. Its number 6 on here: Symptoms are: 1-lockout doesnt work 2-on air models-let all of the air out (of + and -) and you cant get full travel. 3- If you drain the oil from the right lower the oil will be blue, or a mix of blue and brown. Really its a manufacturing fault – but I see it as a good reason for regular services. BTW the dodgy inner damper seal is a standard imperial size.

You dont need to buy the whole TF tuned kit or that ebay bit. 99p IIRC for 2 from simplybearings. Lastly – you’ll need some decent circlip internal pliers. Not those universal internal / external wobbly cheapies. We have a little progress. The lowers are off (easy when you know how!).

There was not very much oil in the lowers (I haven’t checked what should be in there but I am guessing 20 mL each side at the very most – probably a lot less. It was clean looking and very light yellow in colour. The damper side had a lot more oil in the upper. This was slightly blue in colour. The air spring side had some oil (pale yellow colour) in the upper – but something more worrying a very thin metal washer which is mishapen and split.

This might be what the manual refers to as the wavy washer. I’ll investigate but gut feel is it shouldn’t be split? So I’ll need to get parts.

All the oil looks clean, and at first glance all the seals seem fine, no corrosion scratches or dirt on the inside so hopefully fix this washer if needed refill with oil and we will be back in business.