Reactive Suspension - Services
Reactive Suspension's workshop is fitted out with the very latest tools and equipment necessary to carry out fork, shock and steering damper servicing to an extremely high standard. We offer a range of coatings for fork stanchions including Hard Chrome Plating, Titanium Nitriding, and DLC coating. We also offer a Powder Coating and Anodising service.
We have a very quick turnaround on forks and shock servicing, slashing the time your bike is out of action.
Please Contact Us for full details of our services; if it involves suspension we do it.
Motorcycle Set-Up
We offer a ride-in motorcycle set up service to adjust the suspension and geometry of your bike to suit you and your riding style. We measure the bike to set the static and rider sag, then work with you to establish the optimum damper settings that best suit your riding style allowing you to extract the maximum performance from the machine. Please contact us to make an appointment.
Shock & Fork Servicing
During a service the suspension units are fully disassembled, thoroughly cleaned and inspected for wear, fork stanchions and shock shafts are polished to remove any pitting which could damage seals, and reduce stiction. If necessary shock bodies and cartridge tubes are honed to improve sealing. The components are measured for correct tolerances and the units assembled using the finest lubricants available.
Suspension performance deteriorates gradually over time, you often don't notice how bad it's got until there is a significant drop in performance. Regular maintenance ensures that the suspension components are working at their optimum.
The reciprocating motion of suspension units causes parts to wear adding minute particles of debris to the oil, the oil holds some of the debris in solution so it constantly flows through the pistons and shims. The shims work at very low lift values so any debris passing between the shims and piston can get wedged holding the shims open, disabling the damping. Debris also sticks to the surfaces inside the units coating them in a sticky paste, sediment also collects in areas where the oil settles.
The oil itself deteriorates with use, there is only a small volume doing a large amount of work, oxidation, shearing and contamination all breakdown the performance of the oil effecting the viscosity and operation of the suspension.
Manufacturers workshop manuals only recommend changing the fork oil, if only the oil is changed a lot of the gunge will remain inside, clean oil will wash off some of the gunge contaminating the clean oil within a few miles, any debris held in the damping components will remain there, the only way to ensure the correct fork action is to strip and clean all the parts.
The forks should be serviced at least once mid-season for racing and annually for road use.
Standard shocks use a much smaller volume of oil than most aftermarket units, the oil works a lot harder, leading to higher temperatures and faster break down of the fluid. Even from new a lot of standard shocks have air in the fluid which lowers the viscosity of the oil, even new shocks can benefit from a service.
Shocks should be serviced mid season for racing and annually for road use.
Titanium Nitride Coating
Titanium Nitride Coating is a very hard (2500 HV), low friction gold coating applied to fork stanchions and shock shafts. It has a higher hardness rating than hard chrome giving a greater wear resistance and is a non-stick surface with a very low coefficient of friction (0.65) reducing stiction.
The coating forms a metallurgical bond to the surface of the coated part that will not flake, blister, chip or peel.
Diamond Like Coating
Diamond Like Coating is an extremely hard (3500HV) black coating applied to fork stanchions and shock shafts that is harder still than Titanium Nitride.
With a coefficient of friction of 0.1 it is the lowest friction coating available providing a very low stiction surface improving suspension action considerably.
Replacement Fork Stanchions, Hard Chrome Plating
If you have badly corroded fork stanchions it is usually cheaper to replace the tubes than have them re-chromed, in the rare instance that we can’t supply new tubes we can hard chrome plate yours to their original condition.
Anodising
Anodising is an electrochemical process that forms a protective coating of aluminium oxide on the surface of aluminium. Unprotected aluminium exposed to the elements will corrode and oxidise with a white powdery finish, unprotected aluminium parts that are subjected to sliding forces found in suspension components will quickly wear, contaminating the oil. Anodising protects the aluminium, transforming it into a hard wearing, weather resistant surface.
Anodising can be coloured by adding dyes which fill the microscopic pores in the anodised surface and then sealed to create a smooth durable surface.
A PTFE coating can also be applied to the anodised surface, giving a low friction finish.
Sulphuric anodising is suitable for decorative and corrosion resistance, Hard Anodising is best suited where high levels of hardness and abrasion resistance are important.
The results achieved through anodising are dependant upon the material and surface finish, please contact us for details.
Powder Coating
Whilst your shock is being serviced we can powder coat the spring to make your shock look like new, or powder coat the fork sliders on conventional forks to improve the bikes appearance.