How many of you service your own suspension?

I do the service on my forks, but do not have the nitrogen set up or tools to do the service on my WP shock. Would love to learn though. 

I do mine. The sad part is the shipping cost and replacement of all wear parts (that are still good) is what made me want to learn to do it on my own. 
I also had a tuner charge me $80 to put the “updated” piston in my trax shock before. Which was odd, because I had already put the updated piston in that shock the last time I serviced it

Yes, sir! FWIW, I use argon that is just sitting there in my TIG welder.

Tyre shops can do ya nitrogen fill. Or a refrigeration/ air con guy if you know one. 

Will moto shops do a nitrogen fill if you take it to them? Or will they turn you away due to you not getting the shock serviced by them/liability of the shock exploding due to them assuming you dont know what youre doing when rebuilding?

Most will turn you away because of liability, which is completely understandable. 

I love it, learnt a bunch over the years. I just use a mtb shock pump these days and don't worry about nitrogen. I did however build a shock vacuum / bleeder which works amazing. 

Heck yeah! Does it work just as well?

I did my own forks last time around.  I'll most likely be doing them myself going forward.  My shock is next.

Just be careful.  You don't want the forks coming apart on you.  If you're in doubt, ask a friend to walk you through it the first time, or take it to a shop.

I've had shops fill my shock a few times.  The last time, they wanted to know the history of the shock first.

I'll do my own shock next.  The one thing to be extremely careful about, is to let all of the nitrogen out of the shock before you remove the valve stem or disassemble the shock, and make sure you aren't in the line of fire when you remove the valve stem.

If that valve stem shoots out at 150PSI, it can go right into your heart.

you should have a local gas company that can fill it, we do here.

I do all my own servicing, a fork pump from a KTM does the shock perfectly, just make sure you do it on a day with low humidity.

Do all my own work,  both ends.   I built my own bleed tank for shock bleeding, which was fairly easy and cost was under $100.00.

I invested in a nitro tank and fill gauge along with other suspension tools.      If I find I need a tool I'll purchase it.  Valving is a little more complex but can be fun to learn if you're into it.

Once you've serviced a few oc or cc fork your basically good to work on all forks, same with shocks. 

From what I understand, having your shock bled with the proper machine is critical as it keeps the shock from heating up and fading as much. Maybe a professional suspension person can chime in?

Back in the 90's I would service both ends of my bikes and a couple Buddy's. Also would change the valving stack and pistons. 

Ended up working with Race Tech and running their gold valves doing all the work my self.

Now when I started running aftermarket shocks on my couch's, I let them do all the work.

I'm doing a fork seal right now. Don't have a seal driver, so I'm going to use the ol' electrical tape trick. 

I have buddies that will rebuild a whole motor but think oh man I'm not touching that suspension stuff. Ive done pretty well lately servicing my own stuff, need to do some learning about shim stacks and it would be fun to play around with that as well.

Only real special tools that you have to find are some good shaft clamps for a vice for some of the stuff and I got one of these bleed cups for the rear shock so you don't have to do a vacuum bleed. 

- DRC PRODUCTS -

I installed a gold valve kit in my forks last year and it was actually really fun.  I have done my own fork service for years, and at my next oil change interval I will break down and buy a nitrogen tank and regulator.

Been doing it since ‘85. Started send my suspension to FC for revalve but I do oil changes on shock about every 10 hrs. In the 80s that was every week now it’s every few months. Have N2 tank (small 2 ft high don’t remember capacity lasts forever)x gauge, old fox shocks zero loss fill gauge.
Big bikes 500s really need consistent good suspension performance. Lighter bikes, trail riding won’t feel it as much. . 

Before I bought a for seal driver I just cut the old seal in half and used it as a fork seal driver. Worked awesome. But the $60 for a fork seal driver is worth it’s weight in gold now. 

I don't have to do fork seals often enough, but I appreciate a good tool. Might buy one anyway. 

I Have probably revalved or serviced a thousand shocks since the 1980’s. I bought a Progas aluminum nitrogen tank with a non leak regulator from Honda and over all those years have only had to have the tank refilled 1 time. 

My 1st shop name was Lump Racing Suspension. Years later after moving out to the Midwest and returning back Maryland I changed the name to Skyforce Racing and has a red box van set up with a sleeping area and the shop in the back stocked with fork and shock parts so I could do work right at the track. 

Forks are pretty straight forward & can be done by most with some mechanical inclination. 

Shocks, while relatively easy to disassemble & service, really benefit from vacuum bleeding to ensure all air is removed from the oil. Although the process to vacuum bleed is pretty simple, it's a sizeable investment that most aren't willing to make. 

I do my own servicing and valving, I don't use argon anymore to charge shocks, just use the ktm air fork pump.

On WP shocks, I removed the reservoir,  drilled, tapped and fitted a Schrader to charge. Or replace with bladder kit.

I'd love a vac bleeder, but so many shocks have been done without.  The DRC bleed cup is coolnon WP SHOCKS

I did my own when I was riding. Racetech is a really good resource, and their gold valves were a huge improvement over stock in the early 2000's. Now that my kiddos are riding, I am the mechanic. If you can buy the factory service manual, some recommended tools and follow instructions, it's not bad at all.

I've done my own suspension maintenance since I was 16 and even play with the shims. I've adapted forks from a Yamaha to a KTM 200 and sss forks onto a wr back when they were still the open cartridge. I'm a HVAC tech so nitrogen is always available. I set the regulator to a little above what I want and then use a low loss bike suspension pump to bleed it down to the exact setting I want. My regulator goes to 800psi, it's not made to get an exact 140-150psi. 

For what it's worth before I got into this trade I just used the bike suspension pump and never had any issues with ambient air. Manhattan KS and Tyler TX weren't exactly low humidity either 😅

Yep. It’s much cheaper and my turn around is faster than the shop. And I just enjoy working on my own stuff.

Plus I have access to free nitrogen so it’s a no-brainer

After having a guy jack my forks up after paying for a "service" I learned how to do it them myself.  I've been doing them for the last 20+ years.  I've always had to have a shop charge my shock, but I still do the work myself.  Both forks and shock were way easier than I thought it would be.

I can do forks and have gotten pretty good at doing them. The bleeding can be tricky but other than that they are a no-brainer. However, I suck at bleeding shocks and don't have a Nitrogen tank anyways. With having a new stock bike at my weight I'd like valving and springs done so I may just take it in this time. Also I've never been turned down for Nitrogen after servicing my own shocks. 

Don't see why not. It is inert, dry and stable. Though at my pace I would not be able to tell the difference. Still had to get one of those special chucks. To be honest, if I did not have the Argon sitting here, I would probably just use a mountain bike shock pump.