How Often to Service a Fork and Rear Shock?
Most brands recommend a lowers or air-can service around every 50 hours of riding and a full service every 100 to 200 hours, depending on the manufacturer. Check the interval for your specific Fox or RockShox unit. It is measured in hours, not miles, because hard, dusty, and wet descending wears suspension far faster than flat road time.
The trick is actually knowing how many hard hours your fork has on it.
Two Service Levels, Both in Hours
A lighter, frequent service keeps it smooth; a full service keeps it reliable.
Lowers / air-can, around 50 hours
Fresh seals and oil in the lower legs or air can. Restores small-bump sensitivity and keeps dirt out of the expensive parts.
Full service, around 100 to 200 hours
Damper rebuild and full seal and oil replacement. Interval varies by brand and model, so confirm yours.
Run service past these and performance drops, seals can fail, and a small job becomes an expensive one. The hard part is that almost nobody actually counts their suspension hours, so the calendar gets used as a stand-in and is usually wrong.
What Brings Service Forward
Descending and rough terrain
More travel cycles per hour means faster oil and seal wear.
Dust and wet
Contamination is the enemy of seals; dusty and wet riding shortens the interval.
Bike-park days
Lift-served laps pack a lot of hard descending hours into a short calendar window.
Rider weight and pace
Heavier and harder-charging riders load suspension more for the same hours.
How Trail Hits Tracks Suspension Hours
Trail Hits estimates the hours your fork and shock have actually worked from your rides, and weights them by terrain and conditions, so a dusty descending hour counts for more than a smooth road hour. Instead of guessing from the calendar, you get a service window that reflects real riding time. Pair it with your unit's published interval and you service on evidence, not a hunch.
See how strain prediction works, and for eMTB riders see eMTB suspension service.
Common Questions
How often should I service my fork and rear shock?
Most suspension brands recommend a lowers or air-can service roughly every 50 hours of riding and a full service around every 100 to 200 hours, depending on the manufacturer and model. Check the interval for your specific Fox or RockShox unit, since they differ. These are hour-based intervals, not mileage, because what wears seals and degrades oil is time spent moving through travel, especially on rough, dusty, and wet descents.
Why is suspension service measured in hours, not miles?
Suspension wear comes from the fork and shock cycling through their travel and from seals being exposed to dust and moisture, which tracks riding time and terrain far better than distance. A slow, rough, technical descent can work suspension harder in an hour than a fast flat road ride does in three. That is why manufacturers publish service intervals in hours.
What shortens the suspension service interval?
Rough, technical, and high-frequency-impact terrain, lots of descending, dusty and wet conditions, bike-park days, and heavier or harder-charging riders all bring service forward. A rider doing dusty lift-served laps will reach a service interval far sooner than someone riding smooth dry trail the same number of hours. Trail Hits estimates suspension hours and weights them by terrain and conditions from your real rides.
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