clear, greasy liquid under front wheel

[TheBALDpuma]

I picked up a new second hand bike today. It's a stanton slackline with fox vanilla R forks, and Hayes stroker trail brakes. The bike was on its side when I drove home in the ban of the car. When I got it out before a ride there was a puddle of clear, greasy liquid under the middle of the front wheel. The forks looked dry and there was no oil on the stantion after the ride. There was the greasy liquid on the bottom of the fork where the bolts are and the right hand one I can twist with my hand, should this be tight? It also got on the brakes so stopping power wasn't great! But they didn't lose feel or ability to brake during the ride, so I'm assuming it isn't leaking brake fluid?

It's been stood upright for 3 hours and it doesn't look like it's leaked any more but it's hard to tell as it was wet when I put it away.

Any ideas?

[Justin S]

Could be oil from the bottom of the fork leg. There is either a seal or rubber o ring there and maybe loose and need a nip up. As for oil on the pads now, There are ways of trying to remove it, but its better to get some new pads and degrease the disc.

[TheBALDpuma]

At the bottom of the fork is the foot nut, and as I've said it's hand moveable, and I can hear the internals twisting inside the fork. I'm aware this isn't normal so assuming this is the cause. I just hope I haven't lost enough oil to have caused damage when I rode it, and that the whole thing is easily sortable!

As for the brake, I rode down a MASSIVE road hill, working the front brake extremely hard. Lots of smoke and smelling of burning but they work a lot better again now! I know this isn't the "right" thing to do, but so long as I have decent stopping power I'm happy for now.

[shouldbworking]

Are you sure you aren't talking about the rebound adjuster on the bottom of the forks?

[TheBALDpuma]

I could be - No idea what I'm looking at to be honest. There is a rebound adjustment on the top of the fork, and an identical nut on the bottom of each leg. the left one is tight, the right one twists easily by hand and rotates the internals as well.

[shouldbworking]

Looking at a quick diagram the rebound adjuster is on top on those forks rather than rockshox ones where its on the bottom so not that.

[budgie smuggler]

Chuck away the pads, and clean the rotor thoroughly with IPA.

Don't ride them now they've lost oil, it could wear the stanchions. Which leg did the oil come from?

[TheBALDpuma]

shouldbworking said:

Looking at a quick diagram the rebound adjuster is on top on those forks rather than rockshox ones where its on the bottom so not that.

Yeah, plus it's leaked some oil so something is defo wrong! Argh so frustrating. First ride and forks leak and I contaminate the discs! I'm a worrier aswel, so can't relax till it's sorted.

[TheBALDpuma]

Not sure which leg, but it must be the right hand side as this is the sie that's loose.

Anyway, just been into the LBS and they said it was fork oil, and they now need a full service to sort. He reckons whoever serviced them last did a bad job. So it's looking like a small fortune to get sorted then. Great. Pretty unhappy as it happened before I'd even rode it, and the guy selling assured me they had been serviced and were in good conditioning

Gunna go cry for a while now.

[Justin S]

Just take them off and send them to Loco tuning. Get a proper assesment.
http://www.locotuning.co.uk/

[budgie smuggler]

Justin S said:

Just take them off and send them to Loco tuning. Get a proper assesment.
http://www.locotuning.co.uk/

Good advice, they're great.

It could just be that the last service reused a crush washer on the foot nut. Cheap to sort and just needs the oil topping back up and not a full service (though to be honest that's probably worth it to be safe)

[TheBALDpuma]

I took it to another LBS today who do in house fork servicing. They seem great and he said all the seals are new so the storey fits with the chap doing a home service and messing it up a bit. Hopefully get a working bike back tomorrow.