Suspension
Fork and shock service intervals, by brand
Two clocks run inside every fork and every shock: a cheap, frequent oil and seal service, and a rare, expensive internal rebuild. They are independent. Doing the first does not buy you time on the second, and the reason a two-year-old bike feels vague is almost always the one nobody counted.
The two services
Oil and seal service, around 30 ride hours
Fresh oil, new seals and wipers, clean bushings. On a coil fork it is the bath and cartridge oil, on an air fork the air-spring service goes with it, and on a shock it is the oil plus a nitrogen recharge. This is the interval riders skip, and it is the one protecting the parts that cost real money.
Complete service, around 40 to 45 ride hours
The damper or cartridge comes apart: internal oil, O-rings, bushings, piston bands, worn internals. Most brands want specific tooling and a nitrogen source, so for most riders this is a shop job once a season. On KTM and Husqvarna enduro bikes the published figure is 45 operating hours for both the fork and the shock.
Manufacturer and tuner intervals
The race column is what the app uses when a bike is marked as competition use. Where a maker publishes only a race figure, or only an inspection instruction, the recreational column is a conservative extension and is called out as an estimate.
Motocross and enduro forks
| Fork | Oil service | Complete | Racing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP XPLOR | 30 h / 12 mo | 45 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | KTM and Husqvarna enduro schedules specify 45 operating hours for the complete service. The intermediate oil service is conservative. |
| WP XACT / AER | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h | KTM SX manuals schedule fork service on 20 to 40 h competition cycles and do not split oil from complete, so the two tiers are approximate. |
| KYB SSS / AOS | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 7.5 h / 30 h | Yamaha's competition schedule replaces fork oil about every 3rd race, roughly 7.5 h. The 30 to 40 h recreational values come from a suspension tuner. |
| Showa twin-chamber | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 7.5 h / 22.5 h | Honda CRF450R spec: outer-chamber oil every 3 races, damper oil every 9 races. Recreational values from a tuner. |
| Ohlins RXF48 / TTX | 40 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h | Ohlins specifies oil replacement plus dismantle and inspect every 20 h in motocross competition. The 40 h base is a recreational extension and is an estimate. |
| Sachs / ZF (Beta) | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Beta publishes model-specific Sachs manuals. The 30 to 40 h values align with Beta's 30 h competition inspection. |
| Marzocchi off-road | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Estimate. Beta supplies model-specific Marzocchi procedures but no universal interval. Do not apply Marzocchi bicycle schedules to a motorcycle fork. |
| FOX legacy moto | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Estimate. No model-specific production FOX motorcycle-fork schedule was found, so generic motocross intervals apply. This is not the FOX 40 row. |
| Unrecognised fork | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | The generic fallback: the researched general motorcycle range, used when the fork cannot be matched to a brand. |
Motocross and enduro shocks
| Shock | Oil service | Complete | Racing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP XPLOR / PDS | 30 h / 12 mo | 45 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | KTM and Husqvarna enduro schedules specify shock service every 45 operating hours. |
| WP XACT | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h | KTM competition schedules put shock service in the same 20 to 40 h range as the fork. |
| KYB | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Conservative tuner schedule. The manuals inspect by race rather than specifying an internal rebuild interval. |
| Showa | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Conservative tuner schedule. No universal factory internal-rebuild interval is published. |
| Ohlins TTX / STX | 100 h / 12 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 20 h | Factory schedule: every 20 h in motocross and enduro race use, annually for general off-road. 100 h is that annual figure at about 2 ride hours per week. |
| FOX Podium / Float | 100 h / 12 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 20 h | FOX states 100 to 200 h non-race and 10 to 20 h racing in the Podium RC2 powersports manual. The app takes the conservative end of both. |
| Sachs / ZF (Beta) | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | Beta inspects the shock on 30 h competition coupons. Conservative professional service values. |
| Unrecognised shock | 30 h / 12 mo | 40 h / 12 mo | 20 h / 30 h | The generic fallback. Note that many motorcycle shocks are coil units, so there is no air-can service to suggest. |
E-moto suspension
This is where honest numbers get thin. Sur-Ron, Talaria and Segway all specify inspection rather than an internal service interval, and the stock fork or shock brand changes between production batches, so the stock rows below are conservative estimates built around roughly 2 ride hours a week, not manufacturer figures. If you can read a brand off the fork leg or the shock body, use that maker's row instead: it is a real schedule.
| Unit | Oil service | Complete | Racing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sur-Ron stock | 50 h / 6 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 30 h / 60 h | Estimate. Sur-Ron mandates inspection, cleaning and lubrication but no internal service hours. |
| Talaria stock | 50 h / 6 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 30 h / 60 h | Estimate. Talaria ships Talaria, FastAce and DNM units and defers to the component manual. |
| Segway X160 / X260 | 50 h / 6 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 30 h / 60 h | Segway specifies front and rear shock maintenance every 6 months, which is about 50 h at 2 ride hours a week. The overhaul procedure is not defined, so that tier is an estimate. |
| FastAce fork | 10 h | 10 h | 5 h | The FastAce ALX13RC guide calls for comprehensive maintenance every 10 usage hours. Unusually short, and it may be conservative, but it is the maker's own figure. The race value is an estimate. |
| FastAce shock | 100 h / 12 mo | 100 h / 12 mo | 50 h / 6 mo | FastAce recommends at least an annual inspection and oil refresh for frequent e-moto use. No separate overhaul interval is given. |
| DNM USD-8 fork | 50 h / 6 mo | 85 h / 10 mo | 30 h / 50 h | DNM: outer clean every 6 months, internal parts and oil every 10 months for frequent harsh use. Race fields are estimates. |
| DNM Burner / AO / DV shock | 100 h / 12 mo | 200 h / 24 mo | 50 h / 100 h | Estimate. DNM specifies mount-bearing service around 5,000 km, which is about 200 h at 25 km/h. The 100 h oil service is a conservative checkpoint. |
| FOX 40 conversion | 50 h / 6 mo | 125 h / 12 mo | 30 h / 75 h | FOX publishes 50 h oil and bushing service plus a 125 h or yearly full service. Race figures are reduced for e-moto weight and speed. FOX does not certify this fork for motorcycle loads. |
Conditions move all of these. Sand, mud, deep water, pressure washing and sustained high-speed chop all shorten a suspension interval, and competition roughly halves it. The figures above describe average off-road use with the manufacturer's own conditions assumed. Your service manual is the authority for your exact fork and shock, and a unit that is weeping oil, topping out harshly or packing down is overdue regardless of what any clock says.
Why the clock has to count ride hours
Suspension oil degrades from heat and shear, seals wear from stroke cycles, and neither has anything to do with distance. Two hours of rocky enduro puts vastly more work through a fork than two hours of fire road, and both put more through it than the two months it sat in the garage. That is exactly why every serious suspension schedule is written in operating hours.
The catch is that an hour meter, when a bike even has one, counts the engine. It knows nothing about the fork you refreshed in March, the shock you have never opened, or the fact that half those hours were idling in the pits. Loam Moto counts moving time from the ride itself and runs a separate clock per component, so the fork and the shock age on their own hours and each service resets only what you actually did.
How the app picks your row
You name the fork or shock and Loam matches it against the dataset above by brand keyword and model year, falling back to the generic motorcycle schedule when nothing matches, so a part always has a schedule rather than no status at all. Mark a bike as competition use and every matched row switches to its race column. Rows the dataset itself flags as estimates are shown as estimates in the app too, and any interval can be overridden per component when your own manual or your tuner says otherwise.
FAQ
How often should I service dirt bike suspension?
Around 30 ride hours or 12 months for the oil and seal service, and around 40 hours for the complete service. KTM and Husqvarna enduro schedules put the WP XPLOR fork and shock complete service at 45 operating hours. Racing drops those to roughly 20 to 30 hours, and a motocross fork can be far shorter again: the Honda CRF450R schedule replaces outer-chamber oil every 3 races, about 7.5 hours.
Does an oil service reset the rebuild clock?
No. They are independent clocks, and Loam tracks them independently. Refreshing the oil does not renew the cartridge internals, the bushings or the piston band, and treating it as though it did is the most common reason a fork feels progressively worse through its second season.
Do Sur-Ron and Talaria forks need servicing?
Yes, and nobody publishes an hour figure for them. Both makers specify inspection rather than internal service, so the app ships a conservative 50 h or 6 month estimate for the oil service and 100 h or 12 months for the overhaul, clearly labelled as estimates. Identify the actual unit if you can. A FastAce, DNM or FOX component has a real published schedule, and on the FastAce fork it is much shorter than the stock estimate.
Put your fork and shock on their own clocks
Loam Moto tracks the oil service and the complete service separately, per unit, fed by real moving time from the ride you just did. Mark the work you actually did and only that clock resets. Any motorcycle or e-moto, petrol or electric, with your garage and your GPS tracks staying on your phone.
