2006 bike with tired brakes and shocks - what to do?

[bramley]

I have a 2006 Specialized FSR XC Comp which I bought secondhand. It's a little small for me but I manage. Anyway, I've just moved to Malawi and it's becoming obvious the bike is a little tired and I'm not sure what to do about.

The rear brake judders, makes a weird noise, the fluid is probably original! Front brake is ok. They're Hayes Sole and there's some sign of corrosion on the brake lever assemblies, perhaps were fluid is slowly leaking? The main problem is the suspension. The rear shock (X-Fusion 02 RC) is low on pressure and appears to be leaking, it's likely all parts are original. The forks are Rock Shox Tora 318 SL and they too are low on pressure - I had a shock pump in the Uk and used to top up the rear shock but never the front so a shock pump is going to be a good start.

Enough rambling. Having never serviced hydraulic brakes or indeed rear shocks, what is involved in terms of parts, tools, cost etc in sorting out my shock and the brakes from the symptoms I've described? Is the rear shock serviceable, is it worth replacing? I can see costs mounting up and the problem of parts availability/shipping to Malawi is potentially a problem - I'd have to import everything.

Any thoughts welcome...being a typical bloke I've been browsing brand new bikes already....

Thanks

[T1berious]

You might want to brace yourself for pain, expensive pain.

If you're a bit handy with an allen key and know your way around bleeding brakes etc you can order the parts and fit yourself.

Have you got a budget in mind?

I recently had to "refresh" the other half's bike. but I didn't have to ship anything abroad so my costs / risks won't be as great as yours.

Easiest

Buy Rear Shock
Buy Forks
Buy Brakes

Hardest

Repairing the brakes your self Start with new pads and look at cleaning them up. bleed them etc. You should see a few how to guides for your brakes on the web.

Servicing the forks - Bite the bullet and send them off for service. TF Tuned are pretty good and if you talk to them I'm sure they've dealt with forks going overseas.

Same would go with the rear shock.

Servicing the shocks and doing the brakes yourself will come in at from 200 - 300 (just going by how much I was charged per fork)

Hows the gears, chainset, chain etc? If they are in the same sort of state you might be hitting the world of diminishing returns if you're going to have to change the group set as well.

Man maths will probably point you to a new bike

[bramley]

Thanks for the reply

I've just adjusted the pad alignment and miraculously the juddering has gone and they're much sharper. I also filed the pads a little while I was there. They're good enough now.

Gears are ok, most of the bike is decent enough, just the suspension letting it down now (lol). I'll see if I can borrow a shock pump locally, that might suffice on the forks but the rear shock ain't happy. May be easier/cheaper to replace? Sorry for the noob questions but are they based on length as to what will fit my bike?

Thanks