I noticed several months ago that after riding there would be a small amount of fluid that seemed to be leaking out of the right cylander of my front fork. didnt think anything of it (probably not the smartest idea) and now the leak and the amount of fluid that is visible on the cylander is much more noticable. The fluid collects around the upper section of the fork cylander.

Also the front forks/shocks seem to have lost all of their stiffness, the cylanders compress down with little to no force.

The other problem I am having is that my rear suspension also compresses with no force. I basically sit on the bike and it bottems out the rear suspension. I have noticed that the suspension did not seem right for about a month, but in the last few days it really gotten to the point where riding the bike sucks because of it......

any ideas about what the problems are/how to fix them?

any advice is very much appreciated and know that your insight and knowledge would really help me out. thanks a ton

 

Blown seal(s) at the front will have to be replaced & both will need replacing. Not such a bad option if your planning on doing it yourself. You can either just replace the seals/fork oil, or as would be more beneficial replacing the bushings as well. It does not require a huge amount of mechanical know how, but its a labor intensive job & your going to lose some skin off your knuckles. You will need a workshop manual.
As for the rear shock, how many miles has the bike done? The rear shock is not rebuildable (well it is but its a specialists job). Could be that all you need to do is adjust the settings. Have a look at preload settings & check what its set at, also check if there is any oil or residue to indicate that its crapped itself as well. If adjustment makes no difference then its time to decide on a replacement (OEM or after market)

 

How long has it been leaking oil and how much riding have you done since then? You may have done some serious damage to your forks by ignoring a simple but serious problem. If it's been awhile you might need to have your bike's forks completely rebuilt (which doubles the price)

 

i would take the bike to the shop and let them see what is wrong with it and give you the price and than decide if you want to do it yourself. good lock ether way.

 

bike has 16000 miles on it. i got it with about 9000 a little less then a year ago