RockShox Pike travel upgrade time. Want more travel? Slacker geometry? Stretch out your suspension fork for the price of a new air spring (£35).

1. Make sure your fork and work space is clean. Remove the valve cap and de-pressurise the fork as shown. Remove the rebound adjuster – undo the grub screw with a 2.5mm Allen key and pull it free.

2. Have an oil pan ready to catch any oil. Loosen the shaft bolts three or four turns with a 5mm Allen key. Free the shafts from the lower legs by tapping the bolts with a soft faced hammer as shown. Then, fully remove the bolts and pull the lower legs free.

3. Remove the top cap with a 24mm socket. This will reveal any Bottomless Tokens. Push the sprung loaded seal head into the stanchion as shown (we used an 11mm socket to protect our thumb from the end of the airshaft) and remove the circlip. Be very careful not to scratch the stanchion or air shaft.

4. Pull the air assembly free – it might need a bit of a wiggle. When fitting a new air shaft you will need to re-use the top out bumper, washer, spring and seal head from the old air shaft assembly. Make sure they are assembled in the correct order on the new shaft and that all seals are liberally greased as shown.

5. Make sure the inside of the stanchion is spotlessly clean using isopropyl alcohol. Carefully fit the air assembly. Re-fit the circlip. Ensure it sits in its locating groove correctly and that the tab on the seal head lies between the ends of the circlip as shown. Cycle the air shaft and give it a good tug to make sure it’s all secure.

6. Use an 8mm Allen key and a 24mm socket to fit the correct number of bottomless tokens – see your manual for advice regarding this as it differs with wheel size, travel and personal preference.

7. Make sure the lower legs and wiper seals are clean and greased and that the foam rings are saturated with fresh oil before re-fitting them. Use your syringe to inject the correct weight and amount of oil into each leg (check this RockShox online oil chart). This particular fork uses 5ml of 0W 30 oil in the damper side and 15ml in the air spring side. Fully fit the lower legs and torque the shaft bolts to 7.3nm.

8. Finally, re-fit the top cap (with Bottomless Tokens), the rebound adjuster and re-inflate the fork to your desired pressure and give it a wipe down.