Front shox reliability

[Joeli7]

Hi there
I am a complete  newbie to Mtn biking/bikepacking   (experienced touring cyclist but nothing off road...)

I am looking at doing the Baja Divide in a year or so    Maybe 35 days or so off road.   
The recommended bike for the route is a    27.5”  hard tail with 3.0” tires.
Front shocks are recommended  but many have done the route fully rigid.
I kind of like the idea of fully rigid (e.g   Kona Unit X)  for simplicity and cost but not sure my body is up to it.

My question has to do with reliability.    I am mostly worried about sudden failure of front shocks.    What would happen if I put 250-300 hrs on a front shock without servicing?
Will it just continue to tic along?    Do shocks suffer sudden failure?

The specific shock is    “Rock Shox Recon Silver RL 120mm”

I would also be grateful for any thoughts on going fully rigid vs front shocks on Baja Divide.

Many thanks!

Joeli7

Canada

[Racingguy04]

I think you'd be fine doing that. I've got 3 years of riding roughly 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time on my fork (FOX CTD evolution 100mm) and all I've ever done to it is change the oil in the lowers. It's definitely due for a service/rebuild but honestly still works just fine.

[Adam Alphabet]

All sorts of 'interesting' set ups on the Baja Divide route if you go searching around online a bit. I rode the southern third and the cape loop last winter on a rigid 29er ( http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/bikepacking/post-up-your-rigs/200/ ) Post 207. I think a rigid fork with a puffy tire is plenty and I normally run a fox 140mm fork.

While most front suspension forks don't/won't suffer sudden failure it does happen on occasion. That's something I wouldn't want to have deal with in the Baja where remedying it could be a bit of an issue with limited bike shops, but each their own.

Rigid forks for certain routes make sense, but as with anything people ride whatever they prefer, have access to, etc...

I'm heading back down there on Sunday to ride a different section for a few weeks and will have my bike set up pretty much identically as last year.

[Joeli7]

Thank you for super helpful resopnses!

I am relieved to hear that fully rigid is a reasonable option.   I think I will go the simplicity and reliability of rigid.

Cheers

Joeli7