Having recently bought my first mountain bike, I am looking into maintenance of the suspension fork
(RockShox Duke XC). I have visited the RockShox web site, but still have several questions:
1) A local supplier sells "Finishline Fork Oil" for about $15 per 250 ml--that's something like $50
per quart! Is there something special about such oils, or would any 10 wt oil work (assuming I
could find another source for such light oil)? The supplier also sells "Judy Butter" grease for
about $15 per ounce, which seems even more ridiculously expensive.
2) RockShox suggests taking the fork apart, cleaning, changing oil, and replacing a seal every 50 or
100 hours of use. For me that would mean servicing several times per year. This seems excessive.
Is it? I generally don't ride this bike in the rain or through mud, but dust is of course
everywhere.
3) RockShox has service manuals for several models on their web site, but not for mine. How do
others deal with this? Is the construction of the various models enough alike that one can learn
by doing, with the help of manuals for similar models?
Thanks for your advice.
--
Ned Mantei Department of Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology CH-8093 Zurich,
Switzerland