Submitted by
Marcus
a Cross Country Rider
from Guelph
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2003
Strengths: -One piece magnesium. . . tough as nails (wait, tougher, nails are steel). -sweet looking raised letters right on the body. -nice blue colour -plush and responsive (not too much bob either) -makes a great paperweight or doorstop (albeit a light one in comparison to comparable forks)
Weaknesses: -let me tell you in a sec -rebound doesn't make a huge diff. -shouldn't have to pay for the rockshox name
Bottom Line:
Basically this review is more for RS customer support than anything else. If you think you ahve a problem with your fork, or you expect that you one day will, **READ THIS**
I bought this fork from a lbs and about 4 days later, after being very satisfied with the way it functioned (and after some messing around dialing it in, it's very adjustable) it stopped working. Someohow the air from the negative pressure chamber leaked into the positive pressure chamber. This meant that no matter what I did, the pressures would always equalize, rendering the fork pretty useless. I was able to bottom it right out and ride with it like that after cycling the fork 6 times @ 170 psi. BULL$#i+!! If this happens, here's what you do. Some of you have been complaining that rockshox rebuilds the fork, or replaces the fualty part and sends it in. bla bla bla. Don't settle for that crap. Get your story together of what went wrong, and make sure you ahve some points as to why you want a BRAND NEW FORK. Call them yourself, even if they want to deal directly with your lbs. Make sure you're courteous and you tell them what happened and why it's unacceptable. I told Max @ cycles lambert (dealer in canada) That I was hoping they fixed this problem in the RS Duke Race '03 model, and that how this turned out would be pivotal on whether or not I was a returning customer to Rockshox. I also told him about my friend breaking his manitou 6 sport and having them send him a brand new BLACK comp. I also told him I would be writing this review. If RockShox knows that their actions will recieve some exposure and that customers are waiting to see how they react, they will help you. Don't take no for an answer, I will be receiving my brand new Duke Race '03 on monday, and I paid for a reduced 02. If you want to see how I like it, check the '03 reviews in a couple of weeks! Good luck with Customer support. 5 chilis for value, cause the fork turned out to be worth more than I paid (by default) 1 for overall, cause it broke in 4 days. Though I think it was a lemon, I am still an advocate of the duke, it kicked a$$ while it worked!
Similar Products Used: -'03 Manitou Black Comp --'01 RS Judy TT
Bike Setup: Jamis Dakar, '03 Duke Race, Cane Creek AD-12 Rear suspension, Formula Mech. Discs
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Submitted by
Dr. Bone
a Cross Country Rider
from Pekin, IL. USA
Date Reviewed: October 18, 2002
Strengths: Looks, plush ride, price
Weaknesses: Dog toy sound, stickers fell off during shipment, nothing major
Bottom Line:
$225 for an air shock that holds air is fantastic. i can deal with the dog toy noises. hasn't bottomed out yet and i have a tendency to slam the bottom of the creek before climbing. I definitly recommend it.
Similar Products Used: manitou magnum, if that's similar
Bike Setup: 2000 Specialized Rockhopper
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Submitted by
Paul
a Cross Country Rider
from Kennesaw, Ga
Date Reviewed: August 30, 2002
Strengths: adjustability, very smooth, tracks well, realativly light, price.
Weaknesses: allthough it looks much better w/o a boot, a mini boot would be nice to to prolong life of product. it does tend to leak negative air preasure, but nothing too excessive.
Bottom Line:
Great shock, so far, for the price. It does everything you want it to do adjustment wise. Sure theres no lockout but dont buy it if thats a feature you desire. I am 200lbs and seem to have a habbit of breaking everything I ride. This shock has held up for me very well.
Strengths: Adjustability. Stiffness. Smooth action. Retro fit the lock-out.
Weaknesses: Boulder Rider, I had the same problem. I fixed it by filling the negative chamber with 125 psi, turned the bike right side up and then blew out all that air. You will have a lot of redrum on your finger. This redrum was preventing the valve to seal. If that does not fix it then you have done the correct thing.
Storing your bike upside down helps achieve maximum performance.
The fat lowers prevent my fork mount Thule from closing. It rubs the fork and has taken off paint.
Bottom Line:
Buy this fork if you can't afford the Manitou Black Elite Air. It is very close in performance but half the price.
Weaknesses: Air leaks. Requires weekly air check up. Fortunately it comes with its own pump.
Bottom Line:
I liked the infinite adjustability (positive and negative adjustment) that few other forks offer at this price tag. Damping is excellent in rough terrain. It is the perfect fork for XC riding but freeriding or drop off jumping performance is a question mark. However, the Dukes are meant for XC. This is definitely the best alternative to a RS Sid fork.
Similar Products Used: InSync crappy fork with bike OE setup.
Bike Setup: Schwinn GSX with all components upgraded to Shimano XT and other light stuff for XC.
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Submitted by
Kevin Mullins
a Cross Country Rider
from Claremont, NC USA
Date Reviewed: February 7, 2002
Strengths: Very Adjustable, Super Stiff, Really looks good on a bike, Plush ride Recommend to any trail rider that doesn't log more that a 100 or so miles a mo.
Weaknesses: Blew the seals out after 5mo., Rock Shox needs to follow Fox and make knobs that last. Rebound adjuster is plastic and already shot and rebound no longer works ( I bought a Float RLC )
Bottom Line:
First 5 mo. awsome. If you don't log many miles it should last a while would be a great shock. Shock never the same after blowing the seals out, had it rebuilt but rebound still don't work. Replaced it with a fox. Fork only lasted 5 mo. but still give a 3 it was a good 5 mo.
Favorite Trail: Tea Creek Mnt. Trail Pocahontas County WV home turf
Duration Product Used: 1 Year
Price Paid:
$419.00
Purchased At: Lightning Cycles (this shop sucks)
Similar Products Used: rst, manitou, rock shox, (fox fork league of it's own)
Bike Setup: Fule 90, XTR, Race Face Next LP, Magura HS33,
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Submitted by
RICHARD C
a Cross Country Rider
from NORTHAMPTON
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2001
Strengths: very nice fork, good for tuning plushness, good idea with the external damping controls, light
Weaknesses: none yet fingers xsed
Bottom Line:
ill say it again very agile light weight fork that is higly tunalble, and should suit every need for a serious x country rider. very stiff but and the same time very plush and active over both the small and big stuff. low amount of bobbing, so it enalbles you to reach high speeds very quickly and climbing hills is justa breeze. people moan that there is no lock out. WITH A FORK LIKE THIS WHO NEEDS ONE. stop nit picking.
very nice forks for all you x country riders out there its a must have.
These forks are cool well plush after a while. For all of you who want a lock out you can retro fit the pure damping system off the psylo onto this fork and get a lock out on your fork too.
Weaknesses: Paint cracks on crown during install., crooked sticker, as usual w/ RS rebound is there for looks, and if I nit-pick no lock out.
Bottom Line:
I like it. I only have 20 miles on it, but so far so good. It did'nt start to break in until the 15th mile( I noticed it right away ), but after that it was buttery smooth. No play in the bushings yet, I realize it hasn't been long, but I am 245lbs. and don't go around the rough stuff, so I'm happy. Much stiffer than my old Judy, the wheel does'nt feel like it is twisting around underneath me any more. I have'nt had a problem w/ losing air pressure in the pos. or neg.( knock on wood ), and I run 180 positive and 170 negative. I love the color(yellow), at first I wanted a Psylo Race, but it will be a cold day in hell when I put anything "gold" on my bike, who am I Master P? It would be nice if it had a lock out, but then the price would go up, and I probably would'nt even use it after the novelty wore off. All in all, I'm happy. I'll post if anything changes. Ride on!
Weaknesses: Looses about 5 psi of negative pressure every couple of days.
Bottom Line:
Extremely nice fork. Very plush and stiff. It has the buttery smooth feel of a SID Race without the noodle factor. I'm really impressed with Rockshox lineup for 02'. The Duke has out-performed every air fork I've ever ridden. With the positive and negative air adjustments you can dial in the forks performance to just about any terrain. My only complaint is having to put air in the negative chamber after every couple of rides. It's usually only about 5 psi or so but it's still a pain.
As for the lock-out issue people seem to have, GET OVER IT. It's an 80mm fork. I can see the use for a lock out on 100mm-plus forks on some occasions, but on a cross-country fork? Please! When the heck did Mt Bikers become such wussy's that they need a lock-out for every suspension component. A lock-out is a crutch to hide a bad suspension design. If it's a quality fork and you know how to set it up then you'll never think about it. If you're looking for a semi-lightweight stiff cross-country fork don't overlook the Duke, It's worth it.
Bike Setup: Kona Kula, Avid mech. discs, 9.0sl shift/der., LX crankset, Monkey Lite bar.
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Submitted by
Will
a Racer
from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Date Reviewed: September 11, 2001
Strengths: Weight
Weaknesses: No lockout!!?!?!?
Bottom Line:
Not worth it. Required quite a bit of matinence. Psylos, Sids and other better stuff isnt much heavyier so they really dont have weight going for them. NO LOCKOUT!?!?!? If you really want to get it go ahead but you mind as well get something better.
Bike Setup: Custom Voodoo. Used to have dukes,then i got a real fork. Marzocchi Z1 MCR. Most components are XT or XTR
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Submitted by
Matt Vanselow
a Racer
from Bellingham, WA, USA
Date Reviewed: September 9, 2001
Strengths: Stiffness, travel, plushness, adjustibility, attractive. So new that people are always approaching with questions
Weaknesses: rebound dampening. negative air pressure looses 5-10 pounds per ride but I think this is normal. It's Yellow. I wanted blue. I've ridden a yellow judy SL for 3.5 years. univercycles.com has it a lot cheaper @ $359
Bottom Line:
Very stiff fork. In the 3 weeks I've had this fork I've raced on it twice and ridden it over 250 miles. I check the air either before or after every ride and it is common to loose 5 or 10 pounds of negative air pressure on a ride. I've been told to expect this but if it get's any worse I'm sending it to RS for an overhaul. If this fork had a lock-out it would be the ultimate XC fork. I clean the raised letters with a toothbrush and it works great. Very nice sparkly/shiny paint. I'm not sure there is a product worth five flaming turds... so I'll compromise.
Submitted by
walter
a Cross Country Rider
from richmond, va, us
Date Reviewed: August 28, 2001
Strengths: rigid, fairly good rebound, durable
Weaknesses: lockout would be EXCELLENT, nothing else so far
Bottom Line:
This fork is a very good XC suspension. It is not however, a downhill fork. Don't rag on a 400 dollar XC fork for doing bad on the downhill, it doesnt have 6 inches of travel. However if you ride mostly XC (what this fork is made for), this is a good way to go. If you like more travel and a lockout, go with a Psylo Race, which is what i use. The duke however is very rigid, and rebounds well off the washboard-type hits. RockShox has done extremely well designing the Duke.
Strengths: Stiffness, easy to adjust, smooth, reasonable weight, tire clearence
Weaknesses: weight is a 1/4 more than suggested.
Bottom Line:
Only have two 20+ mile rides so far. Very nice feeling right out of the box, thanks in part to the negative air. Tracks better than the x-fly but not as supple over the small stuff as the sid xc. But then again it needs some more rides to break in.
Even though its still early this fork out peforms my x-fly in every department from stiffness to plushness. You get all that plus a 1/4 weight savings.
Will give another review for durability in a few months. For now this as to be the best fork for the $$$$$$$.
Bike Setup: Small RacerX, Chris King disc hubs, Magura Louise disc, XTR/Sram Sl mix, Thomson post/stem, easton monkey low riser, Trailblasters 2.1 frt/rear, 858 pedals
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Submitted by
Mark
a Weekend Warrior
from Sterling Hgts, Michigan
Date Reviewed: August 25, 2001
Weaknesses: No lockout, but for the price what do you want, want a lockout go to a SID
Bottom Line:
First time out loved the fork, ruts and roots I took before on my original shock I would have to slow down for, the Duke just took them and kept my wheel in contact, tracked excellent, have'nt had a problem with air leaks yet, will keep checking...the bike seems like a completely different bike in handling, no twisting in the arms on the hard technical trails...
