Submitted by
RICARDO ORTEGÓN
a Weekend Warrior
from BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2003
Strengths: GOOD LOOK, STIFF, AWESOME PERFORMANCE ON ANY SURFACE, NICE TO RACE, LIGTHER.
Weaknesses: A LITTLE DIFICULT TO SET UP, THE DAMPER CARTRIDGE LOCKED OUT (I DON´T KNOW WHY).
Bottom Line:
IT'S A GREAT FORK FOR ALMOST ANY TYPE RIDING. I LOVE EPIC EXTREME TRAILS, FALL STAIRS AS FAST AS POSIBLE, AND EVERY ADRENALINE WAY I FIND. BUT THE BIG PROBLEM COME WITH THE FIRST MAINTENANCE; THE DAMPER UNIT GET LOCKED AND I DON´T KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT WORK. I CHANGE THE OIL WEIGTH TO 10 W AND THE REBOUND GET TO SLOW. I FOUND A BROKEN O-RING INTO THE LEFT LEG, I CHANGED IT BUT THE FORK IS NOT WORKING AS WELL AS IT USED TO. BEFORE THE MAINTENANCE, I'D GIVE IT 5 CHILIS; NOW, IT GET ONLY 4
Bike Setup: SMITH FRAME, FD XT, RD DEORE WITH XT SHORT CAGE, AVID DISK FRONT, HAYES REAR, RITCHEY COCKPIT, BONTRAGER/MAXXIS TIRES
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Anthony
a Weekend Warrior
from Canada
Date Reviewed: September 13, 2003
Strengths: Stiff, performs very well when it is not leaking air or oil.
Weaknesses: Reliability, requires a lot more maintenance than usual
Bottom Line:
If I had rated this fork during its my first 6 months use, I would have given it 5 chillies. It performed really well and didn't need much adjustments.
However, after 10 months, it started leaking oil. I'm rather new to the sport so I don't compete, don't do jumps, and only weigh 150 lbs. My fork has less than 100 hours of use, and half the time it is on a paved bike path.
I brought my fork to the LBS for servicing and was told that I need a seal kit. It was leaking oil as well as air. The problem is, there are no parts available, not even the Canadian Distributor. It was the first week of August and was advised to bring my fork back around mid fall or winter to be sure that the parts are available. While it is less than 1 year, I was told that this is not covered by warranty because it is a moving part. For me, this either reflects poor product support or there had been a lot of leaky forks.
I can only recommend this fork to a rider who is also a good mechanic because of reliability issues. You might end up spending more in maintenance than what you have paid for the fork.
Strengths: Light. Gives a plush but stiff ride. Can be adjusted to my body weight. Looks.
Weaknesses: Squeeks
Bottom Line:
Works great. Gives me so much more speed on the rough stuff. I must admit that anything would feel better than what I had before. I am so much faster now so the cheap RST helped me with my skills. I don't have to dodge the small stuff anymore.
Bike Setup: 2002 Access XCL-2002 Duke XC 80mm,Cane Creek S2,XT drivetrain,Sram PC-69 chain,LX shifters, LX brakes,XTR hubs with Bontrager Valiant rims, Panaracer Fire XC Pros, Velox rim cloth,Kore strait bar,Titec 90mm stem,Weyless seat post.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jim Nessler
a Cross Country Rider
from Escondido, CA USA
Date Reviewed: August 24, 2003
Strengths: light weight, very tuneable, strong
Weaknesses: seems prone to fluid leaks on the damping leg of fork.
Bottom Line:
The fork began to leak oil out of the upper seal on the damping side. I am only 165 lbs. and am 54 years old. I am not a rough rider, no jumps or drops, and seldom crash. At my age, how hard CAN I ride? The fork began to leak because Rockshox does not use an inner seal, only a foam ring and a dust wiper. Turnaround time on having the fork warranteed would have been 1 month. Unacceptable. Luckily I was able to find an aftermarket seal kit that DID include inner seals and repaired the fork myself. This fork has a very good rating, so maybe I was just unlucky; but I can't imagine those little foam rings ever doing a good job of keeping the oil inside. Otherwise it seems to be a good value for the price.
Strengths: This fork is unbelievable. It gives a plush, stiff, ride with great bottoming resistance. It took me about three rides to set it up and I haven't touched it since. I did a race in June that had a nasty rocky technical section that destroyed several riders forks, but my Duke XC didn't even loose a single pound of air pressure. This fork is perfect for the XC rider who likes to do aggressive trail riding and even some light freeriding.
Weaknesses: None. If you're complaining that it doesn't have a lock-out than you don't know how to set up your bike properly. Ask any motocross racer and they will tell you that suspension set up is more important than a powerfull motor!
Bottom Line:
Most people don't realize the importance of proper suspension set up. If you take the time to set the fork right you will not be dissapointed. In fact you will get amazing performance out of it and think you're on a high dollar fork.
Weaknesses: Paint chips off rather easy. Vibrates on steep drops.
Bottom Line:
I'm a college student on a budget, and this fork was perfect. I had some trouble with it losing air pressure for a few weeks, when I first bought it. It hasn't lost air pressure since and I've been riding atleast 4 hours a week. It takes whatever I put it through, single track jumps, rocky tracks, technical trails, and all the drop offs I have the balls to do, stairs and jumps off of loading docks as well. All this and still hasn't bottomed out. I'd recommend this fork for anyone who wants to get the most out of their money. I'd even pay the extra money for an SL or Race version of it too.
Bike Setup: Beefed up Jamis Durango, RS Duke XC, XT/LX Drivetrain, Race Face parts.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Alec Mackensen
a Cross Country Rider
from Laguna Niguel CA USA
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2003
Strengths: stiff, adjustable rebound and travle, very plush, no stickers! very durable, very fast, damping system f-ken rocks.
Weaknesses: apsolutly positivly none what so ever
Bottom Line:
This fork rocks. It has yet to bottom out considering the fact that I constantly jump 20-30 foot cliffs.The people that gave this fork one or two chilies are the extremly fat downhill riders. This fork is great if you ride cliffs and very rough terain.
Submitted by
Kevin Nantais
a Racer
from oro-medonte, ontario, canada
Date Reviewed: May 20, 2003
Strengths: Everything
Weaknesses: Loss of air pressure, none
Bottom Line:
I love it, I am a racer. When i go out in a race i want a fork that i can derend on and that i can roll over objects without any difficulty. I rode a judyxc until this last year when i got into racing, i decided to nuy a new bike and the duke xc came on it. After some minor adjustmens as in all forks i had it set up to a perfect cross-country fork. Now all of these people that are giving this fork 1 or 2 chilli's are heavy riders, doing big stuff on a xc fork. To those people, go out and buy yourself a nice freeride fork. I RECOMEND TO ALL XC RIDERS!!
Submitted by
Will
a Cross Country Rider
from Beaverton, Oregon USA
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2003
Strengths: +fork name is integrated into fork itself; no stickers! +low maintenance +set it & forget it +smooth ride & super fast on rocky sections +stiff
Weaknesses: -ugly crown (of course they changed it for 2003)
Bottom Line:
I'm kickin' myself for not buying a second one at the time that this one was so cheap.
This is a reliable, affordable and reasonably-light fork.
It is super fast when I tearing down especially rocky sections. My arms are a lot less fatigued because this fork does such a great job of soaking up hits both big, small and numerous.
Similar Products Used: Judy XC, Jett, Psylo, Manitou SX
Bike Setup: XT/XTR drivetrain (go with SRAM on the chain; you won't be sorry)
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ryan R
a Cross Country Rider
from Long Island NY
Date Reviewed: May 3, 2003
Strengths: Plush ride, Good travel for XC, Stiff fork no side to side flex, Strong have yet to bend it or blow the bushings, Air is much better than spring I like the rebound adjustment that you can control the rebound rate yourself and you don't need to swap out springs to do that.
Weaknesses: Rockshox stickers fall off pretty easy lost one of the Rockshox ones on the left fork leg, Rebound adjustment is in the bottom of the leg and you have to stop get off the bike and adjust this makes the rebound adjustment a little annoying and hard to reach, other than those two thats it.
Bottom Line:
A very good fork for a stock part on a bike I am impressed normally this componet is one of the first to go on a stock bike either it's to easy to bottom out or it leaks and breaks. I have yet to bottom this one out. I have thrashed it a litle and cosmeticly it has the scars but this is Mt. Biking and it just shows chacter on you bike. The rebound adjustment is a nice feature but it is on the bottom of the one leg of the fork and anyone who like on the fly adjustments will have a small issue with this. Also it would be nice it it had a lockout feature on it as it would impress me if a middle of the road fork would have this feature and not only on the ultra expensive models. Still this is a great product if your looking for a stiff plush fork for XC riding this is your fork if your on a budget. When it finally goes though which they always do sooner or later I will be looking into a Fox RLC it's expensive but it looks totally worth it. Peace!
Similar Products Used: Manitou, other RockShox (Judy TT)
Bike Setup: 02 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR XC
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
James
a Cross Country Rider
from Hyde Park, NY
Date Reviewed: April 26, 2003
Strengths: Plush; durable; low maintenance (for me anyways)
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
I haven't made a SINGLE adjustment since I purchased the Duke. Despite a few hundred miles of riding, in which I've encountered numerous steep dropoffs, the fork has yet to bottom out. I find this impressive, given the fact that I have a pretty stocky build [5'8", 210 lbs].
This is one nifty fork. You can't beat the performance, especially when it can be purchased for under $200. It's handled everything I've ridden on so far and I think it's perfect for the beginning/intermediate rider who's not afraid to take a nasty spill every now and then.
Submitted by
Jeff
a Cross Country Rider
from Salt Lake City, UT
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2003
Strengths: Able to take big hits. No flex. Great for bigger riders.
Weaknesses: Need for frequent air adjustment.
Bottom Line:
All my other forks have had quite a bit of side to side flex. I really like the beefy feel of the fork with out feeling like i have a lead front end. I have not been able to push it to it's limit(I reach mine first). One thing that I forgot to check before buying the fork is the geometry change it would make. It made my bike sit allot taller. Just advice to check the geometry change before switching. Final word: Best shock I've ever ridden.
Submitted by
Tony
a Cross Country Rider
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: April 3, 2003
Strengths: Basic, Stiff, durable, and easy to adjust...
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
This fork is Phuc Yeah!
I'm a guy who does not like alot of adjustability. With the Duke, you just put in your air preasure, adjust the rebound and forget about it. In a couple months, check the preasure.
The dudes who have had bad things to say about it, all weighed over 225. No S**t it doesn't work well. You are at the top of the weight scale for it. I'm 185, and I hated the Sid. Get the right fork for your weight. If you are over 200, do yourself a favor and get yourself a spring fork!!!
I bought this fork about a year ago but then didn't really ride at all for about 8 months. I recently started riding again and expected that the fork would be in tip-top shape since it had fewer than 10 hours on it. After a month of some fairly intense XC and a little urban riding I can feel bushing slop in the hydracoil stanchion. THIS IS REDICULOUS. This fork has fewer that 50 hours on it, and already the bushings are shot? I guess on the upside, I haven't blown the XXX seals yet like other riders have. Now, I admit I am no light-weight. I weigh around 225 lbs, but that is within the specs for this fork and I keep the air pressure at the required 180lbs. If you are a fairly large rider, learn from my lesson and go buy yourself a free ride or dirt jumper Marzocchi. It just sucks that clidesdales like myself are forced to pay twice as much for reliable components.
I have looked on the internet for a few minutes and haven't been able to find the answer to the following question:
Can the remote poplock or pushlock be used on a 2003 rockshox d Read More »
Its a 2004 Duke XC and the air goes out real quick. I will pump it and it will last for a good ride. The next day it is dead flat.....is this salvagable??? Read More »
Hey Everybody,
I just bought a 2002 Rockshox Duke XC 80mm a few days ago. It's a little old, but it's replacing an even older Manitou SX. I'm tired of microgrease ports, 70mm of Read More »
I just picked up a used bike with a Rock Shox Duke XC on the front.
On the bottom right of the fork is the adjustment knob, and on the bottom left fork there is a threaded hole Read More »
Hey,
Just going through rebuilding my '02 Duke XC 80mm again. First time was for an oil leak and I used the Enduro seals, which I was not very happy with. So this time when I Read More »
