RockShox warranty war story (longish)

I had a Bomber with 4 inch travel on a bike about 4 years ago and loved it. (bike was stolen later)
I also have an air type by Manitou (spelling) and my objection to air is the stiction. Low impact
bumps just are not absorbed - only the big hits. The bomber you could see move with all the little
ripples. I also like the idea of 2 shocks (one in each leg) and the air shocks have air in one leg
and the shock in the other. The open bath oil system on the bomber eliminates worry of oil leakage
of the shock. I look at the extra weight as a non essential as my total weight with bike and water
bottles is probably 220 pounds so what is the big deal of an extra pound?? I will admit the air
shock has held air pressure with no problems but the shock part started leaking early on and I
really cannot see any difference in the adjustment ritual. I am looking at a coil spring Marzonni
myself with say 3 inches travel. "SuperSlinky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My new Ibex Apogee XT came with a RockShox Duke XC and it never worked right. It topped out
harshly from the first minute I sat on the bike. I have been corresponding with RockShox support
and I have to give them an A for effort. They have answered all of my e-mails within hours and get
this: they let end users do their own warranty work on the guts of the fork. They say it is to get
their customers to be more active in maintaining them. The RockShox rep diagnosed the problem with
only my brief description. I had a bad damper assembly. I had already taken the fork apart once to
change over to 15w oil in an effort to get more damping with no effect. They sent out a
replacement part within a few days, but alas it is the wrong one. So I get to see if they will
continue their no questions asked warranty policy and send me yet another part.

Now I don't want to jump onto the [censored] RockShox bandwagon that is so much in style now, especially
with the 13 year olds at MTBR, but I was surprised at how under engineered the damper assembly is.
The damper is basically a plunger with an o-ring that bolts to the lower leg and sloshes through
an oil bath in the stanchion tube. So far so good, but the top of the plunger is a plastic
assembly which is only press fit onto the damper rod. I have nothing against plastic, but there is
no retaining clip, no lip on the rod, no kotter pin, only some knurling in the damper rod to keep
the whole thing together. The friction between the knurling and the plastic assembly must resist
the friction of the o- ring and the force of the oil working against the damper for the life of
the fork. What were they thinking? No wonder mine failed, and I'll bet mine isn't the only one,
although most riders do seem to be happy with the Duke XC.

So, I'm kind of fed up with having a crippled bike. I don't know how this repair is going to work
out--for all I know there may be a defect that causes this fork to eat damper assemblies. I will
continue to work with RockShox to get this fork into shape, but in the meantime, I am going to buy
a Marzocchi or Fox and relegate the Duke to some future frankenstein project. It would be a good
fork for a hardtail second bike. So anybody want to jump in with recommendations? I am eyeballing
the Marzocchi MX Pro ETA and the Fox Vanilla 125RL. I want to go coil instead of air for a plusher
ride and generally less headaches. I don't care about the extra pound I will carry around over a
XC air fork. Oh, and I really don't want to shell out $500 or more. I am leaning toward the Fox
since you can choose the amount of travel without buying an extra kit and it comes with a choice
of springs in the box. It also has over-sized stanchion tubes for extra stiffness. OTOH, the
Bomber is less expensive and probably in most ways equal to the Fox. Some people like the action
of the Marzocchi better. Both of these shocks are in stock at JensonUSA. And before anyone says
anything about supporting the LBS, believe me I tried. There is hardly a bike shop in the Midwest
that has a mid-level suspension fork in stock. I called over a dozen shops within a 4 hour drive
and none of them had anything close to what I wanted. When I asked where I would get a Fox or one
of the better Marzocchis, about half of them said 'on-line'. I kid you not. Any comments
appreciated.

bill peabody said...

Quoted message said:

I had a Bomber with 4 inch travel on a bike about 4 years ago and loved it. (bike was stolen
later) I also have an air type by Manitou (spelling) and my objection to air is the stiction. Low
impact bumps just are not absorbed - only the big hits. The bomber you could see move with all the
little ripples. I also like the idea of 2 shocks (one in each leg) and the air shocks have air in
one leg and the shock in the other. The open bath oil system on the bomber eliminates worry of oil
leakage of the shock. I look at the extra weight as a non essential as my total weight with bike
and water bottles is probably 220 pounds so what is the big deal of an extra pound?? I will admit
the air shock has held air pressure with no problems but the shock part started leaking early on
and I really cannot see any difference in the adjustment ritual. I am looking at a coil spring
Marzonni myself with say 3 inches travel.

I am definitely looking forward to the plusher ride of a coil fork. Well, that and actually having a
fork that works the way it should. Sounds like you would be interested in a Marzocchi MX Comp. It is
coil and has 85mm travel, and only $249 retail. I probably would have bought one, but I called Price
Point and JensonUSA and neither of them had one in stock. I went ahead and placed an order for the
Fox Vanilla 125RL since JensonUSA had one in stock and I am tired of waiting. I just want to get the
bike dialed in and RIDE.