For 2020, SR Suntour has updated their Durolux fork with features to bring it in line with the offerings from the other suspension giants while coming in at more affordable pricepoint.
The Durolux is aimed at the harder hitting side of trail bikes through enduro to a bit of freeride and is also suitable for e-bikes.
Durolux EQ DetailsWheel Size: 29" & 27.5"
Travel: 29" - 150 to 170mm, 27.5" - 160 to 180mm
Offsets: 29" - 51 and 44mm, 27.5" - 44mm
Hub Standard: Boost (15 x 110mm)
Weight: From 2120g (claimed)
Price: €639 to €759
Availability: Now
More info: srsuntour.com The Durolux was developed in parallel with the Rux DH fork and uses 36mm diameter stanchions with stiffness and durability in mind while still having smart manufacturing details to either drop weight, with the hollow forged crown, or speed up wheel fitment and removal, with their specific QLOC axle. Once used for a few times that axle becomes incredibly quick to take in and out without the need for any tools.
Quick service ports on the back of the cast magnesium lowers allow the release of any trapped air and also make it easy to keep the lower legs lubricated with 15WT oil, although it's advised to never have more than 5cc of oil in each leg, which isn't much at all. These ports require the use of a 2.5mm allen key.
A bolt on fender is also available that extends both front and rear of the arch and looks to do a good job of covering the wiper seals too. Brake mounts are directly for 180mm rotors with a maximum of 203mm possible.
EQ is SR Suntours new air negative spring system. Nothing revolutionary, but now a good feature that SR Suntour are adopting. Positive and negative air chambers are connected via a small transfer port in the inner stanchion wall that allows air to travel between the two as the fork moves through the travel. No need for a physical metal coil to act as the negative spring, meaning the system self equalizes and riders of all weights and setups can have a better working fork.
Air spring volume can be adjusted with spacers to achieve the desired ramp characteristics. In the case of the 170mm travel version, air spring bottom out force can be increased by around 255% from zero to the max of six volume spacers, along with increases in spring force all along the spring curve.
The damper is available in R2C2, RC2 and RC versions, all using SR Suntour's Piston Compensator System. For the R2C2 cartridge in the top fork adjustable high and low speed compression and rebound are on offer. The high speed adjustment has 5 and 4 settings for the compression and rebound respectively. The low speed adjusters have more clicks for tuning with 18 and 28 available for the compression and rebound.
Forks are available in gloss and matt black and gloss white and in both 29" and 27.5" options with varying offsets and travels. Compared to the RockShox Lyrik and Fox 36 the Durolux comes in at 9mm longer axle to crown.
Looks nice to me
Maybe, but they look good.
The matte finish look really good without any stickers ;-)
I put it on my Release to replace a McLeod. It’s essentially a dvo topaz with a ifp instead of a bladder for the piggyback. I’m really happy with it
Chris Porter who I believe has been making Dual crowns for Fox 36s is also an advocate of 20 bolted axles...it all adds up.
Fork is very smooth.
There are some good vids on how to properly clean and assemble the piston and air chamber.
My 180 mm Durolux fork has a 20 mm axle. Damper is quiet but the springs are noisey! No wonder they went all air.
Works great but I'm not too picky and I set and forget the settings .
The fork works great .
Let's face it most people want a 1200$ I phone . Same people want a Rock shock or Fox.
The real question is how does it cope with an impact. Yes, it's not a common occurence to smack anything right there, but it does happen, my forks have scars there to prove it. And it would suck to end a ride because the end of your axle gets broken off in a small crash. That end part doesn't seem durable enough to take anything more than a glancing blow.
That said, I run bolt-in on everything I can, just for the looks and maybe a little bit for the perception that it might be stiffer (and previously for the actual stiffness gained when converting QR135 to 135x10 thru-bolt and QR100 to 100x9 thru-bolt).
There's not even a way to measure the torque on the QR style axles, so you're left guessing if it's too tight and causing fork striction and ruining your hub bearings or too loose and it might come loose.
Travelling is too expensive for me at least
Don't you mean "exactly the same" instead of "similar"?