Th. Müller, Chemnitz, asked by e-mail: I ride a Magura "Durin MD 100R" fork. With this fork, I have the problem that the oil film on the dip tubes dries off relatively quickly. Especially when the bike is exposed to increased dirt, e.g. when racing. When the fork tubes are dry, the fork is extremely stiff and almost unusable. I have heard that you should turn the bike upside down for a few hours about once a month. Is that true?
Answer from Stefan Pahl, Magura Product Manager: "In general, all forks that have their damping and suspension units in the stanchions (e.g. all Magura forks) can only benefit from being turned upside down. By turning the fork upside down, lubricating oil that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the dip tube is returned to the bearings to lubricate them and ensure smooth running. The fork does not have to be turned round for hours to do this, just minutes. To keep the response behaviour at a good level over a longer period of time, our forks also have a foam ring under the wiper on the stanchion. This is impregnated with oil so that the bearings are also lubricated from above via the stanchions. These foam rings, and therefore also the plain bearings, can run dry over time and with high mileage, so that the response behaviour of the fork can suffer. The aforementioned turning of the fork helps here.
