This thread has had the effect of making me think “Hmmm, perhaps I should bleed a couple of my brakes, and I went looking for fluid and maybe a new “bleed kit” over lunch” possibly the opposite of what the OP intended but cheers none the less…
As for the point about “motorcycle trickledown” and fork reliability, I’d echo what others have said, the more complex and expensive forks of recent years appear to have silly service intervals and require far too much faffing IMO.
The 2003 DJ3s on my HT have had very little attention, probably only a couple of oil changes and some fiddling with the damping ports, they will be a decade old this year (assuming they don’t fall apart tomorrow).
Likewise my Boxxers have only had a handful of “Home Services” and get an oil change maybe every 6-10 months when I remember or they start to feel really bad, again knocking on for 8 years old, nowt fancy again…
in both instances I put this down to open bath simplicity and not too much unnecessary tinkering…
Brakes are a similar thing really, keep an eye on the pad wear and watch out for sticky piston but if they are working and nothing seems to be wrong there’s a limit to the preventative maintenance you can really do on them…