I can see where you're coming from when it comes to heavier machiery like motorcyles. I, for one, have seen it happen. We bought a boat a few years back, and the guy who owned it before us used something called "bowl grease" in the outdrive instead of Gear lube, and the upper bearing slowly ceased over time, and one day, it shredded, chewing all the gears in the top end. the mechanic at our marina said that it most likely was this "bowl grease" or whatever he put in that caused the bearing failure.

HOWEVER, to me, that is an extreme case, where the proper fluid MUST be used, or catastrophic failure will result. I didn't feel that using 2 stroke oil instead of silicone oil would cause that kind of failure, and the old oil was disgusting - anything was better than that stuff. I do notice damping changes in the shocks in different weather, but I'm not too worried. As long as they're lubed, and I remain a basher, that stuff wil do the trick for me. Also, I've noticed an improvement in the problem of losing bottom shock caps.