no preload spacers

[jasont1532]

went out for an hour today. the rebound is worse as u said. it doesn't bottom anymore. feels better on landings off logs,dropoffs. seems a little higher in turns.(hit a tree) seems worse tracking over rock gardens. i weigh 210 with gear. i am also used to a heavy 4 stroke.

[GMP]

You won't find it in a generic shop manual, as its a valving adjustment. Its simply a technique to increase free bleed by making the first shim on the piston smaller than the piston OD and expose the ports, so the next larger shim sits off the piston face by the thickness of that first bleed shim. This way the piston is never sealed and always allows some free bleed. Its done to allow the valving to start working faster and give a plush ride over small stuff with the rest of the stack being more firm. Just another idea, works OK in some applications and poor in others.

Do a search for a thread started by pobit, where he posted some nice photos and specs of '05 and '06 OEM GasGas Zoke valving.

[Dingo]

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/sho...ighlight=pobit

[iancp5]

The Marzocchis are pretty good forks. I'm sure they can be improved or tailored via re-valving but they don't really need it unless you are deadly serious about competition and in contention for podium places.

The preload shims are definitely under the springs but they are plastic so fishing around with a magnet wont help. They usually drop out when you drain the oil so you have all the fun of picking them out of the gunk in your drain can! If there are no shims then will be no preload when you put the caps on. So if you have to compress the springs a little to fit the caps I reckon the spacers are there.

Max rebound seems far too high to me. I found rebound needed to be close to the manual setting even with 0.48s fitted. I run very little compression damping somewhere close to minimum.

If you want it good for all round terrain you probably have the right springs for your weight. If you then want to bias rock gardens a little I would increase the air gap to 120mm & run minimal preload but you need some. Try backing the compression & rebound right off. Set rebound by bouncing the bike, increasing rebound so it returns as quick as possible but with no overshoot. It will then be within a couple of clicks of correct. Now set compression by riding. Increase compression until you bottom out infrequently or if you just feel you're blowing through the travel too quick.

[jasont1532]

it seems when you get into large rocks or roots it becomes twitchy. square edge rocks beat me up. rock gardens i lose my front end traction. after a day of riding i always had lower back pain. with this bike it is worse. im used to a heavy 4 stroke that sucks up the rocks better. i tried moving the bars back to the smaller holes in the triple clamp. we will see if it helps with my back.

[GMP]

The 4-stroke will feel more planted simply because its heavy. The GG is a lot lighter and will be more active on the trail. I will show you how to set the bike up and it will be much improved. I've been hammering the same rocks as you since '00 on GG 250s and they are the best 2-strokes for the job.

[jasont1532]

i cant wait because the motor is awesome. the shocks feels pretty good already, maybe some small adjustments but ill worry about that later.

[GMP]

The shock valving is pretty close stock even in the rocks, in a different league than a stock KTM.

If your riding tommorrow try this for a temp fix:

Run no more than 10mm shock spring preload. The bike likes a lot of sag, especially the pre '07 with the longer shock. Even 110mm+ is OK. The shock has plenty of rebound, run the clicker from 12 - 15. With the light preload in the rear, run just enough comp on the shock to keep it from squatting too much and making the steering get too slow. Crank the fork rebound way in, 3- 4 clicks out. Open the fork comp to 15+. This should be an improvement in the technical rocks, for racing in south Jersey you go more aggressive on the damping.

[ferguscawley]

Originally Posted by nick790

I dont mean to be a pain, but could you piont out the item number of the bleed shim for me?
http://www.marzocchi.com/template/li...N=UK&Sito=moto

Thanks for the help.

The bleed shim is the first shim in the stack of shims underneath the piston. This is usually smaller than the piston diameter to allow oil to flow past easily for small forrk movements giving the nice plush feel we all enjoy !. On page 64 of the manual, it shows the compression valve. Item number 45 is the piston and underneath that is item 46. This is the shim stack containing several shims. The first shim of this stack is the bleed shim.

[nick790]

Originally Posted by ferguscawley

The bleed shim is the first shim in the stack of shims underneath the piston. This is usually smaller than the piston diameter to allow oil to flow past easily for small forrk movements giving the nice plush feel we all enjoy !. On page 64 of the manual, it shows the compression valve. Item number 45 is the piston and underneath that is item 46. This is the shim stack containing several shims. The first shim of this stack is the bleed shim.

Thanks, do you just remove that shim, or do you have to replace it with something?