2011 six days fork fixed (kinda)

[matt_tidball]

Ok now 72 hours on my 2011 six days 300ec. It took 2 tries to get the rear Ohlins 888 like butter, but not so lucky on the 45 Zokes. I am a A level vet single track racer. I have read many many posts to understand the issues others are having before having my tuner tear into these forks. I will try to remember all the steps we have done to this point but it is all becoming a blur.
First we moved the pivot shim down like seven shims and removed 3 or 4 shims. While inspecting the parts I found the end of the tubes that the rebound rod goes through peened over half shut on one side and alittle bit on the other. changed the fluid to 5 wt and test. It was softer but deflected still bad. We pulled apart again and found the valves rough and half shut, so we cleaned out the burrs and made the ports uniform, made the pivot thinner, and removed more compression shims. again retest on the trail and still bad. there was too little rebound and a HORRIBLE spike at times and not so bad others. Now the third time apart. We added more rebound shims and pulled apart the mid stack. The mid stack had one large shim and like 7 or 8 small thick washers. You could not physically open the valve like that, so we removed all the small thick washers. There were no springs on the parts that go on the end of the rebound rod. so we got some and installed them. The missing springs were what we thought was causing the intermittent spike. We reinstalled the forks and test rode. It was better now but still a spike and now was way too soft. It wollowed around, so I ordered .46 springs for my 210lb weight 235lbs in gear. We got the springs and installed them and added more rebound shims. The next test ride the spike was better but now the fork spring were too stiff (would not compress in corners and rode like a chopper, and the rebound was way too fast still. Now I took the bike to my tuner again and he took the forks 2 more times to get enough rebound in them, removed the pivot on the rebound stack, and I tested them again. Now the rebound is good but the spring rate is too high. He suggested we install 1 stock spring and 1 .46 spring, so that is what we did. Now the last test. This is by far the best it has been. The spring rate is good in almost all conditions now, compression and rebound are ok. Still my rebound clickers are set all the way in. The spike and deflection are still there but they are not too bad to deal with. So this is where i'm at now. I'm confused what Zoke was thinking and the quality control they use. Why does my mildly tuned 05 kx 250 MX suspension work better off road than everyones 2011 GG Zokes. I hope this helps and Don't mean any ill will to GG or Zoke by this post, but this is just my experiance. I would like to thank my tuners patients with this whole ordeal.

[GMP]

So, if I undrstand correctly, your saying there was no midvalve/checkplate spring, and just a thick stack of .3mm shims clamped up blocking the ports?

Your getting closer to where I'm at now. Go back to an approx 7 - 7.5W oil (Spectro 125/150 is good). Drop your fork spring preload to 1mm. For the midvalve use a 22x.1 or 22x.15 thk face shim, backed by a 19 x .1, and set the float to around 1.2 - 1.5mm by adding 15x.1s under that. You can play with this, if you run the .15 keep the float larger, .1mm go smaller. I don't know what your rebound stack actually is but you may need even more? Maybe the bleed hole is different in the '11 fork. If the rest of the fork is like mine it SHOULD NOT defect, but feel firm and controlled. I smash rocks all day and have no fear of deflection.

[MJC]

I too am a 230#(with gear) A-Vet H/S racer on an 11' xc 250 Six Days. I felt your pain with the stock setup on the Zoke forks. They simply arn't right as they come from the factory. I didn't get all techincal with trying to fix them myself. I just pulled them off the bike, wrapped them up and sent them off to the fine forks at Works Enduro Rider, along with $400. What they sent back are honestly the best forks I've had the pleasure to ride on. These forks are better than the SSS kayabas that I had W.E.R do on my previous bike(07' YZ 250). I'm that happy with them, and they did it on the first try.

[Bowling]

MJC,
What spring rate did you go with on your forks and shock?

[MJC]

W.E.R put .44's in the forks I think.It's not on the build sheet but the stockers came back marked 42 as tested. I'm still using the Stock 5.2 spring on the rear with the stock valving. I have no issues with the suspension at all with this setup. It's really good.

[GMP]

Wow thats light for a #230 rider. I'm down in the 180s and running .44/5.4.

[MJC]

I'm riding the bike pretty hard and hitting some big jumps( broome Tioga mx track) and I'm not bottoming the bike out hard at all. The bike is 105-107mm race sag and 29-30 mm free sag.

[Tlineman]

I'm struggling with my zokes aswell. I've taken them to my tuner, without opening them up at all and had him do his magic. He replaced the midvalve, adjusted some shims and added .46 springs and 7W maxima oil, 135 mm. While I do think that it is an improvement over stock, I do feel that they could be even better yet. To me they still feel too firm, like MX track firm. I'm also 210# in street clothes and an A level rider, but I only ride the nastiest single track I can find. I don't think my dust seals have ever touched the bottom 2 in of fork in their life. I'm going to lower the oil height slightly to see how much this will change. I've also heard of another GG rider using one .46 spring and one stocker. BTW my stockers measured out at .41 on my tuners gauge.

What is foreign to me is the shim system. I'm familiar with changing seals and oil on KYB or Showa forks but I've never been inside of a Marzocchi fork. Is there much to playing with these shim stacks? Any pics available anywhere so that a guy may know what he's looking at? I've also heard stories of the bottom shim stack falling apart as a guy pulls the fork apart.

Your also not the first one who I've heard that the rebound holes were peened over and partially blocked. Again, not trying to bash on the GG, as I absolutely love the rest of the bike, but these forks are terrible.

[CACTUSREID]

commenting on the short comings of your bikes suspension,makes some people here very angry. there have been enough riders on here in the recent past trying to figure their suspenders out, that -me thinks a bunch of bike were delivered with less than ideal stuff.

[EtienneNZ]

Originally Posted by CACTUSREID

commenting on the short comings of your bikes suspension,makes some people here very angry. there have been enough riders on here in the recent past trying to figure their suspenders out, that -me thinks a bunch of bike were delivered with less than ideal stuff.

+1 Zokes need to up their QA