Marzocchi 48mm Rider Reviews

[Jakobi]

Hey everyone, I've been spending a bit of time delving into suspension and the tuning side of things. Now suspension is a very subjective thing and what one rider likes may be different to another. What one feels another may not.

So regarding the stock valving, what did you think of the fork. What did it do that you liked, and what would you (or did you) address to improve the action.

I know quite a few have had a revalve (or two). It would be great if you could try and describe whats been improved.

[nato]

I found mine to be good but on heavy hits I'd blow through the stroke easy and on rocky fast sections it had a bit of a deflection problem. Explained this to shock treatment and away we went happy as larry. Just need a step up on the springs and it's done. I think wence used the same tuner (terry hay)

[Jakobi]

Yeah Mark sent his through Terry but ended up with gold valves I believe.

I'm just interesting in hearing opinions and feedback and comparing against mine own.

I found the stock forks quite good in the rocks with very little deflection, but the front felt a bit active or vague where it would kind of take its own line rather than feeling sharp and precise. On downhills it would ride down in the stroke and felt a bit mushy.

[n_green]

When I test rode the '13 I found the forks to be excellent. Apparently stock springs in it too, unsure of clickers and PFP etc.
.
It seemed to sit up nice and high in the stroke, didn't dive under brakes, was sharp and precise at steering. It was a bit soft on big G outs and large drops but thats to be expected with stock springs.

The only area I found it lacking was in the initial compression stages on rocks and square edges at speed (3rd gear and above). It felt to me like the MV was too stiff and taking too long to open causing a harsh spike resulting in a small amount of deflection, nothing to extreme but annoying and I'd definitely try and tune it out if it was mine. The HS rebound from deep in the stroke was slightly quick too.

All my opinion based on a one hour 30k ride so take that for what its worth.

The '14 will never get ridden on the stock springs, will be using the .50's I stole from the Sachs forks off the '11 and putting them in, so no doubt that will throw the rebound damping to hell.

Quick question, based on the manual it looks like I undo the fork cap, then after draining the oil, undo the base valve and lift the cartridge out and the spring sits under the cart?
Will I have to re-bleed to cart to do a spring change? It's my first time inside a CC fork. Go easy

[Fred1956]

Originally Posted by n_green

When I test rode the '13 I found the forks to be excellent. Apparently stock springs in it too, unsure of clickers and PFP etc.
.
It seemed to sit up nice and high in the stroke, didn't dive under brakes, was sharp and precise at steering. It was a bit soft on big G outs and large drops but thats to be expected with stock springs.

The only area I found it lacking was in the initial compression stages on rocks and square edges at speed (3rd gear and above). It felt to me like the MV was too stiff and taking too long to open causing a harsh spike resulting in a small amount of deflection, nothing to extreme but annoying and I'd definitely try and tune it out if it was mine. The HS rebound from deep in the stroke was slightly quick too.

All my opinion based on a one hour 30k ride so take that for what its worth.

The '14 will never get ridden on the stock springs, will be using the .50's I stole from the Sachs forks off the '11 and putting them in, so no doubt that will throw the rebound damping to hell.

Quick question, based on the manual it looks like I undo the fork cap, then after draining the oil, undo the base valve and lift the cartridge out and the spring sits under the cart?
Will I have to re-bleed to cart to do a spring change? It's my first time inside a CC fork. Go easy

Not for a simple spring change, The spring IN the cartridge is the PFP spring. Just unbolt the bottom 19mm nut and the top cap 50mm? maybe 49mm? and slide the cartridge out, check length for proper preload, 4 wire clip positions to choose from, add oil back and of to the woods.

[n_green]

Originally Posted by Fred1956

Not for a simple spring change, The spring IN the cartridge is the PFP spring. Just unbolt the bottom 19mm nut and the top cap 50mm? maybe 49mm? and slide the cartridge out, check length for proper preload, 4 wire clip positions to choose from, add oil back and of to the woods.

Thanks for that. Re preload, same for OC forks, around 3mm is best?

[Jakobi]

Its a twin chamber fork Nath. Base valve at the top inside the cart. No requirement to open the inner carts for a spring change. Open the outers with normal KYB tool, drain oil and clamp the foot in the vise. Use a 19mm socket to undo the lock nut (50Nm). The whole cart will lift out of the outer including spring.

To adjust the spring perch you need to move it down the cart and adjust the position of the circlip.

Appreciate your thoughts Nath and makes sense. These forks have bleed shims on every circuit which I think gave the vague feeling, coupled with some fast rebound. The stock MV also has bleed, 0.65mm float and then hits a wall of shims. 20x.15 (2), around equivalent of 20x.10 (7), clamped on 11x.2 (2) and then float set with a reverse stack.

In my fork I've kept the bleed, dropped the .15's, and built a nice single stage tapered stack consisting of 7 .10 shims, then tightened up the float to 0.4mm

[n_green]

Twin chamber. Got it, cause the cartridge is only semi sealed right? Meh I need to get in there and have a look for it to make sense to me, reading pictures and words in books doesn't click with my mind.

Thanks for the info.

[Jakobi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CJcXjFvTE

This clearer?

The inner chamber is sealed as in it won't leak when you remove it. You should be able to hold it like a shock without a spring and cycle it and have it return, adjust the clickers and see/feel the differences they make.

They aren't fully sealed though as they will self purge excess oil via the top of the cartridge, and the oil from the outer chamber does get mixed, generally when bottoming and forcing oil in past the seal.

Changing the springs won't take much more than a couple minutes.

[hamilton]

My thought on the stock settings were the first thrid of travel was too firm and rebound too slow. won't settle into turns and harsh on braking bumps,roots and trail trash. mid travel had a harsh spike would deflect off everything. Then it would blow through final thrid of travel too easy and rebound to quick. Fork seals had alot of stiction. After a revalve from Evan at Solid Performance these forks work awesome. For two hundred bucks you get a complete sevice, revalve for your conditions and if your not happy he will change valving until you are. You can't beat that, if your in this part of the world.