Thought I would give a quick review of my first ride on my new fork: 2007 Marzocchi RC2 ETA. I'm moving from the land of rollers back to my beautiful Cascade Mountains and wanted to beef up the bike again. I have a 2006 Yeti ASX and shed my last 66 (last year) for a 2006 Z1 Light since I mostly ride XC/AM here. The Z1 was great but 30mm more travel and tons of added stiffness is nice to get back to. I also chose the RC2 ETA because I hate trying to tinker with two compression adjustments and I wanted some travel options for climbs.
Out of the box I was worried. The stiction was horrendous. I've had many Marzocchis and while they all feel sticky out of the box, this was bad. It looked like it was 160mm due to it being stuck and I would have to pull the lowers down every time I compressed it, to get back to 180mm. On another note, the stickers/decals are a little nicer than I expected but when I removed the protective plastic (carefully) some of it did rip. whatever.
So I installed, set my air pressure and did the parking lot ride. Felt a little better with some weight on it but the biggest thing I noticed was my geometry was way different. Duh, it's a longer fork but I haven't been on anything over 170mm since a Shiver DC in 2003 (favorite fork of all time in terms of plushness BTW). I set my air to about 1 psi on the pump gauge but a lot of air could come out if I let it. I like my fork to be nice and soft and don't really mind pedal-bob. I don't huck 8ft+ drops anymore either so compression was set to 2 clicks. Rebound somewhere in the middle, quick but not lightning fast.
Took it out to a nice AM trail with a couple of jumps and lots of roots for a fast pedally ride. Sorry, that's all I've got to ride within 45 minutes. The FR/DH test will have to happen in Oregon. Anyway, noticed right away how responsive, snappy, and controllable it was. Within minutes it started to feel more plush and by the end of my 2 hour ride it almost felt like my broken in Z1 in terms of plushness, and that's saying a lot. Corners were getting eaten up with or without massive roots and it was clear the new geometry and stiffness was altering my riding immensely, in a good way. It even pedaled well! Somehow on a few steeper sections I pedaled up better than with the Z1 and the ETA worked better than expected. I sold my old 66 in favor of the Z1 so I could pedal up but I had no issues pedaling the 07 66 and trust me, I'm not in better shape. ETA pushed down about 50mm and still had give but I cranked it down hard and it set at about 60mm remaining and fully stiff for some steep stuff, so there are a few options with ETA.
I haven't had this good of a ride in quite a while. From cornering, bump and hit sensitivity, to acceleration and steep climbing, I felt like things were improved. And did I mention stiff? Felt like I was back to my old Super T days only so much better. Also, I was worried about going back to a 6.6lb fork from a 4.9lb fork but forget about it. The 66 performed substantially better than I remember and I never noticed the weight or a problem with the greater ride height. Love the fork.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, always go with Marzocchi. No matter how tempted I am by the other brands, I never regret a Marzocchi.
Out of the box I was worried. The stiction was horrendous. I've had many Marzocchis and while they all feel sticky out of the box, this was bad. It looked like it was 160mm due to it being stuck and I would have to pull the lowers down every time I compressed it, to get back to 180mm. On another note, the stickers/decals are a little nicer than I expected but when I removed the protective plastic (carefully) some of it did rip. whatever.
So I installed, set my air pressure and did the parking lot ride. Felt a little better with some weight on it but the biggest thing I noticed was my geometry was way different. Duh, it's a longer fork but I haven't been on anything over 170mm since a Shiver DC in 2003 (favorite fork of all time in terms of plushness BTW). I set my air to about 1 psi on the pump gauge but a lot of air could come out if I let it. I like my fork to be nice and soft and don't really mind pedal-bob. I don't huck 8ft+ drops anymore either so compression was set to 2 clicks. Rebound somewhere in the middle, quick but not lightning fast.
Took it out to a nice AM trail with a couple of jumps and lots of roots for a fast pedally ride. Sorry, that's all I've got to ride within 45 minutes. The FR/DH test will have to happen in Oregon. Anyway, noticed right away how responsive, snappy, and controllable it was. Within minutes it started to feel more plush and by the end of my 2 hour ride it almost felt like my broken in Z1 in terms of plushness, and that's saying a lot. Corners were getting eaten up with or without massive roots and it was clear the new geometry and stiffness was altering my riding immensely, in a good way. It even pedaled well! Somehow on a few steeper sections I pedaled up better than with the Z1 and the ETA worked better than expected. I sold my old 66 in favor of the Z1 so I could pedal up but I had no issues pedaling the 07 66 and trust me, I'm not in better shape. ETA pushed down about 50mm and still had give but I cranked it down hard and it set at about 60mm remaining and fully stiff for some steep stuff, so there are a few options with ETA.
I haven't had this good of a ride in quite a while. From cornering, bump and hit sensitivity, to acceleration and steep climbing, I felt like things were improved. And did I mention stiff? Felt like I was back to my old Super T days only so much better. Also, I was worried about going back to a 6.6lb fork from a 4.9lb fork but forget about it. The 66 performed substantially better than I remember and I never noticed the weight or a problem with the greater ride height. Love the fork.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, always go with Marzocchi. No matter how tempted I am by the other brands, I never regret a Marzocchi.
