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My custom Iron Man Marzocchi shiver , plus i have some questions

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
This is my first post on here and hope everything is right.
After years of having no bike of money.
I finally decided to do a Downhill build starting with the amazing
Marzocchi shiver DC.

I bought these a while ago and the guy failed to tell me that the internal were shot and the stanchions were abused and without fork guards and one of the crown bolt's was threaded.
So after about 8 months of waiting a set for spares or repair popped up on ebay with good internal's , fork guard , mint stanchions , and great crowns.

So i decided to do something special with them.
An Iron man themed fork.
So i stripped them down and de-greased them then i removed the bushings.

I had the forks mirror polished and anodised.
I was debating on mirror gold for the golden bits but i thought it may look
a bit cheap so i had the gold bit's bead blasted for that matt look.

Unfortunatley the black drop out's can't be anodised so i may leave them black of see it i can get a powder coater to match the colour.
Also the fork guards are going to be wrapped in carbon fibre film.

Also missing one of those black adjuster thingies and can't find a spare anywhere.

I'm also having some gold shiver decals made for them

Also i need to make a bushing press out of nylon rod , but the bushings and seals will not be here until January.

Sorry for the crappy pics but i have done my best.

A pic of the polished shiver and was very tempted to leave them like this



Shiver fully broken down



Shiver pics from anodiser





Shiver parts seperate





Missing adjuster



Shiver dry built




Hope you like the pics , make get the axle re-done red not sure yet.
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
Also i was wondering if it is possible to put firm 888 springs in these as
i can't find shiver springs anywere or would i be able to get one made?
Also would it be worth having 1 spring made and leaving one side of the forks with no spring or oil
saving weight.
Also i was toying with the idea of 888 internals and having custom top caps made ,as that is all Marzocchi are doing with the new Shiver , but the internals would be 888RC2X.
I do have a set of Mojo 888 internals but the cart needs a service and nobody will touch it for some reason
not even Mojo
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
update in January i'm having the drop outs powder coated gold so the axle and foot nut's will be red
also i have a pre-load adjuster on the way
also are original Marzocchi seals the best or Enduro?
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart
Avalanche Cart

(and if it doesn't drop right in, I bet it could be done with minimal mods, and drill out the 2nd cart for a dummy-rod).
 
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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
It's been a long time since I've had a shiver too, but I wouldn't waste time doing a single spring, it's going to have to be longer than the double springs most likely, and the fork wasn't really intended for that. What probably would work is the old 35mm 888 springs if you needed a different rate. A lot of the shiver parts were the same as the 35mm 888, seals, I think bushings, etc. Not top caps, although I'm not sure if there's anything similar in the Monster. You know the cartridge internals were the same as any other "HSCV" marzocchi of the day, but I cut that cartridge apart and it was piss-poor inside, definitely crude damping by any standards. The Avy cartridge I had made a world of difference in the 888, and even the 888 carts from 2008 and 2009 were garbage in terms of damping technology. Only the new Evo 2 revalvable stuff is decent, but if you gotta go securing parts and cartridges, just get an Avy cart or mod your Mojo IMO.

Personally, if I had a shiver and wanted to use it, I'd probably find a way to retrofit a Evo 2 or Avy cart into it. Use stock springs. And it would be very controlled, although still somewhat flexy. Probably find a way to do it with the Evo 2 cartridge to keep cost down.

I'd imagine the OTHER thing you could do with it is turn it into a 29er DH fork with about 170-175mm of travel. They made "short" 170 carts for it, although those would make it shorter overall, but with the ability to open up the newer carts, you could do things like increase the negative spring and put in a spacer, etc.
 
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soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
It's been a long time since I've had a shiver too, but I wouldn't waste time doing a single spring, it's going to have to be longer than the double springs most likely, and the fork wasn't really intended for that. What probably would work is the old 35mm 888 springs if you needed a different rate. A lot of the shiver parts were the same as the 35mm 888, seals, I think bushings, etc. Not top caps, although I'm not sure if there's anything similar in the Monster. You know the cartridge internals were the same as any other "HSCV" marzocchi of the day, but I cut that cartridge apart and it was piss-poor inside, definitely crude damping by any standards. The Avy cartridge I had made a world of difference in the 888, and even the 888 carts from 2008 and 2009 were garbage in terms of damping technology. Only the new Evo 2 revalvable stuff is decent, but if you gotta go securing parts and cartridges, just get an Avy cart or mod your Mojo IMO.

Personally, if I had a shiver and wanted to use it, I'd probably find a way to retrofit a Evo 2 or Avy cart into it. Use stock springs. And it would be very controlled, although still somewhat flexy. Probably find a way to do it with the Evo 2 cartridge to keep cost down.

I'd imagine the OTHER thing you could do with it is turn it into a 29er DH fork with about 170-175mm of travel. They made "short" 170 carts for it, although those would make it shorter overall, but with the ability to open up the newer carts, you could do things like increase the negative spring and put in a spacer, etc.
An Avalanche cart would be amazing if Craig would make a top cap with the right thread.
Also the Mojo cart need a service as it was making a funny noise so i stripped it down and oil and all the air came out of if.
Do you think this can be fixed?

I will pop Craig an email regarding this and see what he says.

Thaks for all the advice buddy
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,558
24,181
media blackout
wouldn't be my personal choice of colors, but still pretty awesome work.

and i'll second the avy route. from what i remember of my shiver, it wasn't bad, wasn't great either.
 

no skid marks

Monkey
Jan 15, 2006
2,511
29
ACT Australia
Don't increase negative spring to reduce travel for 29er use. It won't help, it'll just make fork lower and it'll still be able to bottom out on tyre. Increase bottom out bumper. Not that you'd go 29er.
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
Thanks peeps but i have some bad news.
Craig has got back to me and said it could cost up to $600.00 to have top cap made
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
Here is a pic of the mojo internals compared to the standard shiver intenal
And have found somebody to service the cart for me

 

oiswego

Monkey
Oct 24, 2005
128
1
New Yawk
Will this even work?

I'll be getting the avy cart for my 888 soon, I guess i could drop it in my old shiver to see.
man, that shiver would be the greatest fork ever with the avy dd cart. eff man, i'm drooling just thinking of that butter...

also, because of you and your insanely awesome suggestion, i may now be out ~1000$ US if this works. thanks.

edit: ha, makes sense to read the whole thread before posting i reckon. $ saved.
 
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soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
Will this even work?

I'll be getting the avy cart for my 888 soon, I guess i could drop it in my old shiver to see.
man, that shiver would be the greatest fork ever with the avy dd cart. eff man, i'm drooling just thinking of that butter...

also, because of you and your insanely awesome suggestion, i may now be out ~1000$ US if this works. thanks.

edit: ha, makes sense to read the whole thread before posting i reckon. $ saved.
Well the $600.00 for the top caps was for the avvy cart.
But if you get the cart for 888 which is a 35mm top cap you could get an engineer to machine a 40mm hollow top cap so that goes in the fork and then the cart slides in and screws into the hollow top cap.
I got quoted around £75.00 for a pair of top cap sleeves

like this in the pic

 

oiswego

Monkey
Oct 24, 2005
128
1
New Yawk
Well the $600.00 for the top caps was for the avvy cart.
But if you get the cart for 888 which is a 35mm top cap you could get an engineer to machine a 40mm hollow top cap so that goes in the fork and then the cart slides in and screws into the hollow top cap.
I got quoted around £75.00 for a pair of top cap sleeves

like this in the pic

I hear you, but altogether it's a higher price than i'm willing to pay for a backup fork.
Cool idea though, if you end up doing it i'd be very interested in how much you paid for it and how it works compared to stock etc. Definitely not going to give up the shiver, but seeing what you've done here makes me think that after the 888 is mtn ready, I might try to do something like this myself.

I'm really impressed with how well it looks, good job!
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
I hear you, but altogether it's a higher price than i'm willing to pay for a backup fork.
Cool idea though, if you end up doing it i'd be very interested in how much you paid for it and how it works compared to stock etc. Definitely not going to give up the shiver, but seeing what you've done here makes me think that after the 888 is mtn ready, I might try to do something like this myself.

I'm really impressed with how well it looks, good job!
Nice one thanks so much buddy.
Well i can't afford Avalanche internals ,and i do own a set of Avalanche MTN-8 forks so
no point really.
But i am putting RC2X internals in them and should work fine. I HOPE!
 
Oct 26, 2013
1
0
Hi Guys - Ironman Shivers = awesome! I own 2 pairs of shivers a 2001 model, and a 2004 model. My 2004 pair have a broken rebound adjuster (the split shaft on the top has half snapped) and I was wondering how do you take the rebound damping control rod out (i think marzocchi call it the inner rod)? I can see you have removed it in your picture? Thanks in advance for the help.

Mike
 

soft-compound

Monkey
Dec 29, 2012
109
1
Hi Guys - Ironman Shivers = awesome! I own 2 pairs of shivers a 2001 model, and a 2004 model. My 2004 pair have a broken rebound adjuster (the split shaft on the top has half snapped) and I was wondering how do you take the rebound damping control rod out (i think marzocchi call it the inner rod)? I can see you have removed it in your picture? Thanks in advance for the help.

Mike
Well that part of the fork just screws out when you have the forks in bits.
But from what you are saying it is snapper in half so I assume the part with the split at the top
You adjust with a screw driver is all ready out?
Meaning if you tip the cartridge upside down then the rest should just fall out.
 

GodSmack

Chimp
May 27, 2013
88
0
BC
I still run Shivers on my faith. 55 seals work on Shivers just to let you know. I don't think Avy makes carts for shivers. Take the stock dampners to an expert and get them tuned to your riding style and weight. Use two springs or make a custom cap that has an air valve on it. Perhaps a modern cap will have the correct threads for the station but probably will not accommodate the shiver cart.
The work you are doing on this fork is amazing! wiked project!
The tiny screws behind the adjuster are for burping the forks of compressed air. drill it out to fit a presta valve and voila you have air on one side.