[Wa-Aw]

Is there much difference between these two generations of 38mm 888 forks? I want to get a used but working old 888RV and put an after market cartridge in it.

AFAIK they were still pretty damn plush and had good seals. I heard something about improvements in the bushings 2010+. Can someone confirm this?

As far as I can see the only negatives I'll run into with this are the 888 chassis being taller than other forks and being a very heavy fork.

 

[baca262]

2008/9 had loose bushings issues so you might be better of with a newer model. also, you will have to get a rc3 model spring leg innards since i believe rv has 2 springs and damping rods, one per each leg like the rcv.

other than that and weight, the chassis should be identical to more expensive models.

EDIT

or is this what we are talking about here? (2004-2007 chassis)

on the second thought, you might be able to get away with the stock 2-spring setup if the spring can be mounted on the aftermarket cart but you will have to drill out one of the damping rods to prevent spiking.

 

[Greg]

Stay away from 08-09 chassis, no matter what. I have 888 WC 08 and had to replace lowers cause of bushing slop.

 

[Jm_]

Not much different. There was a production run within 2008 that had the bushing issues, other runs in 2008 were ok, a few from time to time would pop up with bushing issues, but by and large it was one production run in 2008. Forget if it was a "green" or "red" dot on the inner part of the brace, but you can look back and find this, and then see if yours was affected or not.

Otherwise, it's a standard bomber chassi, standard bomber type seals, the standard black coating is probably better than the nickel one I have, although it's plenty slick when you get moving, it does feel like a little more friction than my black 35mm bomber, but then again it is a 38mm chassi, and once you cycle it a few times it doesn't matter at all. Most parts are backwards compatible. I had to replace the dummy-rod/shaft on the spring-leg due to breaking the threads at the foot nut. This was my own damn fault, but marzocchi was very helpful with it all. The new part is officially from the 2010+ chassi, but fits my 2008 just fine.

As long as it's once that didn't have the bushing issues, should be no problems, you'd need the piston-rod (dummy shaft thing) that I messed up, + a spring, afaik, the avalanche cartridge only works with a one-sided spring setup, but I could be wrong.

 

[William42]

Not much different. There was a production run within 2008 that had the bushing issues, other runs in 2008 were ok, a few from time to time would pop up with bushing issues, but by and large it was one production run in 2008. Forget if it was a "green" or "red" dot on the inner part of the brace, but you can look back and find this, and then see if yours was affected or not.

Otherwise, it's a standard bomber chassi, standard bomber type seals, the standard black coating is probably better than the nickel one I have, although it's plenty slick when you get moving, it does feel like a little more friction than my black 35mm bomber, but then again it is a 38mm chassi, and once you cycle it a few times it doesn't matter at all. Most parts are backwards compatible. I had to replace the dummy-rod/shaft on the spring-leg due to breaking the threads at the foot nut. This was my own damn fault, but marzocchi was very helpful with it all. The new part is officially from the 2010+ chassi, but fits my 2008 just fine.

As long as it's once that didn't have the bushing issues, should be no problems, you'd need the piston-rod (dummy shaft thing) that I messed up, + a spring, afaik, the avalanche cartridge only works with a one-sided spring setup, but I could be wrong.

I got the reworked one that was supposed to take care of the issue and had the dot on it. It still had bushing slop. if you're getting it for free, might be worth considering, but otherwise I wouldn't touch em.