[acair422]

Hey,

I'm currently looking for a new fork for next season (has to be Marzocchi), right now I ride a 06 888rc2x on an 06 Turner DHR. I'm a small rider who does some racing but mainly just DH's on the weekend at Diablo (tight, technical, not particularily fast). I was looking into the 888ata but heard mixed things about the 2007 model. Does anyone out there have the fork that would like to provide some feedback/comments here? Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[norbar]

08 is heavy - 3.1kg. Zoke increased the weight for no aparent reason (I know wider stanctions mean more stiffnes but any1 really felt that 07 models needed more?).

Just go for 07 SL ATA - 2.94kg. Yea it has the travel loss problem but with renegades mode you can easily fix it once and for all so no problems with that.

 

[dexter]

i beg to differ norbar, that fork gave me nothing but problems all summer long and that was working with the top marz tech almost every day for 2+ months. new one kicks ass

 

[Old_Sckool]

My 07 rocked!!! I have a 888 WC for this season and I can tell you I'm missing my SL already. But in all fairness the WC isn't broken in yet or had a "real" DH run.

I initially had the wind down problem. I originally just locked it out and then fixed it with Rene's spring swap.

I also initially had the problem with not getting full travel, but that went away with proper air setting and initial break in.

Ran it all last season. Entire MCS series, G3 race and multiple days at Sol Vista, Keystone and misc shuttles. Trouble free all season with only a single oil change.

Not sure why certain people have had problems, the fork has to be ridden hard and fast. I don't think it could be tuned to get full travel if your trails or tame or you take the smooth line. But the fork lays pavement at speed.:biggrin:

 

[acair422]

yea I'm not too interested in the 2007 model I heard there were a bunch of problems with it even Marzocchi admitted they had a bunch of problems with it. Dexter think you could give me any more information here...?

 

[Biffff]

I've been pounding my 07........thanks too Old schools confidence, and I love it. I locked it at 8"s so no wind down, and its butter. I use 7"s of travel on my local DH shuttle which has no huge hits. I'm stoked I took a chance on this fork. If you have to have the latest and greatest go with the 08, but you'll be getting a heavier made in Taiwan fork.

 

[CBJ]

John just get a Boxxer Team. Its perfect for skinny armed guys.

See you soon at Diablo!

 

[pillete]

Hey John it's Ruben, how you been man?

I picked up a 888 ATA WC for this season, if you want I would be more than happy to let you try it.

 

[acair422]

cbj, i hate rock shox haha and pillete i'm currently in michigan right now up at school so I can't really try it out how do you like the fork thus far? And i'm not really concerned if it's made in taiwan or the u.s I'm much more concerned about all the problems last year's model had

 

[pillete]

I like it, it feels a little stiff at low speed, but at high speed it works great.
the only thing that I want to change is the oil to 5w just to get faster rebound. In regards to the weight of the fork I can tell you that it is not any lighter than the 05 RC I used to run

 

[acair422]

the 05 rc is almost a pound heavier then the 2008 888ata (which is the model you have correct?)

 

[CBJ]

cbj, i hate rock shox haha and pillete i'm currently in michigan right now up at school so I can't really try it out how do you like the fork thus far? And i'm not really concerned if it's made in taiwan or the u.s I'm much more concerned about all the problems last year's model had

Come on get with the program the new Boxxers rocks

 

[zahgurim]

The '07 feels great, when it's working.

Mine is off my bike yet again, for another fix. This time it was a blown airside cart... Just got the parts needed to fix, will piece the cart back together again tomorrow.

Mine's been an adventure to own. I can take it apart very quickly now, as I've had lots of practice.

The '07s can be had for cheap now, anyway. As long as you know their issues you can get a good price on a new one and be quite happy with it...

 

[pillete]

the 05 rc is almost a pound heavier then the 2008 888ata (which is the model you have correct?)

not really, when i swapped the forks, i weighted them both on a digital scale, and the 08 ATA with uncut steer tube was just 10g lighter than the 05 RC with cut steer tube

 

[davet]

not really, when i swapped the forks, i weighted them both on a digital scale, and the 08 ATA with uncut steer tube was just 10g lighter than the 05 RC with cut steer tube

The 05 RC was light ~ 7.4 lbs. The same weight as my 07 888WC with Ti springs.

 

[knax]

well, i put my old 04 888 r with cut steerer (identical to the 05 888 rc), and a 08 888 ata wc with uncut steerer on the same digital scale, one after another. weight was 7.7 lbs for the 888r and 6.8 lbs for the 08 888 ata wc.

 

[norbar]

Yeah some had problems with SL ATA 07 some not. But I still know a lot of ppl who were quite happy with them.

Any idea whats the reason for the other issues than wind down? Bad seals = Blowing up? Maybe some modding could solve most of the problems.

BTW. If you wanna go as heavy as 08 SL ATA why not go 07 RC2x WC ? Not much weight differance if any.

 

[acair422]

Marzocchi is claiming the 888 ata at 6.4lbs....

 

[jcook90]

They revised that on the other site (international i believe) to about 6.89lbs

 

[acair422]

thas odd...maybe the international version is heavier haha

 

[norbar]

Naah. Sb weighted the new rc3 and the heavier weights are true. Also thats probably why Lapierre ditched marz for their bikes and now go with fox.

 

[acair422]

The rc3 is the other fork I'm considering has anyone heard anything about that? I feel like even though the 888ata is heavier then it's claimed weight it'll still feel noticably lighter over my 888rc2x....

 

[bizutch]

I'm helping a buddy sell a brand new in the box 2008 888 if anyone is interested.

http://www.ridemonkey.com/classifieds/cat-12/ad-1848/

 

[knax]

The rc3 is the other fork I'm considering has anyone heard anything about that? I feel like even though the 888ata is heavier then it's claimed weight it'll still feel noticably lighter over my 888rc2x....

the 888 rc3 is REALLY heavy, almost 8.5 lbs the 06/07 888 rc2x was a tad lighter, but still approx. 8 lbs, 1.2 lbs heavier than the 888 ata wc

 

[norbar]

07 888rc2x = 3.35kg, rc3 is 3.8kg and SL ATA 08 is 3.150kg . Plus you can get the 07 WC for much less now if you can find it and if I'm not wrong it was around 3.1 also.

 

[knax]

06/07 888 rc2x are definitely heavyer than the 04/05 models, i.e. approx 3.6 kg. and the 07 wc is of course a bit lighter due to ti springs (0.5 lbs?), but not 3.1 kg.

 

[DHR]

my 07 wc was 3.4kg and 08 wc 3.64kg both uncut steer, with axle without stock stem
both on same digital roof scale

 

[vitox]

hi all

my figures for these are as follows, all for ready to ride, cut steerer, correct oil level and no stem, 08s are adjusted down 20g for comparison purposes as they do not use adapter and bolts.


08 ata 3,15kg
08 rc3 wc 3,45kg
07 wc 3,4kg
06 rc2x 3,37kg

note that the 06 and 07 castings are different, 07 is heavier, has post mount (6", so still needs adapter) and uses different bushings.

 

[acair422]

I've decided to order the 888ata wc on monday or tuesday I think it'll be the best fit for me and my bike

 

[boxxerace]

Weight Weight Weight... jeez, what is this, a road forum :biggrin:

The new ATA does sound like a good fork, I am rather interested in it.

 

[largextracheese]

The 08 WC ATA is an amazing fork. I had the 06 888rc2x and it was a nice fork no doubt. The tuneablility of the 08 is what puts it over the top for me though. I'd also say it's better at handling terrain at speed. I love mine. Take your time to figure out what air setting work for you and you will be rewarded.

 

[IH8Rice]

and dont go by the owner's manual recommended pressure settings...you wont be able to move the fork at all.

'09's were worlds better than '08's...the bushing slop in the '08's sucked and the early ATA cartridges sucked donkey gonads

 

[saruti]

my 07 888 ata is only 2.9 kg ...
dont know how yours are over 3 kg.. ?

 

[AlCapone]

My 2007 888 ATA weighs 2.9 as well.

 

[raschaa]

same here, my 07 ata weighed in at 3050g with axle and directmount stem.

my fork has been to the distributor twice, now with 09 spec ata cart works a dream and gets full travel... definitely not everybodies fork, but once dialed and regularly prepped it can be a worthy alternative to any of the other dual crowns out there...

my2cent

 

[adrianm]

Ok, can all you guys give me some help please. You know all the talk about removing the PAR chamber? Well I broke the little strings inside and decided to remove the PAR which has made the fork very plush.....although I didn't have any problems setting up the fork before, and getting all the travel. If I set the sag to 25% (50mm), by putting in only that amount of air in the remaining chamber to achieve this sag, the fork bottoms to easily. It does this even if I use the volume control to stiffen things up. I weigh 198lbs and put 90psi in the chamber. Any higher, and I don't get the sag I need. Any suggestions?

 

[bikesair]

Ok, can all you guys give me some help please. You know all the talk about removing the PAR chamber? Well I broke the little strings inside and decided to remove the PAR which has made the fork very plush.....although I didn't have any problems setting up the fork before, and getting all the travel. If I set the sag to 25% (50mm), by putting in only that amount of air in the remaining chamber to achieve this sag, the fork bottoms to easily. It does this even if I use the volume control to stiffen things up. I weigh 198lbs and put 90psi in the chamber. Any higher, and I don't get the sag I need. Any suggestions?

This is the huge thing that the people who remove PAR neglect to mention. Your options:
Fix it! A lot of guys just use some Spiderwire fishing line to replace the broken strings. This is a temporary fix until you can get the replacements from Marzocchi but honestly I know guys that have run Spiderwire longer than OEM.

Put more oil in the RC3 leg. Most people just go a cap full at a time until the VA starts to progress the fork like they want it too.

Also, when was the last time you serviced your fork? Frayed PAR cables should be seen and replaced during routine maintenance. With ATA you need to be pretty consistent with opening up the fork and keeping everything nicely lubed. The more often the better. At least once a year. It's just an inherent consequence of an air fork Most suspension tech's recommend a service like every 50 hours...which is once every two months if you ride hard.

The good news is those things are pretty darn basic. You can have the thing pretty much torn down to bits in 30 minutes after once or twice.

 

[adrianm]

I suggested using spiderwire to the techie at my lbs. He was concerned that this will create too much friction and start prematurely wearing out the internals. What do you think?

 

[bikesair]

I suggested using spiderwire to the techie at my lbs. He was concerned that this will create too much friction and start prematurely wearing out the internals. What do you think?

The cable is not used in a way that creates any stiction. It is simply used to keep the PAR piston in place when your fork is fully extended. I don't know if the tech at your LBS has any idea what he is talking about. If you change the oil more than once a year then your not going to have any issues.

Read these threads and your brain should be ATA saturated...
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=563366
http://bb2.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=120124
http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=3195344&postcount=350

 

[adrianm]

He reckoned if Marzocchi thought the stronger cable was ok then they would have used it. But they used string as it won't damaged the sides of the lowers the PAR assembly is in or other parts as it rubs against them as the forks compresses and extends. There may be an element of truth in this, but I can't see there being so much wear and tear that it'll wear right through or weaken parts.