[SOil]

I'm planing a build for a new DJ bike.
The objective is to build a top spec bike as light as possible, but not compromising on strength (cromo frame, 3 piece cranks, etc).

I'm not sure what forks to use. Marzocchi dirt jumpers work well but are too heavy. Pikes are light but not really a DJ fork, and I've seen too many break. Have no experience with Manitou's jump series forks, but I'm not a big manitou fan due to bad experience with other forks.
Would prefer a 20mm fork. Found that due to the excessive flex on QR forks the arch eventually breaks.
Would a fox vanilla (QR only ) suffer from that problem?

Just seen a pic of the new RS argyle (air?!) for 2007. Not sure if it would be worth waiting that long.
Will there be any changes on the marzocchi DJ range for next year?

Sugestions and feedback from past experience welcome.

Thanks

 

[Changleen]

Nemesis Project.

 

[Mr Tiles]

nemesis or find you an older manitou sherman tpc and modify it. It's light and indestructable - or at least mine has been for the last year or so...

 

[SOil]

Nemesis Project.

Why?..
Do they do a fork? info?

 

[Mr Tiles]

it's a z-1 sport custom lowered with Ti bits...

www.nemesisproject.com

 

[SOil]

it's a z-1 sport custom lowered with Ti bits...

www.nemesisproject.com

Not sure if that would hold up to punishment, regardless of the travel reduction (usefull in itself) the stanchions, steerer tube and crow are not designed for DJ kind of abuse. Event he marzocchi DJx crowns tend to crack.
The modded 66 does look cool, but you may as well ride a DJ1, as it's lighter and has better internals.

 

[Mr Tiles]

bomb-proof and light are hard to come by. I've heard great reviews on the nemeisis forks. are you hucking off stuff or just riding street?

 

[SOil]

Its for one of our dirt jump team bikes.
We jusr replaced a DJ1 for a DJ3 due to a cracked crown (hence not too keen on the Z1 route).

 

[spacemanspiff06]

there are 5 pikes that are owned among me and some of my friends. we don't go easy on the fork and use it for DJs, street, park, trails, whatever. havn't had any issues yet. i would like to know why and how the pikes that you've seen have broken, as this is the first i've heard of this.
as far as the whole weighttrength ratio, you gotta compromise somewhere. thought of going ridged?

 

[Leethal]

Used Sherman Jumper or lowered Flick or Firefly... Can be found pretty cheap.. GEt one with a steel steerer if possible.. Lighter than a DJ series stronger then the others.. Relatively easy to work on and with real springs (not from Answer) is prefect for jumping.

 

[SOil]

One of our team riders broke his pike in a few months (replaced under waranty tho). He's a park rider mainly, 24". He now rides a Bomber DJ.

Another guy that rides with us, his pike is making very worrying cracking noises after 3 months of use (he's a dirt jumper).

I don't think it's a fundamental problem with the pikes at all, just that they are not really designed as DJ/street forks (although the smoother riders may be fine), I guess that's why RS is bringging out the Argyle (and keeping the Pikes).

Although one can not expect light forks for this sort of use, there is a considerable weight difference between marzocchi's DJ, and RS Argyles and Manitou's jump forks.

Has anyone had any experience with Fox forks for DJ? I've seen a few pro's with them, but that doesn't always mean much.

 

[Mr Tiles]

zachdank over on mtbr runs a fox on his jumper. He's going pretty large on DJ's. do a search for his user name.

 

[Stoked]

manitou gold label2 or nemesis tuned marz.
new gold label2 has 20 mil axle, steel steerer, 4.6lbs

 

[habitatxskate]

the thing is, SOil and the team are probably doing bigger stuff and falling on bigger things, the forks take more abuse..spacemanspiff06, idk who you are, and i'm not trying to insult you, but i'm just saying they probably put mroe stress on it then you and your friends...thats just my opinion, feel free to correct me

 

[v-digit]

Used Sherman Jumper or lowered Flick or Firefly... Can be found pretty cheap.. GEt one with a steel steerer if possible.. Lighter than a DJ series stronger then the others.. Relatively easy to work on and with real springs (not from Answer) is prefect for jumping.

springs not from answer? i have xfirm from answer right now, and i kind of want to try to stiffen my jumper even more, without dropping it any lower then 80mm. - is that possible with the not-answer springs? where do i cop those?

 

[Bicyclist]

Dude, you're not going to break a lowered Z1 very easily. Think about the bushing overlap there. 150mm to 65/80mm is way more overlap. Plus Marzocchi CS is good. These forks are light, strong, and work really damn well.

 

[SOil]

They should be in theory considerably weaker than DJ's in the steerer tube and crown (which is where many DJ's crack).

 

[Zach Dank]

FOX 36float DJ.

This fork crushes all other DJ forks.

 

[SOil]

Do you mean the 36Talas? Would it not be a "waste" for DJ? It costs a fortune and you would never use anything else other than the minimum travel setting (110mm, max-150mm).

 

[Bicyclist]

No, for 07 Fox is making a DJ version of the 36 w/ 100mm of travel.

 

[Zach Dank]

Do you mean the 36Talas? Would it not be a "waste" for DJ? It costs a fortune and you would never use anything else other than the minimum travel setting (110mm, max-150mm).

No. I mean the 36float DJ. It is a DJ specific fork that FOX is comming out with soon. I have been riding it for a while, and it is hands down the best feeling dirt jump fork i have ever ridden. 100mm of set travel.

 

[T-Pirate]

I run a 36 Talas on my DJ bike. I run it typically around the lowest setting, but I do some burly trailriding on my HT sometimes too. Its def a killer DJ fork, under 5 lbs and pretty bombproof. It's expensive, but I used to run it on my big bike, until our old spot got demolished, and I bought a 66 for more travel.

 

[Stoked]

springs not from answer? i have xfirm from answer right now, and i kind of want to try to stiffen my jumper even more, without dropping it any lower then 80mm. - is that possible with the not-answer springs? where do i cop those?

hey vas don showed me this a while ago. i have not done this so i dont have any experience with it.

Originally Posted by Sean @ UnionStreet
Here is the spring that Lee uses. It's a lot stiffer
then the heavy/extra heavy Manitou spring. A lot of guys use
this spring.

http://www.toolanddie.com/~smgr2/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=T&Product_Code=SDS-DIE_SPG3

I run this bad boy... super stiff. When I come up short I only
use about 2 inches of travel.

http://www.toolanddie.com/~smgr2/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=T&Product_Code=SDS-DIE_SPG4

I order the 1in. OD x 12in springs and cut them to length with a
dremmel. Usually leaving them a little longer then the stock
springs. There are some other mods you have to do to the spring
too. I always put the end I cut off down in the fork. There
is a little nub in bottom that the spring pilots on. You'll have
to open the end of the spring up some so it will fit over it. For
the other end you'll have to take some off of the OD to get it to fit up
inside the cap. I use sanding wheels on my dremmel and it only
takes 5 to 10 min. to do. If you've got a belt sander it would
probably only take a minute. It might seem kinda ghetto but it
works and only costs about $15. I ran one in my Jumper
for over year riding 3 days a week and never had any problems with
it. At first I was worried the cap would blow off from the extra
spring tension but it been trouble free.

 

[Mr Tiles]

Looks like the nemesis is working out well for you zach. that's a phat pic...

 

[SOil]

No. I mean the 36float DJ. It is a DJ specific fork that FOX is comming out with soon. I have been riding it for a while, and it is hands down the best feeling dirt jump fork i have ever ridden. 100mm of set travel.

Cool, that is exaclty what I had in mind. When is it out? Price estimate?

Is a variation of the 36Float? pictured below

 

[Zach Dank]

Looks like the nemesis is working out well for you zach. that's a phat pic...

Thanks mang. I love that bike. It's my own model.

 

[Mr Tiles]

yeah, I know all about it. cool beans bro.

 

[Zach Dank]

When is it out? Price estimate?

Is a variation of the 36Float? pictured below

Sorry. I don't know. I'm just a test pilot. All i can say, is that it will be worth getting when it comes out.

 

[SOil]

So it's not that one on the pic I take it?

 

[dexter]

i run a 60mm gold label and love it. i have had over 5 shermans (two jumpers, one flick, one slider plus, one firefly) and have never had any problems with any of them and i beat the crap out of my bikes

 

[TWISTED]

As stupid as my custom fork is, it keeps taking the nose case punishment and keeps going. It should have broke long ago, put remains the best dirt jump fork for my style.

I've got, what should be a crap Marzocchi MX Comp 80mm with the air preload caps. The cryo-fit crown bent right away and was cut off and replaced with a new '98 style Z1 bolt on crown and steer tube. I run about 50lbs air in each leg, which means the legs only move if I really hit something hard and don't ever give more than about 2" travel. It's about 4 lbs and has an axle to crown of 450mm.

I've been running it like this for about 8 months.

 

[boostindoubles]

i've been running a fox vanilla R for the last 2 and a half years.. beat the hell out of it. I don't think i'll run anything else, except this fox dj specific fork sounds pretty nice.

I just bought an 07 vanilla R last week, getting it put on right now, dropping the travel down to 100mm. I am happy as can be

 

[gemini2k]

I've got a sherman jumper if you need it. I just got it about 2 months ago, new OEM take off. But I'm turing the bike into more of a trail bike. It's the 80mm version. Nice and plush.

 

[Changleen]

I've got a sherman jumper if you need it. I just got it about 2 months ago, new OEM take off. But I'm turing the bike into more of a trail bike. It's the 80mm version. Nice and plush.

Bring it to NZ, I'll give you NZ$150 for it.

 

[Evil4bc]

They should be in theory considerably weaker than DJ's in the steerer tube and crown (which is where many DJ's crack).

O.K. going to chime in here so people dont start getting confused .

Our lowered and tuned Z-1 Sports are by far one of if not the best fork suited for DJ's and urban /street

The crowns are in fact NOT weaker WHY? the older Dj crows that used to break had chromoly stachion and streerers this added weight , the steel stanchions had almost NO forward to aft flex this combined with a ultra stiff steel streerer left no other place for the fork to fail but in the forkged casting of the crown assembly .

No why are these new Zokes so much better you ask ???

Taperer wall aluminum , by making the stanchions aluminum they have a but of forward to aft flext , not hat you will feel or ever see this with the huge amount of bushing overlap on a 65mm fork .. as stated above Please keep in mind the DJ series of forks have shorter bushings as they come stock with 100mm of travel .
We start out with a Z-1 Sport a fork that can handel 160mm of travel ! So bushing overlap is huge !
I even checked with the engineering staff at Zoke to make sure our tuned forks could hold up to this type of riding , they said the exact same thing ... "With that much bushing over lap you'll be fine "

I have been riding my lowered Zoke for over a year and a half , only swapped the oil out once after that left it alone and it's been fine !
I beat the crap out of this fork daily at the park and on little street missions around Nor-Cal

I also DO GRINDS on the legs and hit my fork into ledges and coping at the park as hard as I did my pitchforks with pegs .... my budhings have not worn out .. fork is as good as the day I built it .

We have also started tuning forks for such Marzocchi Team riders as Anson Wellington ... YUP we all know he's easy on his stuff right

All our kit's are MArzocchi approved and do not void your forks orignal warrenty !

 

[Evil4bc]

Not sure if that would hold up to punishment, regardless of the travel reduction (usefull in itself) the stanchions, steerer tube and crow are not designed for DJ kind of abuse. Event he marzocchi DJx crowns tend to crack.
The modded 66 does look cool, but you may as well ride a DJ1, as it's lighter and has better internals.

See my most recent post!

Crown , streerer and stanchions are much differnt than the older steel verions that had soooo many problems .

The Z-1 sport once modded is lighter , stronger and has better damping than the DJ-1 which isnt offered to us here in the U.S.
and you get compression and rebound ajustments that really work !

 

[escapeartist]

I'm jsut wondering....Do you guys really think that the difference between a $800 Fox 36 DJ and a $150 used DJ3 will make you enough of a better dirtjumper to justify the $650 difference? I mean, couldnt the money be better spent on some dirt to jump? I mean, maybe I dont understand because my entire bike costs less than your fork, but its always seemed like I just needed something tough, and still. Why should I spend $650 more?

 

[Changleen]

I'm jsut wondering....Do you guys really think that the difference between a $800 Fox 36 DJ and a $150 used DJ3 will make you enough of a better dirtjumper to justify the $650 difference? I mean, couldnt the money be better spent on some dirt to jump? I mean, maybe I dont understand because my entire bike costs less than your fork, but its always seemed like I just needed something tough, and still. Why should I spend $650 more?

IMO... No. $650 is a lot of money. As you say, that's a decent delivery of nice dirt or a new frame, or some really nice new brakes. Hell, it's a cheap vacation.

The Fox does look nice though... I'm loving the Nemesis project right now too.

 

[spacemanspiff06]

Another guy that rides with us, his pike is making very worrying cracking noises after 3 months of use (he's a dirt jumper).

is it during compresion? tighten the 2.5 mm allen on top of the U-turn, problem solved... hopfuly.
i'm sorta smooth but i weight 180 lbs, still i've ridden the piss out of that fork literaly every day for 2 months.

 

[spacemanspiff06]

No, for 07 Fox is making a DJ version of the 36 w/ 100mm of travel.

...and i want one so bad... thank god for EPs

hey zack dank, can you measure the A/C height for us?
100 mm is a bit much, i wonder if you could ghetto drop the travel, or have push do it for you...