[trialsboy50]

Right, so I'm having a dilemma between these two forks. I plant to do DH and freeride (hucking on urban and dirt). I'm 5'9", 140lbs and I guess smooth considering my weight.

The Marzocchi 66RC is to most people proabbly the best choice here, both dampening and weight and probably performance. THe price however, I can afford it, but it limits the time before my bike will be completed, for a good 2 months, as I still need brakes, chainguide and front wheel. Its an ideal situation, but I also prefer to not spend that mcuh on a fork in general.

The Manitou Stance Kingpin seems to be a good choice all around, as the pre-production group problem seem to ahve been fixed (blown seals), and theprice is attractive of course. The downside? I guess theres a performance issue, however I've read good things about TPC dampening compared to the SPV stuff.

The Rock Shox Boxxer Ride price wise falls above the Manitou Kingpin and below the Marzocchi 66. The new Boxxer Ride seems nice for the price, but I'm not sure the extra $$ over the Kingpin is worth it, how is Rock Shoxs dampening system?


Ultimately, I'm looking for feed back on these forks, and specifically, which you guys think would be the most economical/best performance int he long run.

Thanks, let me know if I missed any info, going on a Brodie Demon 7.6" DH/FR frame.

Thanks
Byron

 

[punkassean]

Oddly enough I'd go for the Boxxer in that group. I think the ride uses hydracoil 2 which is simple and relatively effective, not as good as TPC+ or HSCV but good none the less. I like the adjustable travel feature (U-Turn) a lot. I would say the Kingpin but I'm not convinced the quality is there yet. What about a cheaper version of the 66, the VF for instance?

 

[arboc!]

you should look at the sherman slider

 

[lovebunny]

why the 66 what about a jr t? id still choose the boxxer by the way i think. but the new boxxer and the kingpin arent proven yet. the jr ts been the same for thepast couple years.

 

[punkassean]

The new Boxxer is only different in it's physical dimensions, the internals are old technology so it's safe to estimate how reliable it might or might not be.

Jr.T's are okay but they don't have any one stand-out feature IMO.

The Slider is good, I loved my two.

 

[Sir_Crackien]

i have the kingpin and yes they have fixed the seal problem! i'm 240 and i would say that it is one of the stiffest fork(in trems of flex) that i have ridden. i'm compareing it to a 2003 boxxer race, and a Z150. the tcp+(yes it has the plus) is the smoothest dampaning that i have ever felt. like i said its stiff, that is due to the used of steel stactions and solid sherman(the sherman one are hollow) crowns.

pm with questions

but i will say that all three are good choices

btw marzocchi doesn't weight the forks with the steerer tube so the 66 will end up being the heavyest, next the kingpin coming in a 6.97lbs(i weighted it), and the bowwer will be the lightest coming in at 6.6lbs(well the 2003 race was atleast)

 

[arboc!]

66- about $700
ride- 700
king pin- only 500
The slider is like 800 and is closer to the reast of them

 

[Jm_]

why the 66 what about a jr t? id still choose the boxxer by the way i think. but the new boxxer and the kingpin arent proven yet. the jr ts been the same for thepast couple years.

Because the Jr T feels like crap compared to the 66.

 

[trialsboy50]

Thanks for the replies, although I guess I still havent been shifted in any directions, maybe the Boxxers or Kingpin. Ideally I would like to have a single crown for the nimbleness, so the RCs are really appealing.

I left out the Jrts as someone said, they lack any features. The 66VF was kinda ruled out, since I heard if your paying that much, you may as well go for the 66RC.

Thanks for the replies guys,

Byron

 

[Jm_]

I left out the Jrts as someone said, they lack any features. The 66VF was kinda ruled out, since I heard if your paying that much, you may as well go for the 66RC.

Yes, all the 66VF or Jr T gets you is a crap fork in a nice chassi. It's nice that that they are cheap, but performance will be pretty crappy. I've ridden quite a few SSV/SSVF forks, and they simply ride like crap at speed, that's why they make the HSCV forks. I'd rather ride a 5" Z1 than a 7" Jr T, the 5" Z1 is much better damped and leaves you in much better control of your bike while riding because of this. The Jr T on the other hand feels like it's trying to break your wrists off.

It sounds like you have a similer philosiphy to me, I have to at least have a fork that works, and that is my bottom line. After that I will choose between several different forks, but I'll leave out the ones that simply do not work in certian conditions (high speed impacts with the Jr T).

 

[trialsboy50]

Yea that is my exactly philosophy. While I'm no pro rider, I have the ability to buy a more than begginner fork, so hopefully it will be better in the long run for me.

Another thing which came to my attention was teh Axel to Crown height of these forks. The 66RC is massive at 595 (170mm), where as the Manitou Kingpin is only 540. My brodie demon frame it seems was built around a 888 8" fork, giving it a 66 degree head angle , however I wanted a more freeridish setup, less DHish, would the Kingpin be too low? (I dont think so, but I figure Id check)

Thanks

 

[arboc!]

Thanks for the replies, although I guess I still havent been shifted in any directions, maybe the Boxxers or Kingpin. Ideally I would like to have a single crown for the nimbleness, so the RCs are really appealing.

Between the ride and the king pin, go with the boxxer. Like i said though, look at the manitou sherman slider. And the sherman firefly, and flick are also good mentions in the single crown catigory.

 

[trialsboy50]

Yea, the slider seems a nice choice, but I've heard that the Kingpins are comparable at a lower price, so I chose the kingpin. The SC shermans are nice, but there isnt a 170mm one for a 1 1/8 headtube, but thanks for the suggestions.

 

[MikeD]

Yeah, the 66, while it has a single crown, sure isn't "nimble" with that axle-crown height...I'd get the TPC+ Stance over the SPV Slider, too.

Unless you need the adjustable height of the Boxxer, I'd go with the Stance Kingpin if I were you. Admittedly, that's taking a chance on a new product, but at least it's not a ton of cash, relatively, and Manitou does fix problems as they arise.

MD

Edit: A used 2002 or later Shiver, Super T, or Dorado might actually be your best bet...there are a lot of good deals on this board's buy/sell alone!

 

[ncrider]

The 66RC is the best of the forks you're looking at. However, even though it's a single crown it is still a very tall fork. Its very close (withen 9mm I think) of an 888. So think about that and how slack you want your head tube.

 

[MikeD]

The 66RC is the best of the forks you're looking at. However, even though it's a single crown it is still a very tall fork. Its very close (withen 9mm I think) of an 888. So think about that and how slack you want your head tube.

It's actually taller than an 888, no?

 

[punkassean]

If you get the Kingpin, be sure to order it in a size "large". That means you will get the drop-crown which will let you run the stanchions lower to get the correct geometry for your frame. That's what I had to do on my stinky primo with a Slider.

 

[trialsboy50]

Ah thanks so much for explaining that. I'm a little confused, why wouldnt a standard crown let you run the stanchions lower? The whole tall/short crown idea kinda confuses me.

 

[ncrider]

Ah thanks so much for explaining that. I'm a little confused, why wouldnt a standard crown let you run the stanchions lower? The whole tall/short crown idea kinda confuses me.

If by standard crown you mean single crown, then the reason a single crown wouldn't let you run a lower axle to crown height is two fold. One, you can not adjust the stanchions on a single crown. Two, if you've noticed, Marzocchi has shaped there lower crowns in shuch a way as to drastically raise the height of their forks ( I guess Euros like that ). The crowns can be changed on the 888, but I don't know if you can change them on the 66, yet.

 

[punkassean]

He was referring to a flat upper crown or a drop upper crown....

The flat crown makes it so the stanchions have to be up far enough to at least bolt to the crown but the stanchions also have to be low enough to provide enough clearance for the tire from hitting the bottom of the down tube and also for the fork lowers not to hit the lower crown. With a Drop crown, you don't have to slide the stanchions up as much because the crown clamps sit lower to the side of the head-tube. this pushes the axle down, increasing the forks axle-to-crown height. Does that make sense?

 

[trialsboy50]

Yes, that helps a ton, thanks.