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marzocchi fork, and avid brakes

cannondalejunky

ease dropper
Jun 19, 2005
2,924
2
Arkansas
so my roommate has a marzocchi z1 with avid bb7 breaks, and when he mounted the brakes no matter what he did that calipers were off, so he set washers on the screws to that mount to the frame to get it to line up. now i'm setting up my bike and i've got a marzocchi 888rc and avid code brakes, and i'm having the same problem. is this a common problem or am i just doing something wrong. (also this isn't my first set of avid brakes, so i know how to align them
 

1453

Monkey
if the Z1 has a 20mm axle and IS mount, it will probably need a QR20 adaptor available from Avid. My Super T, SHiver SC and Monster all need that to work with Avid brakes. the regular IS adaptor needs more material on the left side to line up with the disc

if it's a QR axle, a regular IS adaptor should do, I'm running one with my Z1 FR right now.
 
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w00dy

In heaven there is no beer
Jun 18, 2004
3,417
51
that's why we drink it here
I ran into that too. I've been running with washers for years. No problems. Just make sure you use longer bolts with the new spacing so you get full thread engagement.
 

Rob K

Chimp
Aug 25, 2008
26
0
Southern Cali (USA)
I have the 888FV and when I switched the Hayes Nine out for the Avid Juicy 7's I found that I had to shim the caliper more inward (towards the hub); I ended up having to go as far as 3mm!

They make brake rotor shims but I found I would have had to use a stack of them.

The rear was fine; no shimming needed.
 
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sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
I don't know if this is the problem, but there are two kinds of brake mounts, post mount and International Standard.

The post mount screws mount lengthwise to the bike, IS is perpendicular.

But whether your fork is post mount or IS, I would always get post mount caliper and a post mount to IS adapter. Post mount caliper should bolt directly to a post mount fork unless you are using different sized rotors.

IS calipers require spacers to center it over a rotor. Post mount calipers you can just loosen the bolts, align it, then tighten down.

If you do have IS calipers, then there are .1 mm spacers to get the alignment just right, but switching spacers can be very laborious.
 
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1453

Monkey
But whether your fork is post mount or IS, I would always get post mount caliper and a post mount to IS adapter. Post mount caliper should bolt directly to a post mount fork unless you are using different sized rotors.

IS calipers require spacers to center it over a rotor. Post mount calipers you can just loosen the bolts, align it, then tighten down.

If you do have IS calipers, then there are .1 mm spacers to get the alignment just right, but switching spacers can be very laborious.
but Avid disc brakes have the CPS that does exactly just that....loosen the caliper mount bolts and the caliper can be adjusted in and out, rotate a few degrees, etc.

I run nothing but Avid brakes and they are a breeze to set up. leave the caliper bolts loose, put a business card on either side of the disc between the disc and the pads, squeeze brake lever a few times, tighten bolts, and it's done.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
but Avid disc brakes have the CPS that does exactly just that....loosen the caliper mount bolts and the caliper can be adjusted in and out, rotate a few degrees, etc.

I run nothing but Avid brakes and they are a breeze to set up. leave the caliper bolts loose, put a business card on either side of the disc between the disc and the pads, squeeze brake lever a few times, tighten bolts, and it's done.
I realize I am talking ancient technology:


This is a 51mm IS mount fork and brake. You need spacers to move the brake over to align it to the rotor.

Every new brake I could find is 74mm post mount, although the IS standard for forks is still used for clearance issues.

Back to the problem.

Are you using spaces to align the caliper, or because the caliper is hitting the rotor?

I have seen both.

You can face the fork mount with a Park tool if it is not aligned.
 

Rob K

Chimp
Aug 25, 2008
26
0
Southern Cali (USA)
but Avid disc brakes have the CPS that does exactly just that....loosen the caliper mount bolts and the caliper can be adjusted in and out, rotate a few degrees, etc.

I run nothing but Avid brakes and they are a breeze to set up. leave the caliper bolts loose, put a business card on either side of the disc between the disc and the pads, squeeze brake lever a few times, tighten bolts, and it's done.
In my case, even with the CPS setup I still had to shim the caliper closer to the wheel because the outer pad was right up against the rotor.

The hub and wheel itself could have also been a contributor (hub not being "long enough" I suppose) but as mentioned before, I did not have this problem when I had the Hayes on this fork.

Anyway, using a set of washers to shim it out worked for me and it's not the first time I've had to do something like this on my past bikes.
 

1453

Monkey
right, because the older Marzocchis have a weird spacing on 20mm forks. All of my marzocchis with 20mm axles need a different than the QR forks. I was talking about what happens provided that the correct adaptor is used. The regular Avid IS adaptor for QR forks will need shims/washers/etc to move it in to work with some(at least, maybe more than some) 20mm axle forks, but one you have the right adaptor you don't need the shims to adjust the newer avids made after 2002 or so. I have the first ball bearing disc caliper that needs no shims.

of course the hayes adaptors would also work for avid calipers so that is another source of adaptors to choose from.

In my case, even with the CPS setup I still had to shim the caliper closer to the wheel because the outer pad was right up against the rotor.

The hub and wheel itself could have also been a contributor (hub not being "long enough" I suppose) but as mentioned before, I did not have this problem when I had the Hayes on this fork.

Anyway, using a set of washers to shim it out worked for me and it's not the first time I've had to do something like this on my past bikes.

you were talking about an 888vf, so it may have the same spacing as the QR20 forks before the post-mount became common.

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/BR407Z14-Avid+Cps+Disc+Brake+Adapter.aspx

there is a 203 mm mount for QR20 forks that puts the caliper in the right general location without shims. for example in this picture, I needed no shims and it uses the 20mm axle specific adaptor, where my regular 203 mm adaptor would not work as in your case

 
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sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
The Marzocchis sometimes had a weird time aligning to the rotors.

I don't think it is a big deal to space it over, as long as the bolts have enough threads in the mount point.
 

Rob K

Chimp
Aug 25, 2008
26
0
Southern Cali (USA)
For kicks, I took the front Avid Juicy 7 off my 888 (along with the Avid fork adapter) and mounted it onto my other bike which has the 2003 Marzocchi Bomber Z.1 FR and found that I had to also shim it.

The wheels on my other bike are AtomicLab "TrailPimp" with a Marzocchi hub that were built by my LBS.

To be thorough I mounted the wheel that was on my 888 (Mavic DeeTraks) and still needed the shims.

I didn't think to try the Hayes adapter from my Hayes Nine which is pretty wide and looks like it would position my Avid's closer to the rotor. :huh: Hm.
 

PeteHutch

Chimp
Dec 20, 2018
1
0
Hi all. Similar challenge I have a set of avid elixir 4’s and wanting to fit them to a marzochhi bomber Mxc air 2002. The cast mount is on left fork (looking down) and the avid calliper are bolted with the ends of bolt heads pointing to rear of bike. Which mount would I need?
Any pointers would be ace.
 
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