[myroc1]

One thing l don't understand is people spend all this money on a brand new fork, and then they have to start doing all these modification to make it work better, and l'm not talking about oil weigths and levels and different springs. Stuff like drilling more holes to the plastic valve (Boxxer), putting better seals and a type of oil bath to pevent stiction ( Darado) . You would think spending XXX amount of dollars on a fork that it would run great rite out of the box, and that the manufacture would do this mods.

I'm not by any means slamming these 2 forks, there both great forks and they cost alot of money....... but why.

Cheers

 

[Riding 4 Life]

people like certain forks, then make them better for their needs

 

[SwisSlesS]

Only buy Marzocchi's, then you won't even have to worry about this 'problem'.

 

[GrahamKracker]

Originally posted by swiss_less
Only buy Marzocchi's, then you won't even have to worry about this 'problem'.

I rode Marzocchi's for years, mostly for lack of a quality alternative on the market. I happen not to like the springy compression stroke Marzocchis tend to have. I currently ride a Fox Vanilla, and I feel the more controlled feel and slightly increased compression damping is far superior to my old Atom Bomb.

Has anyone ridden some of the newer crop of Marzocchis, and do they still have this underdamped feel? The opinion I expressed above is based on products that are several years out of fashion, so I'd like to invite newer Marzocchi users to chime in.

 

[sub6]

yeah, Marzocchis don't really have dick in the way of compression damping.

They ramp up nicely but the initial stroke is still very soft these days. I like it, but it's not for everybody.

The exception to this would be the DJ series, I'd imagine, but I've never really ridden one so I couldn't speculate. They're poopy trail or XC forks though so I don't know that it matters.

 

[Matt D]

'02 and '03 Dorados are straight right out of the box, they have the Evil seals. The ones that needed the upgrade were the first production ones. When you buy something that is brand new to the market, you have to expect it's not going to be perfect. I didn't mind at all getting the upgrades.

Marzocchi's are pretty much ready to go out of the box, and almost always have been.

I don't really see your point exactly. What other forks need "modifications?"

 

[ET_SoCal]

Originally posted by GrahamKracker
... the springy compression stroke ...

Disclaimer: Although I've not rode on ALL Marz forks, I've rode four different models reciently.

I believe even the '03 spring/oil models will have this effect. It's part of being a "plush" fork. The air models are a bit stiffer in the initial compression ('couse that's because you can add more air for a stiffer initial sag than the turns of a spring).

The coil models are more FR/DH, geared for those that want that plush feeling, better washboard soak-up & "big hit".
The air are more XC'ish, stiffer compression for out-of-the-saddle jam up the hill.

That's the main difference I've felt between all Mfg's air vrs oil forks... Although the '03 Fox float felt the closest to a oil fork that any other air fork I've rode on.

 

[mplutodh1]

Or if you are someone like me, it takes a lot to make you happy. I have worked in the dirt bike suspension industry for over 6 years now and have seen suspension evolve in even this short period of time. My first mtn bike was a hardtail with a P.O.S. (no thats not what the fork was named) RST up front, elastomers... then moved a HUGE step to the Indy C... wow did that fork blow, got soo sick of that, and being on a budget I bought the Risse cartridge kits for it... from there I went to a DH bike, Kona Stab with a 98 Jr T. Fork was alright till the cartridge ripped out of the bottom of the fork. Fixed that with some modifications and fork worked perfectly.

From there I got my hands on a 2000 Boxxer, preproduction (was supposed to be something fancy) we took it apart and realized the internals were where dirt bike suspension was over 10 years prior. No way we were going to let it stay that way! Luckily we had a set of MX forks sitting in the shop that a customer had failed to pay for... we didnt have a use for them so the cartridges came out. It was on to finding a way to make them fit in a TINY tubed boxxer. A few mods and wham bam a boxxer MX two weeks later a Monster showed up no our doorstep free of charge(dont ask!) We were on fire, why stop now?! Stripped the bad boy down, WOW a fork that actually had a resemblence of a cartridge and valving stack! But at the same time, the shop owner and I looked at each other and said "It could be better!" so we went to work, next thing you know we had two forks with cartridges. The Monster blew the Boxxer out of the water... soo much plusher, bigger tubes, stiffer, just all around a better setup in our minds.

Shortly after completion, the company who had sent us the forks was in need of the Boxxer again, so we sent it back, informed them of the mods and said enjoy! The Monster then made it to my Lenz and that is where it sits. It has been that way for 2 years now, but a month ago we got a bug again, sometime in the next 2 months we will be modifing the cartridge yet again, installing a Moto Pro Ultra Max valve and tweaking the valving, trying to make it perform even better!

And you ask why manufactures dont make the mods to their forks.. my answer is, they cant keep up!