[kickstand]

The last bike I rode for 8+ years was not exactly adjustable in the shock department and to keep it from bottoming I basically had to stiffen it as much as the adjustability would allow, it worked.

I have amarzocchi bomber 55. I am almost using all of the travel and the shock feels nice and smooth, the only problem I have with it, or what I want to adjust out of it is this.

It seems like my first two inches of travel is almost to soft. Though overall it feels pretty good. Is there a way to make the first inch or two stiffer? Would I increase or decrease rebound?

It appears the only choices I have are adding more air, or increasing or decreasing rebound?

Thanks.

 

[zebrahum]

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a Marzocchi pro but is this one of the forks with a dual air valve system under one of the caps? It would help if you could ID the fork a little more carefully. They usually name the forks 55 RC3 or 55 ATA depending on the features. If you have a plain 55, there's a good chance you don't have any extra features like compression damping or negative air chamber which are what you need to fix your soft upper stroke.

 

[kickstand]

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a Marzocchi pro but is this one of the forks with a dual air valve system under one of the caps? It would help if you could ID the fork a little more carefully. They usually name the forks 55 RC3 or 55 ATA depending on the features. If you have a plain 55, there's a good chance you don't have any extra features like compression damping or negative air chamber which are what you need to fix your soft upper stroke.

Marzocchi 55 Tst2

I'll be the first to admit, I love to ride bikes, but I am no techie! Trying to learn

 

[zebrahum]

It doesn't have any compression adjustment. Would you say it has basically no resistance in the first two inches of travel? I know Marz has had a lot of trouble with their fork internals, maybe you've blown a seal.

 

[kickstand]

No I don't think its blown a seal it rides nice just a hair soft for my likings on the smaller tree roots and small rocks then I'm used too. Otherwise it's about perfect I'm using about 135mm out of 160 on most trails and am about 5 mm short of bottoming on the biggest hits/drops I have the guts to hit so overall it been a great improvement over my 100mm shock on my hard tail.

 

[FullMonty]

with the TST cartridge you can put the lever part way to locked out (should be 4 clicks from locked to open,) to run a little bit of compression damping.

However, check your sag first with a zip tie. You want around 20-25% of your travel taken up when you're on the bike in riding position. If you're using more, there should be a removable cap on top of the left leg with an air valve underneath. use a shock pump to add air a little bit at a time until you get the appropriate amount of sag. write down what psi achieves the appropriate sag so you can check it easily.

if all that is as it should be, then you can either decrease your sag further by adding air, or do the little trick with the TST lever. both will make the ride firmer, but if you decrease the sag too far, the wheel won't be able to track into little hollows in the trail.

 

[kickstand]

and now my fork is a 80mm monster....can't get it to compress anyfurther, seems very common on this fork.