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Why the Marz "VF" series?

bigwheel

Monkey
May 24, 2004
119
4
Canada
I've been shopping for a new bike and have noticed that most come with the VF fork instead of the RC. What's the sense in having a $1000 fork that cannot be adjusted? Can it somehow be adjusted internally? I weigh 235 lbs, I'm not convinced that the stock settings are going to work for me. Are the VF's a waste of money?
 

snoopz666

Monkey
Dec 24, 2004
248
0
now residing in kamloops
the only changes you can make are oil height and springs, you would definently need sew springs, i weight ~160 punds and its perfect for me. if you want to spend the extra money you can get a shop to put a rc on it.
 

Handlebarsfsr

Monkey
Dec 6, 2004
287
0
ct
ssvf not a great system, and it never has been. its fine for dirt jumpers and such, but for a dh bike, its awful. it has a nasty spiking problem inherent to its desigh, that cant be fixed. the reason its oem on many bikes is because ssvf is super cheap compared to a hscv or compression cartridge, like in the rc forks.
 

bigwheel

Monkey
May 24, 2004
119
4
Canada
I see that the '06 VF2 models have external rebound and compression adjustment. Besides needing different springs, should that take care of my tuning needs?
 

Dirt rider

Pro Rider
Nov 18, 2001
505
0
redneck wasteland
bigwheel said:
I see that the '06 VF2 models have external rebound and compression adjustment. Besides needing different springs, should that take care of my tuning needs?


yes that should more than take care of almost all of your tuning needs
 

odiwik

Monkey
Mar 2, 2004
252
0
You will be able to refine the tune, but you will still have spiking problems if it is ridden hard.
 

zmtber

Turbo Monkey
Aug 13, 2005
2,435
0
it manly saves you money but i would recomend if you are competitive or have it just get the rc model this year with high and low compresion preload and rebound, and a couple internal adjustments to
 

lux

Monkey
Mar 25, 2004
609
26
Wilmington, NC
bigwheel said:
I plan to ride it hard, but I don't know what spiking is...so maybe I'll be ok. :D
I had a Jr T. (similar internals) for a while. It was fine for a lot of stuff, but for fast DH runs, the spiking really beat the crap out of my upper body. A friend at Snowshoe kept referring to it as my Jackhammer T.

Spiking, if I had it explained to me correctly, is where the oil cannot cycle back and forth fast enough. So when you're hauling ass over really bumpy stuff, the fork pretty much locks up.
 

BrandonWatts

Monkey
May 4, 2005
190
0
raymond, WA
ok so here is a questoin the 888vf's have dual ssv system in them. would it be better to go with a super t that has hscv in one side and ssv in the other. i am looking to get a 888vf but if the super t is a smoother fork i go with them since there cheaper
 

preppie

Monkey
Aug 30, 2002
379
0
Europe
BrandonWatts said:
ok so here is a questoin the 888vf's have dual ssv system in them. would it be better to go with a super t that has hscv in one side and ssv in the other. i am looking to get a 888vf but if the super t is a smoother fork i go with them since there cheaper
The 888VF is a nice drop and jump fork, but it feels harsh at high speeds and fast stutter bumps.
The Super-T is noticable smoother at high speed.
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,126
7,674
Transylvania 90210
ssvf sux. imagine riding along and hitting a good sized bump at speed. your fork begins to compress as you would expect it. then your fork stops moving. you keep going, up an over the bars. it happens.

there are mods that can be made to help. they involve drilling out the cartridge. i never did it, but heard it helps. you can do a search for this modification and find more detail (maybe a step by step) on how it is done.

spend the extra money. get the better fork. if you don't have the money for the higher end version, then look at other brands. manitou's cheeper forks don't have this problem (but they might do other things you don't like).
 

AirAddict

Monkey
Jun 10, 2005
221
0
Asheville, NC
Handlebarsfsr said:
ssvf not a great system, and it never has been. its fine for dirt jumpers and such, but for a dh bike, its awful. it has a nasty spiking problem inherent to its desigh, that cant be fixed. the reason its oem on many bikes is because ssvf is super cheap compared to a hscv or compression cartridge, like in the rc forks.
have you ridden on a new 66VF or an 888VF? from that reply, my guess is no. I have ridden extensively on an 888VF and there is no spiking problem, and i ride the **** out of it. It still feels great at high speeds. I'd take it over my old super t anyday. Only thing that i don't like about it are external adjustements. but it's easy to adjust oil height, or change springs with this fork, and you can have it set up perfect. Sure, i'd love to have an RC, but the VF is still a really fricking nice fork.
 

bigwheel

Monkey
May 24, 2004
119
4
Canada
Thanks for all the info. Most bikes in the price range that I'm considering come with the VF. I suppose that if I didn't like it, I could always replace it with something else later on. Although it's good to know that I can make a few necessary adjustments that will probably make it work fine. Just seems crazy to go through the hassle of selling a $1000 fork to get a $1200 fork.

AirAddict - what don't you like about the external adjustments?
 

snoopz666

Monkey
Dec 24, 2004
248
0
now residing in kamloops
AirAddict said:
have you ridden on a new 66VF or an 888VF? from that reply, my guess is no. I have ridden extensively on an 888VF and there is no spiking problem, and i ride the **** out of it. It still feels great at high speeds. I'd take it over my old super t anyday. Only thing that i don't like about it are external adjustements. but it's easy to adjust oil height, or change springs with this fork, and you can have it set up perfect. Sure, i'd love to have an RC, but the VF is still a really fricking nice fork.
i have to dissagree with you on this, as nice as the vf feels as a hucking fork, theres is a problem with spiking, i never noticed this untill some of the faster runs at whister, sunpeaks, and tabor(my local lift accesible hill) but it is there, and very noticeable. you just have to be going fast enough.