Submitted by
nepernesu
a Weekend Warrior
from ohio
Date Reviewed: December 8, 2008
Strengths: SOLID! plus, the air assist can make it realy stiff, the rebound works well(for all those who think otherwise-CHANGE FORK OIL)
Weaknesses: umm...it is a bit heavy?
Bottom Line:
this thing works as decribed-dj and freeride.while not the lightest, this fork can take some abuse! adding air(40 psi each leg) makes it stiff enough to do anything you have balls to do! the crown looks funny, but i dont mind, ride instead. even though i bought it used, it surprised me with the stiffness and tight tracking on trails. good stuff, except the looks
Strengths: Plush top end and turns ultra stiff after first 2.5 inches makes it awesome on trails, and good for drops, jumps and urban assault. 20 mm thru axle should be on every bike. Oh, sweet decals too.
Weaknesses: Stupid dropout retention system; the flappy doo-dads tend to break, which Marzocchi says is fine but still makes me nervous...Wouldn't be such a big deal except that replacement kit runs $70.
Bottom Line:
Very nice fork, don't be intimidated by its age, but the stupid dropout things can be a pain to replace. It's at home on Gnarly rides with hardtails and does most stuff well.
Similar Products Used: dIRT JUMPER 1, 2, 3, 4, AND MARZOCCHI AM4
Bike Setup: .243 with double track rims and e. thirteen chainguide/bashguard package.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Mikko
a Weekend Warrior
from Anchorage
Date Reviewed: May 17, 2006
Weaknesses: Internals are made of plastic
Bottom Line:
These forks fell apart in mid air (the plastic internals cracked over time) and I broke 4 bones in my face as a result. I have a lifetime of dental work and my teeth will never look real. I would suggest you avoid ANY Marzocchi product based on the way they lied to me in order to convince me to send them the forks, then told me to screw off.
Strengths: look nice feel nice ride goon not had eny probs with toping out ot botteming out perfect amount of travel so prity good
Weaknesses: well. im 13 in age im 7 ston in waight an some how to my amasment ,you now that big ass crown whell some how id craced it in 2 places and cos id been using it for dirt jumpin i cold not have a refund ,what ar they on about ther cald dirt jumpers,so i did some resurch an fuond out jou cold weld them,so weld them i did and iv not had no problems sins.
Bottom Line:
all together ther a lovly pice of enginering but my 1 frend cract all mounting 3 crown within a mount of buying them and my other frend has cract mxcomp eta 12o mill ad we liv in a small town so dont get eng marazoci with the same crown as d j 3's oh ye 66 rc have a difrent crown inside ther alot beefeer so fiel free to get some 66 rc ther mity srong and light ther the same waght as dj 3s but a bit over priced back to d j 3's 1 sentonc ther grate lovely perfict balanced nice but DONT GET THEM
Similar Products Used: marazochi m x comp 2001's lovly pair of forks best pair i ownd
Bike Setup: "24 bicicals letoy 4" dirt jumper 3 snafu cranks singal speen 26 inch mavic d521 "i now i need 24 inch atomlabbs or somthing like that hope mono miny front and back and hone exserary and allso an oversise fsa head set im doing prity good for a 14 year old
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Dennis
a Racer
from North Van., BC, Canada
Date Reviewed: June 9, 2005
Strengths: dam sweet, black stantions, feel like dorados, can handle 20 foot drops without bottoming, ride very very smooth, perfect for any kind of riding (i dh race on them) 5 inches of travel is perfect.
Weaknesses: none really
Bottom Line:
these are freakin sweeet forks and im never gettin rid of them, they can hanle whistler like nothin(i go very very fast) and still feel the same. u can put air in for dirt jumping. the 03 model IS THE BEST OF THEM ALL!!!
Favorite Trail: dirt merchant and crack addict at whislter
Duration Product Used: 1 Year
Price Paid:
$300.00
Purchased At: Directly from Norco (destroyed old Z1s)
Similar Products Used: jrts (dj 1s are better) 01 z1 drop offs that i snapped
Bike Setup: 04 stinky with dj 1s, SINGLESPEED (cuz deraillers piss me off!!!) 5th element rear shock, minion tires, double wide back rim, single track front
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
bryan christensen
a Weekend Warrior
from so lake tahoe ,ca
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2005
Strengths: super ajustable, realy strong and looks badass
Weaknesses: not enough travel, needs another inch, then it would be kick'n
Bottom Line:
this fork is the heat, riding pretty good on weekend for last 2 years with the thing on a down hill frame, man I love how much I can throw the front end around, all I did was pump up the air preload to about 7 pounds and it handles. Just did an 8' to flat and it didn't bottom out, although it might be the rider too. Overall, the best fork I ever had, I prefer it over my shiver for down hill. Sucks up the bumps enough and handles the turns like a champ. Got my eye on that marzochi 66 though, I think long travel single crown is the way to go, save some weight and have more fun.
Bike Setup: 01 stinkynine, 03 dj1, fox vanilla rc rear, sun mamath front, sun double wide rear, sram rear derailleur, mrp chain guid, maxxis mobster ruber 2.7, azo bars
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
che guevara
a Weekend Warrior
from corona,california,amreica
Date Reviewed: June 17, 2004
Strengths: looks cool and burly good travel pretty stiff and gives you confidence on jumping some gaps and stuff
Weaknesses: the god damn rebound knob i can't feel it working i cranked it out to it's max setting and it feels like nothing
Bottom Line:
overall it's a good product a little heavy but i like it good cardio workout. and besides it's designed to be in a gravity sled so it's supposed to be heavy yeah but the qr20 thing is really stupid but it's all about corporate stuff nothing you can do
Bike Setup: haro extreme x1 with saint cranks hope hubs xtr rear derr and stuff
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jeff Hatta
a Downhiller
from new england
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2004
Strengths: light weight for a fork built to survive, works well as protection upon landing but thats about it
Weaknesses: this is a dirt jumping fork and if you are STRICTLY a dirt jumper then i highly recomend this fork, but other wise steer clear. The dj came on my specialized bighit..im not quite shure why a downhill frame type has a dirt jumping fork but whatever, my dj is ripped apart, a 5ive footer to cement blew the seal apart. also a down hill race broke the cartrige in the left leg
Bottom Line:
if you go out on you're bike ONLY to hit dirt jumps w/ trannys this is an awsome fork, marzocchi has done its job by building a fork for dirt jumping. but other wise don't get this fork, its small pump responsiveness dosen't exist so thats it its good but only for a very niche group, the performance rateing of three is only for its lack of diversity
Weaknesses: LITTLE HEAVY, GET'S BEAT UP LOOKING QUICKLY AND EASILY, PAIN TO ADJUST, AND USELESS TO ADJUST
Bottom Line:
dECENT FOR A MID PRICED FORK, A LITTLE HEAVY, BUT STRONG, REBOUND ADJUST IS WORTHLESS, REALLY FLOWS SMOOTHLY, TRY IT OUT, FOR LIGHT FREERIDE/DOWNHILL, SMOOTH JUMPING, ANYTHING REALLY HARDCORE WILL DESTROY THESE FORKS, WAY TOO HEAVY FOR X-COUNTRY, BUT YOU KNEW THAT!!!
Submitted by
Alex
a Weekend Warrior
from Anchorage, AK
Date Reviewed: February 24, 2004
Strengths: Stiff, stiction-free, good damping,QR20
Weaknesses: its not for XC (mine weighs over 5lb.s with 8.5" steerer)
Bottom Line:
If you dont want to go to a dual crown, but don't mind the weight, go for it. I've landed on ledges on my dropouts and had only cosmetic damage, really. I went to QR20 because i kept breaking 9mm axles on the dj3. good, solid fork. 5in '04 is probably better, though.
Strengths: No doubt is a very stiff fork, it's great for big hits and i've even done downhill with it and no stress..
Weaknesses: Well, after 6 months of street, dirt jumping and other types of riding the crown started to crack..It's not just mine, I've seen another 3 djs like this, anyone with this problem too? the cracks are above the crown, starting in the fender holes
Bottom Line:
Well it's a very good fork, I used to have some psylos that broke and when I instaled the dj I just fell in love for the fork, you can fine tune the preload whith air which is useful. But now that it started to crack I don't know if the warrenty will cover it, I hope so..
Strengths: stiff, oversized stanctions, the air assist top caps, travel is very progressive for a 5 in travel fork, rarely bottmoms out, adjustible rebound, it looks black and very stealth
Weaknesses: QR20 plus quick release is a joke. Just another thing to break. spvv or whatever new damping cartrige is a joke. blows through the travel and tops out. the rebound adjustment is barely noticible with no compression adj. some excess stiction inherent in the fork. (heavy?)
Bottom Line:
1) marzzochi needs better customer support 2) they need to go back to using their old cartridges which are adjustible and accessible (similiar to the new 888) 3) Unnatural top out causes me to crash off jumps sometimes. worst top out problem (thats not really a problem) on any fork I have ever used. 3) Marzzochi needs to include a schematic drawing of the internals with measurements with new forks. Why make it mystery y'all? 4) I got a great deal on this fork online with a free hub for about 350. I rode the fork and have decieded its not worth it! even though it looks real cool. Im putting my old z-5 back on my bike and selling the DJ.
Strengths: The stiffness from the QR20 plus is awesome, it's great to feel that when you're on your nose alot doing nose manuels or nosepicks or whatever. I mainly ride dirt jumps and urban with a little park riding thrown in and it is fairly good for that. I have bottomed it out off a few drops but I think that most forks with 100 mm of travel would have bottomed out
Weaknesses: Well Marzocchi insists that this fork is made for dirt jumping, and "extreme" freeriding, and they show riders in some of their ads riding urban with it, but the funny thing for me was when I called in to let them know that the flaps to the QR20 plus had broken when riding urban they said that it wasn't covered under warrenty and that I shouldn't have been using my fork in that way. So since they said the same thing when I broke my two previous DJ2s I just shrugged and coughed up the 30 bucks for new flaps (which is a rip off). Then when they stripped out and fell off the second time when I was dirt jumping I called them again and again they said that it wasn't warrentied and that I'd have to pay for the parts, but the local bike shop was awesome about it and just gave the parts to me. So I think that if they market this fork to be a dirt jump/freeride/urban fork then they should stand behind it, and when people break it riding it in those elemants they shouldn't even hesitate in replacing it for you. Also the QR20 plus system with the flaps is just stupid, those things break too easily, I think that the manitou Hex axle and especially the Rockshox Tullio systems are FAR superior to the QR20 plus.
Bottom Line:
This fork is pretty good... so many people on this sit just go off about how amazing this fork is, but in my experince and other riders around here it's not that great of a fork, sure it's really one of the only forks that is supposedly made for that kind of riding, but my friend has been riding a fox vanilla for almost a year now and he rides just as hard as I do and he hasn't broken any flaps (because fox forks don't NEED some bullshift qr20 system) the only gripe he has is the play that everyone seems to experince with those foxes. Still I'd rather go with a fox or a sherman, even though the foxes arn't really made for freeriding or dirt jumping, they're made for more trail riding. Currently I'm saving for a Sherman Firefly while riding trials and hopefully that will be better suited for my style of riding. Sure Marzocchi makes good forks... I know alot of people swear by them, but all this is is my personal experince with them. Make your own decisions, if you want to run the DJ1 then go ahead, I'm not saying that any of this will happen to EVERY fork...
Similar Products Used: Dj2, z5, z4, z3, fox vanilla
Bike Setup: 2003 p.3 set up for dirt jumping and street
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
bent forkleg
a Weekend Warrior
from a pile of crap at the bottom of a stair gap
Date Reviewed: November 27, 2003
Strengths: its damn good looking
Weaknesses: i bent the fork leg
Bottom Line:
ok, this is my 3rd, YES THIRD!, dirt jumper in less than 6 months...i've tweeked 2 dj3's and then went with the dj1 thinking it would be different...so i overshot a stair gap and balled her up at the bottom..i got right back up but noticed the friggin fork legs were not aligned...DAMNIT!!!!
maybe i need a dc fork...but i dont want 7"s on a hardtail....anyway, if you ride around easy and dont crash hard..this fork will work for you...just dont crash hard on your front wheel.....BTW..my mavic d 321 wheel is still str8 as an arrow after this wreck....
Giday everyone,
I currently own a 05 Giant Rincon and im super keen to buy a dirt jumper, the bikes that i am looking at are:
[COLOR=Red]06 Giant STP Zero ($1900)
05 Specia Read More »
It's tough finding a used DJ frame or complete bike. Does anyone on here happen to have one that they would be willing to part with? Mainly looking for just a frame as I'm planning Read More »
I am thinking about getting a cheap DJ bike to mess around with my kids and learn so
me techniques that would hopefully transfer over to better trail skills. The two choices I ha Read More »
