Submitted by
james freerider
a Weekend Warrior
from basingstoke
Date Reviewed: April 27, 2005
Strengths: strong as anythin, if u treat them right they r as strong as monster t's. the crown is just sweet- its so stiff. travel is so so so so very plush! its great. it eats up bumps with ease they got perfect sping in them, they luv bunny hops.
Weaknesses: the fork legs do move if u dunt land right and the wheel moves even wen v tight. the oil wears fast and they scratch easy- ruins them exelent looks
Bottom Line:
great fork, perfect for what i do, they love stunting they are great to throw aroung but they need regular maintinance
Strengths: Damping, fairly light for a long travel fork, looks cool,
Weaknesses: Marzocchi warrenty dept!!, Stanchion snapped, little damping adjujstors on the bottom fall out easily
Bottom Line:
I loed this fork up until the day I borke it when i cased a 5foot double. not a really hard landing but too much for the Z1. I snapped the left side stanchion tube right below the crown. endo faceplante lots of fun. Anyway i take it to the LBS. My buddy down there calls marzocchi. The marzocchi guy laughs and says " we need to get him on a new fork." My buddy asks him what the repair cost will be and the marzocchi guy says "it aint worth it" then tells us that the repairs will be over 200 dollars. Sh** i can get another fork for that!! Marzocchi warrenty is only two years they offer crash replacement not free replacement within those two years unless the break is obviously their fault. This is not the kind of service I am used to with MTB comapnies. I dont buy my parts to be disposable. I expect to break things, I'm a 190lb dirt jumper but seriously I shouldnt have to replace the whole fork if I break it. I will not buy another Marzocchi fork I'm going to try manitou despite my previous experiences with them hopefully they will be better now.
Bike Setup: Kona scab, truvative, MRP, race face, sun double wides, ringle hubs, hope discs, sram shifter/derr
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Chris Giuliano
a Downhiller
from Australia
Date Reviewed: December 22, 2003
Strengths: All the strengths everyone else describes.
Weaknesses: Axle moves in drop-outs with sharp braking. Tyre clearance (my 2.6 Tioga White Tigers juuuust fit).
Bottom Line:
every other aspect of this fork is covered in all the many other reviews, but I was tossing up over whether to get the QR20 version and I didn't. This was a mistake. Even with an XTR skewer, if I hit the front brake sharply on asphalt, the wheel moves in the drop-out and the tyres now rubs on the arch. Spend the extra, get he QR20. Other than this small thing, these forks are magic.
Submitted by
Drew Gill
a Weekend Warrior
from Selkirk, Scotland
Date Reviewed: July 27, 2003
Strengths: Great fork lots of travel except factory setup is bad and forks were to soft.
Weaknesses: M arch over the top of the wheel crodes.
Bottom Line:
the best single crown forks on the market got mine for a bargan price of £230 on wiggle last year, the forks do bottom out very easily new springs and thicker oil was is in order but i am a heavy rider who does do some pritty stupid stuff. (try snaping a mavic 521 in half)the forks have withstanded ruff stuff and thats all you can ask for.
Submitted by
Niall Flinn
a Weekend Warrior
from London, UK
Date Reviewed: September 7, 2002
Strengths: Very very plush, easy to adjust and service.
Weaknesses: Not super light, bobs on out-of-the saddle climbs.
Bottom Line:
I borrowed these (2001 model) from a friend for a trip to the French Pyrenees, and I don't want to give them back! I wish I'd got my hands on some of these before! They alter the geometry of my bike a little, and they make climbing really steep stuff tricky, but it's easily worth it for the performance going down. I can't wait to slap on my Factory DH's and ride them in the boulder fields of the Peak District! I'm not a DH'er, or a "freerider" - I just like to ride hard and fast, and for that these are perfect. Also, the silver/black 2001 version looks great on my polished Heckler :)
Submitted by
carl
a Cross Country Rider
from bellingham, wa
Date Reviewed: August 22, 2002
Strengths: Stiff as all getout, w/QR20, nothing tracks better. It does its job so well, I don't even know it is there unless I'm climbing very slowly (bad) or dropping an 8 ft fall-away (good!).
Weaknesses: ya, right.
Bottom Line:
For the nasty and technical trails only the northwest can give, this "free rider's" fork deals with every inch of the mountain. It looks beautiful, slides predictably every time, and swallows deep. Get one.
Bike Setup: 2001 kona stuff, trailrider style w/ aformentioned fork and shimano clipless
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Submitted by
Peter
a Weekend Warrior
from North Shore, BC
Date Reviewed: July 24, 2002
Strengths: Fairly easy to take apart and repair. Plush when it works.
Weaknesses: Weak plastic valve disc in the valve body. Replaced 3 times already. One medium drop and "crack". Makes for no damping and a boingy shock. VERY flexy. Replacing bushings soon. Oil dirties fast. Change it often. Buy motorcycle oil from a motorcycle dealer to save coin on oil changes.
Bottom Line:
Ok for light trail/DH use. They used to use aluminum valves in the valve bodies and went to plastic a few years ago to save coin. These things are total crap. I replaced mine with a steel washer I custom sized to replace the plastic piece. Still playing with settings. Probably have to replace the pump rods too. I bought the bike used so who knows what happened to it before I owned it. Download the manual for these from Marzocchi, then you can fix them yourself.
Similar Products Used: Other Marzocchi, Phsylo, etc
Bike Setup: Kona Chute hardtail, 321 rims, hayes, etc.
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Submitted by
Jensen Fong
a Weekend Warrior
from Hong Kong
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2002
Strengths: it works as a suspension.....it's plush when using normal springs but it bottoms when i pedal while standing up..imagine going downhill...
Weaknesses: ---all these results are with the hard springs--- >the thing bottoms while going to the stairs...the most i got it the bottom was 5 times.. >the thing flexed a lot while regular braking.... >the thing actually "shrinked" and i lost 0.5 inch of travel total(as of now) >the bike is almost impossible to control(for me) when the thing is bottomed..the bike swings around very loose
Bottom Line:
it's not that good and it's not that bad the good thing is that it's plush....at least it was.... the bad is that it bottoms too easy, too much flex...the worst thing was that it shrinked!!!....how sad.. i will replace once i get enough money
Similar Products Used: my friends monster T....my friends boxxer 151....my friends manitou i dont know what model...my friends psylo xc and lots of other ones
Bike Setup: da bomb xlr8r with deore/xt-8 speed derailleur..hg-8 speed flywheel..xt shifters....specialized pedals...marcozchi z1 dropoff yr 2000
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Submitted by
Justin N
a Weekend Warrior
from B.C Canada
Date Reviewed: April 22, 2002
Strengths: 2000 lime green drop off, stiff springs, set at 4" Everything
Weaknesses: Nothing at all, a excellent fork
Bottom Line:
Excellent fork, recommend to all, Its Nice and stiff, it doesnt flex, its plush on the trails, and perfect for every kind of riding!