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Submitted by
Andy
a Racer
from UK
Date Reviewed: April 13, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$980.00 | | Purchased At: | well £495 in 1997 | | Strengths: | Perfectly smooth, very sensitive, perfect for Dual slalom, full use of travel. Very good all round fork, but not for going up hills - suck the energy out of you! freeriding, 4X, although todays forks come with more travel. Oil + dust seals last forever! Dust seals work to perfection! An exremely well made fork! Up there with todays Marzocchis. | | Weaknesses: | There is a compatibility issue for disc brakes, I just tried putting some new shimano XT Discs on mine. The IS standard mount changed after these forks were released, therefore todays IS mount adapters do not fit on the forks. Unless you have some Hope disc breaks or an IS mount from 1997/1998 then you will have to use V- brakes. | | Similar Products Used: | 1998 Z1 BAM | | Bike Setup: | Azonic DS1 (original) frame, Z1 1997s, Halo Tornado rims, XT hubs, Azonic double wall bars, Roox stem, Middleburn cranks, Flite titanium saddle, Kenda tyres. Attempting to put discs on... | | Bottom Line: | At the end of the day, these forks made history! I see young lads up at the course riding new 2006 Z1s, dirt jumper forks etc...Z1 97's do everything you need them to do, except XC! I have had these forks for 10 years now, and they still work better, smoother and more sensitive than todays ones. I feel that with marzocchi forks today you cant really be sure with what you are getting, but 9/10 years ago, everybody new that the Z1s were the best, and that you new they would be almost indestructable, even the pros admit that very few forks over the last decade can compare to the 97 Z1s! If marzocchi re-released these forks, with the updated disc mount, then the Z1s would set the standard again, like they did so brilliantly 10 years ago. So dont waste £500 on a set of brand new bombers, get hold of some 1997 Z1s for £100 and you will be laughing your head off all the way down the course! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gore 2000
a Weekend Warrior
from the continent
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | moto | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Strengths: | Smooth response, reliable | | Weaknesses: | I changed to heavy springs a few years ago and over the course of one summer, the ETA quit working. | | Similar Products Used: | Z2, Manitou 2, 66VF. | | Bike Setup: | Single speed with trail riding components | | Bottom Line: | Excellent fork. Mine never leaks oil, works almost flawlessly (see ETA problem above), and feels great. I don't mind the eta problem because I climb better with suspension anyway. Fork occasionally bottoms out (I'm ~170lbs.), but I have to be doing something X-country stupid to reach its travel limit. Fork is a little flexy, but any fork that isn't probably doesn't belong on a xc bike.
I completely recommend this fork to anyone that rides trails, even with the occasional natural drop. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
greg
a
from seattle
Date Reviewed: February 3, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | It's 9 years old and it works great. | | Weaknesses: | Can't really find any. It's 9 years old and it works great. | | Similar Products Used: | Variety of Marzocchi, RS, and Fox forks | | Bike Setup: | IRO Highlander singlespeed | | Bottom Line: | I needed a fork for a low-budget singlespeed, so I picked up a '97 Z1 Bomber with leaky seals for 40 clams on eBay. Changed the oil, put in some Enduro seals. Total expenditure 65 bucks. Also I had to scrape out the gummi-bear-like remains of the top-out elastomers and replace them with some random springs from another old Marzocchi. I think that maybe one of the damping cartridges is still clogged with the gummi stuff, but boy, this is a nice fork. It's not exactly light, but it's super responsive and has a nice soft landing towards the end of the travel. Not many adjustments, but I don't need to adjust anything, it works great with the stock springs. Conclusion: mountain bike fork technology was pretty much perfected by 1997. Buy an old Z1 and save your money for some nice disc brakes. By the way, this fork has two disc mounts, one on each side. It looks like you're supposed to run dual discs. Is this normal? Where the hell do you get a mirror-image caliper for the right leg? What about a hub that takes two rotors? How do you not kill yourself as soon as you hit the brakes? It's not like you've got 800 pounds of Honda Goldwing here to hold you down. What were they thinking? | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chris
a Cross Country Rider
from NorCal
Date Reviewed: January 24, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Downieville Butchers-3rd Divide | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | http://www.universalcycles.com/ | | Strengths: | durable, stiff, metallic ETA lever, dual coil | | Weaknesses: | 5.7#(?), does not use all 130mm of travel, even ever a 3~4' jump. initally had 105mm of travel, sent the Z1 to factory for warrenty work ($70 for shipping, four weeks), came back at 135mm travel. | | Similar Products Used: | '97 AtomBomb 70mm, '03 MX Comp ETA 100mm (one sided coil spring) | | Bike Setup: | Kona Lavadome steel, 8" rotor Hope M4, 2.5" & 2.0 UST tires, titanium handlebar & seatpost. UST rear wheel.
<27~28#. | | Bottom Line: | I use the ETA lever on road climbs toward end of an exhausting ride, where the reduced travel and increased stiffness helps (psychologically, more or less) to sprint over the hills. on dirt, i leave the ETA open for a full range. It's like having two forks in one... in performance wise and in weight wise...
I wanted a plush fork for all around xc trail riding that i can rely on...and my Z1 ETA QR delivers.
And when the going gets rough, the tough fork gets going, big time.
I like to climb, but I love the descends, fast and rough: 5" Z1, 8" M4 disk, and 2.5" WTB tires are fun and assuring combination.
The 2006 Z1 versions may be a tab lighter, if that matters to you.
130mm~150mm Z1 forks are among the best xc forks. As long as you're not a serious xc racer that may wish to have a Sid or a Fox 100, Z1s are the "bomb." | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom Gramp
a Cross Country Rider
from South Jersey
Date Reviewed: November 24, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Fairhills DE | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$359.00 | | Purchased At: | Online | | Strengths: | Plush, ECC is nice a feature | | Weaknesses: | Creaking sound comes from the crown. Rides low in its travel. Has excessive amount of stiction after 6 months. | | Bottom Line: | This fork is great. I like it except it rides low in its travel. I have a Psylo that is on another bike. It ramps up nicer than the Psylo but is not a plush as the Z1. The Z1 shows alot of stiction which cannot be smoothed out(Teflon spray and such). I am 200lbs and 5'11" and ride aggresive fast single track. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Aaron Cisco
a Weekend Warrior
from Peterborough Ontario Canada
Date Reviewed: June 18, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | Fontains Sport and Cycle | | Strengths: | Nice and stiff, not too much travel, cool looking, proof. | | Weaknesses: | Super Bad disk mounts mine broke off doing an endo hope it was a fluke, got new ones workes fine | | Similar Products Used: | Rock shock jetts I know they are not the same, and bunch of bad ones crappy tire bikes lol | | Bottom Line: | Very good shock not to pricy great for free riding | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike Schelske
a Weekend Warrior
from Aberdeen South Dakota
Date Reviewed: November 23, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | Dakota Outdoors | | Strengths: | Stiff,Plush,Tracks Well,ECC Rocks,nice range of adjustments | | Weaknesses: | The Cryofit crown started makeing noise, but that can be fixed by poaring lock tight in between the stanchions and the crown | | Similar Products Used: | none like this | | Bike Setup: | Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo, Aavid Mechanical Disk, XT, Z1, TiTec | | Bottom Line: | This fork kicks ass for what it was made for. It can handel some of the roughest trails and come back asking for more. If your looking for quality 5" trave fork that will take beatting. This is a good choice.
I just wouldn't sugest this fork to someone that is worried about saving weight on their bike or someone that races. But other then that Its a great all around fork | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
F*ckEN H*ckEN
a Downhiller
from toronto canada
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | anything with stunts, jumps etc. | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | aj's cycle in stowe vermont | | Strengths: | really plush, not a rockshox, greatest single crown fork ever, really stiff with the QR20 dropouts, smooth,oh and plush by the way, did i mention it was plush | | Weaknesses: | nothing | | Similar Products Used: | shivers, monster t's, judy- xc's c and races, stratos s7, super t's physlo's (pieces o' junk) | | Bike Setup: | Rocky mountain reaper frame, hayes 8 inch discs, sram 9.o sl drive train, THE fender, double wide rims, other big stuff | | Bottom Line: | the greatest fork ever, inch per pound lighter then a SID, f*cken plush, strong, bloody strong actually, really plush, bomb-proof, buy this fork right now, get off the computer and buy it good | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Keith Elliott
a
from Newbury Park, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: October 26, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Purchased At: | Michael's Bikes | | Strengths: | Stiff, real springs, real damping controls, ECC | | Weaknesses: | Price (only had to buy it once) and weight (I couldn't care less) | | Bike Setup: | Orange Sub-5, CrossRoc UST wheels, XT/XTR | | Bottom Line: | Update to my past eview, where I had the fork installed on a Giant NRS. When I finally got my Orange frame I added the 5" springs to the fork, and put in an ECC cartridge as well. The ECC locks out the rebound, so the fork stays at the bottom of it's travel when you flip the switch. This is easily worth at least one gear while climbing, and gives tons of steering precision on really steep climbs. The whole bike goes down hills like no "cross country" bike has a right to, covers miles efortlessly, and still weighs 29 lbs. with a Pazzazz downhill bar and stem. That's with 5" travel on both ends and hydraulic discs, mind you.
As for the ECC-other brands are doing variable travel forks, and my buddy that owns a shop has gotten about half returned that he's sold, with stripped or broken bits inside the adjustment mechanism. He say he's NEVER had a Marzocchi warranty claim. And unlike compression lockouts, big hits are acting against the springs themselves, not the valving in the compression damping circuit. There's a special bottom-out spring in the Bomber, so it don't blow up if you forget to flip the lever back. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
stephen cameron
a Cross Country Rider
from tasmania
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | myrtle gulley | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$700.00 | | Purchased At: | treadlies kingston | | Strengths: | plush 5 inches of travel - absolutely silky smooth and irons out everything in your way. nice and stiff - tracks really well. also have had zero maintenance and trouble from this fork | | Weaknesses: | my z1 mcr is the 2001 model with the lockout on the travel - great for hillclimbs and road sprints etc BUT i find when locked out, the rim is bent towards the opposite side to the lockout (which is only on the left side of the fork) making it impossible to run the brakes (xt v's) nice and close to the rim (ie it rubs when locked out. i've even had some huge washers made up for the hub (equivalent to 20mm axle) to try and make it stiffer but still to no avail. i'd really be interested to hear from anyone who has had or overcome this problem. | | Similar Products Used: | mozo pros | | Bike Setup: | dodsun frame (firepower), xt components, rhynolite rims. | | Bottom Line: | awesome freeride fork. perhaps a little heavy for cross country racing. watch out for movement of the rim when using the lockout. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Justin Hampton
a Cross Country Rider
from Flagstaff, Arizona USA
Date Reviewed: August 13, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$420.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Loft | | Strengths: | Plush travel, super stiff. I have yet to bottom it out. | | Weaknesses: | The lockout on mine leaks off but it's no big deal. | | Similar Products Used: | Judy XC, Girvin Elite | | Bike Setup: | GT I-drive, Z1 MCR, Race Face cranks, Shimano xt everything else. Odi grips | | Bottom Line: | This isn't the fork for the gram-counting cc riders on the steel frame hardtails. No this fork is for hucking, for fast sections where you need your fork to track right without flexing all over, for pushing you into trying things you never knew you had the skills to do. It's consistent in ride and always asking for more. If this fork was a female, I'd ask her out. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Balboa
a Downhiller
from Boulder, CO
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$340.00 | | Purchased At: | got a pro deal | | Strengths: | super stiff, super plush, ECC is dope for technical climbs, 5.1 inches, SO MUCH FUN | | Weaknesses: | huh? | | Similar Products Used: | '99 Marzocchi Z-1 Alloy | | Bike Setup: | GT XCR-1000, XTR/XT w/ LX shifters, Sun Rhyno Lite Rims laced to XTR hubs, Thomson stem and post, Easton Monkey Bar, CK headset, 2.4 WTB Motoraptor tires, and of course a Z-1 MCR | | Bottom Line: | this fork is dope, prefectly balances my 4.6 inches of rear travel, so if you're looking for a relatively light, long travel fork, this is it. You may think climbing with 130mm of travel is difficult, but when you're able to lock out the rebound and decrease the travel to 2 inches, there's no problem at all. The absolute BEST single crown fork out there...no complaints here. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Josh Novis
a
from Montreal, Canada
Date Reviewed: May 30, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Bromont | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$450.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Stiff, looks good, PLUSH, MCR lockout is sweet. | | Weaknesses: | I weigh 180lbs and the medium springs suck. I bottom this fork out on anything higher than 3'. | | Similar Products Used: | none in a single crown! | | Bike Setup: | Kona Explosif 853, full XT, Azonic Shorty, Race Face Low Riser, Avid Arch Rivals, Salsa QR, XT Disc Hubs on Rhynolytes, Race Face Turbine LP's, big ol 2001 Z1 MCR | | Bottom Line: | The medium springs suck, royally! And it sucks to not be able to buy them with heavy springs already installed. Now I have to spend more money to get new springs so I don't ruin the fork. You should be able to order the fork with the necessary springs. Anyway other than that it is super plush, stiff, and great tracking. The guy who has 200mm (8") rotors on his fork should never have put them on anything other than a 20mm axle. Duh the crown can't handle the forces. A 6" rotor will be fine on the standard dropouts. It sounds like there is a defect in the stauncions pressed into the crown of his fork. I ride with a couple of guys who ride 6" rotors on standard dropouts and they have nothing but praise for the fork! The 130mm of travel is sweet and rolls over everything.
I only give this fork full rating when it is DIALED IN. If the travel is too stiff or too soft the fork sucks (as will any fork!) I highly recommend everyone saving up for the 2001 Z1 MCR. It is the best single crown on the market! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
shawn
a Cross Country Rider
from santa cruz
Date Reviewed: May 26, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | mailbox | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | Another Bike Shop | | Strengths: | Great plush travel makes me more than I am. Feels solid. 3 inch lock out point is great for the long climbs; road sprints. | | Weaknesses: | Servcie. Marzocchi sucks on this front. An O=ring went out on my for during month two so I went in for repair. Somehow the fork was lost in being shipped back to the bike shop. Marzocchi would not issue a new fork until they figured out what to do. Its been about 6 weeks now and I'm still w\o my basically new $600 fork. I called them on a Friday and was told they'd be getting a check from UPS and would probably ship a new replacment out on the following Monday as if somehow I should have to wait (forkless) while this mess gets worked out. The week passed and nothing ever showed up. The bike shop is a confused and dissapointed as I am. I guess you would have thought I'd have leaned with my 1st Z1 being shipped \ built by Marzocchi without the topout springs installed on my four inch build Z1. Everything I read about the Psylo and the service of RockShox has me looking in that direction because this really sucks! | | Similar Products Used: | 2000 Z1 CR (4 &5); 2001 Z1 MCR | | Bike Setup: | SC Chamelon; SC SuperLite. | | Bottom Line: |
A good product is more than the sum total of its performance and cool factor. We ride and we ride hard so things do fail and then we are at the mercy of the customer servcie department and I'm not convinced Marzocchi has one. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jens
a Downhiller
from Muenster, Germany
Date Reviewed: April 18, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Buhl Bikes in Germany | | Strengths: | long travel since it's a single crown fork; perfect suspension performance; price | | Weaknesses: | durability | | Similar Products Used: | Judy 100, Jr T | | Bike Setup: | Specialized FSR, Z1 MCR, Hayes, Mavic D521, XT-stuff, ... | | Bottom Line: | OK, the rating needs to be explained: The performance of this fork is fantastic. No comparison to the Judy100! Rebound-adjustment works pretty good. So if you're not going THAT big, take this fork.
But after 6 months of riding and only 2 months using a Hayes with the 200mm-rotor the fork is scrap... :( The whole unit of the crown needs to be replaced including the stanchions since the stanchions cause noise in the crown because of a material defect when braking (I'm sorry I don't know the correct english terms for that).
This fork definitly does not like tough braking and especially nose wheelies...
Important: I recommend to take only the QR 20-version if you want to use a disc brake! Not only because of the durability but also because of the stiffness!
The rating is for the normal Quick-Release model only. 5 chilis for beeing the best looking single-crown fork on the market. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
ryan
a
from uk
Date Reviewed: March 16, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | the amount of travel, the quality of travel, the strength, looks nice on my bike, cope with more on the trail than i can, which is cool | | Weaknesses: | ok, its a little heavy, specially because im light, but you know, compromises and stuff | | Similar Products Used: | rockshox. not impressed | | Bike Setup: | zaskar with xt mavic wheels with nice yellow hubs and z1s | | Bottom Line: | exceptional travel and strength
it will improve whatever riding you do | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andrew Cooke
a Downhiller
from United Kingdom
Date Reviewed: March 4, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Cove | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | www.supercycles.co.uk | | Strengths: | Silky smooth, you can't bottom them out, look the mutts nuts! | | Weaknesses: | Weaknesses? | | Similar Products Used: | RST Mozo Pro's, RST 281, Rock Shox Indy S, Marzocchi Jr T. | | Bike Setup: | Coyote Dual, Hope Disc, Hope/Mavic Wheels, Azonic bits. | | Bottom Line: | BUY THIS FORK. It gives you so much confidence! It makes you ride better without a doubt. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
David Neiles
a Downhiller
from Annapolis, MD
Date Reviewed: February 27, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | Patapsico State Park | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | my boss at the bike shop i work at | | Strengths: | Straight up da bomb. plush, smooth, like butter, etc. | | Weaknesses: | are you kidding. what a bomber Z1, a weakness. hell no | | Similar Products Used: | rock shock pyslo xc, sid xc | | Bike Setup: | 4 banger xtr, king, hayes, hugi.da bomb | | Bottom Line: | They best fork ever made for free riding. I can't believe it not, no wait, it is butter. Like $500+ butter, but the down right best butter i have owned. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TLtheHun
a Weekend Warrior
from Mountain View, CA
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2001 | | Favorite Trail: | the ones that go downhill | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$438.00 | | Purchased At: | Supergo | | Strengths: | damping control and adjustability, serviceability, no plastic anywhere except for spring seat | | Weaknesses: | weight, I guess, although this might be the practical minimum weight for a 100mm travel fork that works, is durable and doesn't cost $1000; duplicating fork with lighter metals would surely get the weight down and the price up | | Similar Products Used: | 98 Judy SL | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Heckler | | Bottom Line: | My 2000 Z.1 CR arrived with a broken topout spring and the oil level at 70mm, low by 20mm according to the specified standard of 50mm.
I had removed the cap assemblies to confirm that the red “heavy” springs were in my fork and found that paint had flaked off into the oil and that the oil level was low (70mm). Damping was unaffected by the seemingly low oil level and it may be that Marzocchi is sending them out with lower oil levels to make more of the travel accessible to more riders as a lower oil level will reduce the overall spring rate.
At that point, I decided to disassemble as far as practical, flush the internals and refill with Redline synthetic 5-weight @ 50mm in both legs. That’s when I found the broken topout spring. There was no sign of the 1 ½ coil that had broken off so it must have been assembled with a broken spring.
After a few emails to Marzocchi’s tech department, each of which was returned the next business day, I had a new pair of topout springs within a week. Excellent communication and service.
This fork replaces a ’98 Judy SL with which I’ve had no mechanical problems but has poor damping characteristics, limited adjustability and very limited tuneability with too little rebound damping that meant that it took a few cycles for the bike to settle after a jump or hard corner entry. Lent no confidence. It was light for a coil fork at 1512 grams (3.33 lbs) with about 190mm of steerer and a Chris King lower race.
My 2000 Z.1 CR with “satin” sliders weighs 2102 grams (4.624 lbs) with about 190mm of steerer, 50mm oil height and a Chris King lower race so I added almost 1.3 pounds which seemed like a horrible amount of weight to add but the added weight is nothing in
comparison to the instant increase in confidence that I now have in the front end and the
fork is working as POORLY as it’s ever going to. The bushings and seals still need to break-in and all I did with setup was set the preload to zero, open the compression all the
way and adjusted the rebound until it felt about right.
Climbing is something I have to do not want to do so I was prepared to live with whatever difficulty would be added by the Z.1. Again, it hasn’t been a big deal. Between the stiff springs resisting compression and topout springs resisting extension, the fork bobs very little with my climbing style which is standing (saving my balls and my personal Hungarian sausage for something infinitely better than riding UP another F’in hill) and chugging along in the biggest gear that I can sustain easily. If anything, the added weight of the Z.1 compared to the Judy is helping more to keep the front end down than it is hurting by pushing more weight. In fact, with the Z.1 my Heckler carries 50% of its 27.0 lb weight on the front wheel.If I find it to be too front-heavy, I’ll buy a shorter stem (105mm x 10 now).
With my Heckler and 170# weight, the only setup change I've made to the rest of the bike was to install a 350# shock spring in place of the #300 to balance the bike and raise the rear end a little for cornering.
These forks are easy to service and tune and return excellent control and steering precision. Customer service has been excellent. Downloaded tech and tuning manuals are clear and informative.
Allowing a broken topout spring to make it into my fork is obviously bad quality control but luckily I found it and it wasn’t a big deal for me. I would recommend to anyone that buys these or any other coil Marzocchi fork to take steel wool or Scotchbrite and remove the marking paint from the main springs to keep the paint out of the oil, valving and bushings.
I'm giving 5's because this fork is easy to work on, just plain works and has brought trust to my front end, without which I may as well go back to riding motorcycles.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rich
a Downhiller
from Ringwood, England
Date Reviewed: November 6, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | All of them as long as the jumps are big | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Bicycle world in home town | | Strengths: | These forks are ace, they take out all the bumps really well small or big. Only ever bottomed them ot once and that was doing a 12 foot drop off on my hard tail an dboy did it hurt. | | Weaknesses: | none are you mad | | Similar Products Used: | Judy 100, JRT's, Drop offs, boxxers, MX6's, Z3, Z5, the list goes on | | Bike Setup: | Orande Air O, Z1's blacke spire, XT, Azonic, Tioga, Fire Pro DH's, Hope up the front | | Bottom Line: | These forks are the best you can buy and i wound not by any thing else escept for a pair of shivers. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Auto (HARDCORE)
a Downhiller
from OREM, UT
Date Reviewed: November 6, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Rock Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Aardvark | | Strengths: | Small and big bumps. It will make it Fell like you riding a Cadillac with the Northstar system. Strong and can take one hell of a beating. | | Weaknesses: | hmmmmm..... Let me think....... NO!!!!! duh!!! | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | Race Face bars, stem, cracks, chainrings and seat post. SRAM 9.0 grip shift setup, Sun Rhino light rims, Coda expert hubs. Avid Arch Rival 4.0. | | Bottom Line: | This shock kicks ass and for downhilling there is nothing better!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave E
a Downhiller
from UK
Date Reviewed: November 1, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$550.00 | | Purchased At: | Julie's cycles | | Strengths: | cant bottom it, smooth once worn in, looks v. good. 4"-5" travel option. easy to change main springs | | Weaknesses: | poor finishing, (machining around legs is uneven, scrapes on bottom of legs, poor polishing around brake pivots) set up for heavy riders, not enough range of adjustment in the compression damping, takes ages to bed-in. even after putting in softer springs, i don't get the full benefit of all the travel. changing travel option requires lots of messing with oil. quite pricey, but hey, this is the best single crown coil sprung they made in 2000. | | Similar Products Used: | Judy XC, which is plusher for someone of my weight (150lbs) | | Bike Setup: | 99 FSR comp, '00 Z1CR, Hope O2 | | Bottom Line: | Good, but could be improved for the benefit of those who aren't quite so hefty. The best way this could be done would be to provide a greater range of compression damping, so an oil change isn't required to get a fast enough compression stroke. The adjustability of rebound is cool. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Flentye
a Cross Country Rider
from Redding, CA
Date Reviewed: October 27, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | The Chimney | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$550.00 | | Purchased At: | The Chain Gang, Redding,CA | | Strengths: | Absorbs the trail for my 275 pounds on my 35 pound Giant WarpDS2 | | Weaknesses: | none other than won't pull me uphill | | Similar Products Used: | low end suntour m80 that did little good. | | Bike Setup: | Giant WarpDS2 with all new frame & componets because I have broken everything. Handle bars, stem, brakes and shifters are orginal. | | Bottom Line: | I use all five inches of travel of the Z1 to keep me from flying off my bike. I've slamed that fork hard and it has not failed, yet. The Z1 greatly improved the bikes performance. Now I ignore most obstacles. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Carey
a Downhiller
from Shottisham
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Ufford | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Everything, there is nothing that you can fault on these things. If everything else is bust on your bike, you will always know that these babies will be there soaking everything up. I've jumped them and DS, DH and they have worked perfectly. | | Weaknesses: | The shop that serviced them recently had a problem with them, but the whole way through Windwave said they would give me new ones if they couldn't fix them | | Similar Products Used: | JNr t | | Bike Setup: | Zaskar, L&M cranks, full XTR, Z1's and Mavic | | Bottom Line: | The dogs bolloks, strong as an Ox
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sam
a Weekend Warrior
from Portsmouth, England
Date Reviewed: August 26, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | Q.E. Country Park | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Good Design
Strong
Very Active
No Stiction
2 Disc Mounts [ on 97 ] | | Weaknesses: | Nothing Much .... Seals Die After a Year Of Hard Riding
can't fit 3 " tyres | | Similar Products Used: | Z3 | | Bike Setup: | Giant ATX 990
Hope Pro 4 Pot Front Disc
Magura Rear
Shimano XT / XTR Parts
Azonic Stem
Club Roost Hardcore XT Bars
Big Un Hubs
D 321 and D 521 Rims
Michelin Wildgripper DH Tyres | | Bottom Line: | |
|
$ 649.00
