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Home | Product Reviews | 2007 Forks | Marzocchi All Mountain I SL | ||||
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Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Bend, OR
Date Reviewed: 5/8/2008 6:57:49 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $450 |
| Purchased At: | Industry deal |
| Strengths: | Very stiff fork, nice 20mm TA, reasonable weight, very smooth when working |
| Weaknesses: | Reliability |
| Similar Products Tried: | You name it: Pike, Lyrik, VAN 36, TALAS 36, Marz 66sl, Z1 SL |
| Bike Setup: | Ventana El Saltamontes, running 5/6" travel option |
| Bottom Line: | I purchaed this fork, as it had what I was looking for: reasonable weight, and wind-down travel from 160mm to 120mm. I would have been on an Air Lyrik U-turn if it existed, but that fork only comes in Coil U-turn, and the Pike is too short. TALAS 36 didn't have the essentially infinite adjustment. So, I ended up with an AM SL1 from Marzocchi. Great fork, for around 15 hours. Then, it went bad. Damping sucked, and the fork lost travel, just like everyone else's. The ATA unit had failed. Called Marzocchi (in August of 2007) and explained the problem (the fork had been out nearly a year) and told them what was happening. I was a bit angry, as this fork had reported problems for many months, and before I purchased it, I called them to make sure that, yes, those early production problems had been solved. When I called them back after my fork became dead, they acted like I was the first person ever to have needed warranty on this fork! Terrible service, and I was without a fork for 2 months. When I had a problem with a Fox, they had it back to me in 2 weeks. Picked up a different fork, and sold this one on Ebay as soon I got it back, losing a couple hundred $ in the process. Probably my last Marzocchi product.... |
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Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Bend, OR
Date Reviewed: 5/8/2008 6:57:49 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $450 |
| Purchased At: | Industry deal |
| Strengths: | Very stiff fork, nice 20mm TA, reasonable weight, very smooth when working |
| Weaknesses: | Reliability |
| Similar Products Tried: | You name it: Pike, Lyrik, VAN 36, TALAS 36, Marz 66sl, Z1 SL |
| Bike Setup: | Ventana El Saltamontes, running 5/6" travel option |
| Bottom Line: | I purchaed this fork, as it had what I was looking for: reasonable weight, and wind-down travel from 160mm to 120mm. I would have been on an Air Lyrik U-turn if it existed, but that fork only comes in Coil U-turn, and the Pike is too short. TALAS 36 didn't have the essentially infinite adjustment. So, I ended up with an AM SL1 from Marzocchi. Great fork, for around 15 hours. Then, it went bad. Damping sucked, and the fork lost travel, just like everyone else's. The ATA unit had failed. Called Marzocchi (in August of 2007) and explained the problem (the fork had been out nearly a year) and told them what was happening. I was a bit angry, as this fork had reported problems for many months, and before I purchased it, I called them to make sure that, yes, those early production problems had been solved. When I called them back after my fork became dead, they acted like I was the first person ever to have needed warranty on this fork! Terrible service, and I was without a fork for 2 months. When I had a problem with a Fox, they had it back to me in 2 weeks. Picked up a different fork, and sold this one on Ebay as soon I got it back, losing a couple hundred $ in the process. Probably my last Marzocchi product.... |
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Submitted by
Eduard
a Weekend Warrior
from Spain
Date Reviewed: 5/8/2008 1:44:00 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | Local dealer |
| Strengths: | Smooth, good ratio lightness/stiffness, adjustability. |
| Weaknesses: | A lot of problems, |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti 575 / 08 |
| Bottom Line: | A real disappointment, when the fork is not broken... it's really amazing!!, but it has too many problems |
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Submitted by
Nick
from Santa Ynez, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: 4/20/2008 8:02:18 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Romero Canyon |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $300 |
| Purchased At: | Blue Sky |
| Strengths: | Super squishy, lightweight and unbelievably adjustable. It's got that bottomless Marzocchi feel. |
| Weaknesses: | 10mm "dead zone" at the top of your sag setting. Takes a few big pushes to warm up. Initial stiction is pretty intense at the beginning of a ride. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Sherman Firefly. |
| Bike Setup: | 2004 Giant AC-1. Marzocchi Rocco coil. XT. |
| Bottom Line: | I was very hesitant to buy this fork after reading some of the less than favorable reviews below. But it seems as though I've lucked-out. If there is in fact a major difference between the quick release version and the regular thru axle, than the latter is definitely a huge improvement. After fine tuning the fork, which can be tough due to all the options, I'm really loving this bad boy. The ATA travel option is especially nice when climbing and can turn an all mountain rig into something appropriate for XC. The terrain-specific damping selector also works well; though I almost never use the last two, more rigid settings. The only really weird think about this fork is a dead feeling right at the top of where you set your sag. Going uphill it feels pretty funky and makes the fork seems less stiff than it actually is. Downhill, however, this feeling is unnoticeable. It feels super-plush and extremely stiff. All around a great fork if you have the patience to fiddle with it until you've found your most comfortable set-up. Not for people who want something tuned perfectly out of the box. |
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Submitted by
james howard
a Weekend Warrior
from Northumberland, UK
Date Reviewed: 4/12/2008 6:59:39 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Vancouver North Shore |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $1000 |
| Purchased At: | Activ Cycles |
| Strengths: | Good spec, in theory |
| Weaknesses: | Chronic unreliability |
| Similar Products Tried: | most fox, many Marzocchi |
| Bike Setup: | Comencal Meta 5 team |
| Bottom Line: | Before I start, I'd like to declare a long held loyalty to 'zocchi forks - downhill, freeride,xc - I've loved most I've had. BUT... These forks have wrecked that brand loyalty. They came as OE kit on my Comencal Meta Team. First of all they felt nice - a pain to set up as the suggested pressures are so wrong its laughable, but felt great. Then I go riding and my mate goes "are they only 120mm's?" "no", says I but then I look and oh yes, they've lost travel. So, off they come and back to 'zocchi UK (for 6 weeks!!) who suposedly fix the problem. Now the fork wont compress, so I check the pressures and they have them ramped way up, so I slacken them off and go ride, but now they won't make full travel, whatever pressure I try. So, they're off again - more waiting I expect. Totally weak for any fork, yet alone a top end one and zocchi cleary can't fix them as the ne 55's have the same problem. Also, very poor customer service. What are zocchi doing turning this sort of tat out onto the market? It seems that since production went to the far east, quality has plumeted, but the prices have increased! I'm back to Fox and reluctantly Rock shox. |
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Submitted by
Pac Man
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: 2/13/2008 6:36:21 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $703 |
| Purchased At: | Bicycle Warehouse |
| Strengths: | Relatively light for how beefy it is and for the amount of travel. |
| Weaknesses: | Decals came off when I removed protective plastic. Positive and negative chambers constantly lose air. ATA travel adjust dials itself down on downhill sections. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Fox TALAS |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti 575 |
| Bottom Line: | This fork is the biggest piece of crap I have ever owned. The decals came off when I removed the protective plastic when I first got the fork. No big deal I know, but it was a sign of things to come. The Positive and Negative air chambers constantly lost air for the first couple months. But by far the biggest issue is the ATA travel adjust dials itself down on downhill sections. As little as 5mm and as much as the entire 40mm of adjustment. Marzocchi has "fixed" this problem 5 times already, including replacing the ATA cartridge 3 times. I got it back 2 weeks ago after the 5th "fix" and everything was working fine until today. It dialed itself down 10mm on a pretty tame rock garden--so tame my 9 year old shreds it on his HT. I called my LBS and told them and they are going to call Marzocchi again tomorrow. I'm sure we'll get the run-around some more. I want my money back since this fork is a LEMON but I'm sure Marzocchi will just want to send another ATA cartridge to my LBS and I that will make the 6th time they've jerked me around. Do yourself a favor and stay far, far away from this fork and Marzocchi products in general. I know that may sound extreme, but I don't want to do business with a company that screws their customers over this many times. For what it's worth, I had a TALAS that had the crown and steerer tube start to separate. It was out of warranty and FOX fixed it for free anyway. Go FOX or Rock Shox if you want a fork that works. |
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Submitted by
CARLOS ERAZO
a Weekend Warrior
from FLORIDA
Date Reviewed: 1/3/2008 7:54:19 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | All Mountain |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $700 |
| Purchased At: | Bike parts |
| Strengths: | Amazing fork ( If works !!!!) |
| Weaknesses: | AtA cartrigde is extremly bad and its very difficult to get it as a spare part. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Rock Shock Pike, some Manitou |
| Bike Setup: | Giant VT |
| Bottom Line: | Well I sent my fork to Marzzochi, believe me it was really difficult to get assistance. Nobody answer the Phone. The problem with the air was salved. But now I got a second problem the fork is dialed down. Still problems with the famous ATA air cartridge. Marzzochi should replace this part in all the first production, costumer can not pay for their design mistakes. |
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Submitted by
Andrew
a Racer
from Austin, Texas, US
Date Reviewed: 12/22/2007 8:39:02 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Emma Long |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $420 |
| Purchased At: | ebay |
| Strengths: | Looks pimp, TST5 works good, smooth through the mid travel, very adjustable, not that heavy |
| Weaknesses: | Takes a while to break in, small bump performance is weak, only getting about 5in of travel out of it, travel adjustment is a pain in the ass compared to Fox 36talas |
| Similar Products Tried: | Marzocchi Monster T, Z1, 66, every Judy made, SID, Fox 32, Boxer, Reba, Fox 36talas, and many more |
| Bike Setup: | Intense 6.6, Juicy 7s, XT all around, Maverick speedball R |
| Bottom Line: | The fork is difficult to get dialed in. Don’t follow the air pressure chart that is posted on the fork, as it is way off. You’re best off just experimenting and doing it by feel. At 5lbs it feels light and can still handle everything that I’ve thrown at it. It does feel ten times better than it did during the first week but its still struggling with small bump sensitivity. It works great on mid to large hits and overall it feels pretty darn good. I am a little disappointed that I am only able to get about 130mm of travel out of it no matter how hard I ride it or how I have the air pressure set up. The travel adjuster is kind of a pain to use. It’s almost impossible to wine the travel down without having weight on the fork. I have to sit on the toptube to be able to screw it down. The TST5 is cool. It goes from fully plush to almost a full lockout. Am I disappointed with my fork?…Na. Does it have a few quirks?… yeah. Would I spend $500 extra for an 08 Fox 36talas?… Hell no! |
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Submitted by
paul
a Downhiller
from The great state of Maine
Date Reviewed: 11/11/2007 7:06:25 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | crack addict |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $447 |
| Purchased At: | a good guy |
| Strengths: | This fork has turned out to be alright. Actually the way the thing feels is really impressive, I cant say enough good about the overall suspension feel. Really one of the best I've tried. NOT as leaky as originally thought. Holds air for months. Also suprisingly torsionally rigid. |
| Weaknesses: | Lots of adjustablity. I want a fork I cant F up the tuning on. The occasional and random oil seepage. Hard to get the right amount of air to stay in it, could be the pump I'm using. |
| Similar Products Tried: | z150fr, sherman firefly, fox 36 float rc2, z1mcr, z2, judy sl, indy xc, Super T, boxxer WC, Shiver, 888, MonsterT, DH3 to name a few |
| Bike Setup: | 07 sx trail iii |
| Bottom Line: | Super light, stiff, tuneable if you are patient and have lots of spare time, feels ridiculously silky and bottomless, doubles as quite the big hit fork. And you can pick them up cheap nowadays... |
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Submitted by
Paul
a Downhiller
from kittery me
Date Reviewed: 8/26/2007 6:21:59 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | crack addict |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $447 |
| Purchased At: | sbxracer@hotmail.com |
| Strengths: | ride, looks good in white, smooth and supple, control, adjustability, feel, holds air |
| Weaknesses: | leaks oil from top of ata and bottom of tst5. Too much stuff - Marzocchi shame on you, as much as my 01 Z1 MCR feels like a bouncy turd (in comparison to modern forks) there has never been anything wrong with it, ever, ever, ever. |
| Similar Products Tried: | manitou sherman firefly new 05 (she was a leaker when new too, spv is stupid), 07 fox float RC2(really great, stuff inside started knocking around in a few weeks), my old stand by 04 Z150FR bombproof now, even though it had stuff clanging around the lt leg after a few rides, but weighs an honest 9 pounds. Marz had to warranty fix this fork two after me riding it 4 times. That time it only took a few days to fix and they overnighted it to me without me even asking, that was a really nice experience. |
| Bike Setup: | 07 sx trail 3 saint, LX (the new all mountain), RF all mountain stuff, she makes a great XC ride |
| Bottom Line: | I've never owned a fork with so much stuff you can do to it, its a shame that to get the good damping you usually have to spend the big money to get all the bells and whistles. I bought the fork off ebay from some loser, it was new but leaked oil out of the ata. I sent it back to Marzocchi, they were cool and said they'd take care of me. It looks like they put a new TST5 cartridge. I got it back friday, rode it saturday its leaking oil from the top of the ATA (like it did before) and now its leaking oil from the bottom of the (new) TST5 leg. Whatever I'm not mad, this is how it is. Hell I could probably get the rest of the summer out of the thing before performance would deteriorate. Technology has driven the market in a certain direction and so has cost, unfortunately we the consumer are going to lose out. Based on my latests experiences with Marzocchi I'd say you cant buy a fork based on reputation any longer. My 06 888 VF2 has been wonderful... so far. |
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Submitted by
Carlos Erazo
a Weekend Warrior
from Florida
Date Reviewed: 7/10/2007 7:38:47 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | All mountain |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $740 |
| Purchased At: | Bikeparts |
| Strengths: | Nice color, amazing performance, very soft |
| Weaknesses: | Poor quality |
| Similar Products Tried: | Rock Shock Pike, Fox Talas |
| Bike Setup: | Giant VT 05, with shimano XT part, handlebar Easton (carbon), stem Thompsom. |
| Bottom Line: | I bought this fork just a couple of months ago, during my second ride, the fork started to losing air. The fork cost me $740 bucks, that mean 370 buck each ride. A little bit expensive. I call Marzocchi, and I will send back the fork, in two weeks. The performance of the fork is really amazing, but the quality is really bad. Marzocchi must pay attention to this kind of problems |
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Submitted by
Jesse Hill
a Weekend Warrior
from San Jose
Date Reviewed: 6/11/2007 10:06:49 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Demo or Northstar |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Strengths: | great adjustability, plush and stiff, servicability |
| Weaknesses: | early models had alot of issues |
| Similar Products Tried: | Alot(see my earlier comment below) |
| Bike Setup: | Same as first review |
| Bottom Line: | ok so now I have a late model run and have been using it for about a month now. Well it took a lot longer than it should have to get all the kinks out but now that they are out I just can't believe how well this thing rides. So plush yet never bottoms out. Easy and effective travel adjust just an all around great fork. Thos interested just make sure you get a late run (you can tell because all the new ones dont have QR20). I now give only 4 for value since for 4-5 months there were issues but I wont bomb it too hard since it seems just about everyone had new 07 tech issues. |
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Submitted by
Kaku Ito
a Downhiller
from Shibuya, Tokyo
Date Reviewed: 6/5/2007 8:58:24 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Takamineyama |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $800 |
| Purchased At: | CRC |
| Strengths: | Feels plush when you set everything right. Stiffer than other brands’ forks in its category. Travel adjustments (only when it’s working), Progressive adjustment with PAR mechanism, good rebound function, lock out mechanism with TST5. |
| Weaknesses: | Lots of problems with earlier production ones. But the problems should be solved with the newly redesigned cartridge. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Nixon Platinum Intrinsic, Pike 454 Dual Air, Psylo Race, Z150FR SL, Boxxer with Mojo Boxxcart. |
| Bike Setup: | Intense 6.6 (Manitou Evolver ISX-6 air shock), XTR components, Mavic Crossmax SX, Dangerboy SR-71 OS stem with Syncross Bulk bar, Syncros Pedals. |
| Bottom Line: | It’s a very appealing product with lots of adjustment and also, looks superb. It took very long and I had to purchase one extra to make everything work, but when everything is working, there’s no other fork in its category that even compare to this fork. Very versatile. I use it from everyday street assalt, dirt jumping and also for hope it is going to be good for downhilling (when I get time, man!). |
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Submitted by
Mark
a Weekend Warrior
from NYC
Date Reviewed: 5/19/2007 6:05:29 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | Arche De Triumph |
| Strengths: | Solid. It instills confidence |
| Weaknesses: | Travel adjust |
| Similar Products Tried: | All Mtn 1 |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti 575 |
| Bottom Line: | Great Fork. I had issues with the travel adjustment. Sent it back to Marzocchi. Still problem wasn't solved. Turns out they have a retro fit coming that will solve the problem. I've since locked it in the six inch mode, and have had no issues with losing air or leaking oil. This fork is light, and does exactly what it's supposed to do. The issue with the travel adjustment is irritating, but I'm loving it in the 6" mode, when I take a break I'll send it back. With all these new bells and whistles that they're putting on new forks, it's to be expected that there will be glitches. Would I love a perfect fork, yes. Has Marzocchi been cool, yes. If they sent me a new fork, there's no garauntee that the new one won't have the same problem. Bottom line this is an awesome fork. |
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Submitted by
Jacob
a Downhiller
from matthews nc
Date Reviewed: 3/26/2007 8:43:08 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Purchased At: | blacksheep cycles |
| Strengths: | none |
| Weaknesses: | everything |
| Similar Products Tried: | pike, firefly |
| Bottom Line: | well, its going back again. this thing has been the biggest piece of junk. so much for buying a high end fork. same issues as before. marzocchi still hasn't gotten back to me after i talked to them a week ago and they said they have the parts and would call me the next day. it will be up for sale when its returned so stay tuned. |
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Submitted by
Corey
a Weekend Warrior
from Seattle
Date Reviewed: 3/24/2007 9:54:50 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | South SeaTac |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $600 |
| Purchased At: | friend |
| Strengths: | this is by far the best fork I have ever used, I trail ride , jump and do 4 to 5 foot drops (I am old)it seems to take every thing that I give it, setting it up is easy too , and it only weighs 5 lbs |
| Weaknesses: | comes in only white |
| Similar Products Tried: | boxxer , pike |
| Bike Setup: | KHS FR2000 romac shock, hays brakes dt hubs, sun rims , XTR |
| Bottom Line: | This is a great fork if you are looking for a lite long travel fork that can take a beating , like Marzochi says it is a all mountain fork , you can get a beter down hill fork or a better XC fork but this one does it all , I am very happy with my decision do buy this, and so far I have zero problems with it |
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Submitted by
El
a Weekend Warrior
from Canada
Date Reviewed: 2/18/2007 2:10:14 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $600 |
| Purchased At: | lbs |
| Bottom Line: | This is an update to the review I posted below. I sent in my All mountain SL to Marzocchi to deal with loss of travel, air, and oil leaks. The oil leak and air loss seems to have been fixed. Under the ATA knob it appears the placed some sealer of some kind around the air valve. I noticed though the fork continued to lose travel. To fix I took off the ATA knob, then unscrewed the ATA plug with a cassette cog removal tool then tightened the small screws located on the ATA plug. This seems to have diminished any travel loss. Its a fine adjustment of the screws, to tight and the ATA is hard to adjust(turn), too loose and the system loses travel. |
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Submitted by
EL Carlson
a Weekend Warrior
from Canada
Date Reviewed: 2/6/2007 5:58:31 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | FM |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $600 |
| Strengths: | Light, hightly adjustable, Also own an 05 z.1 eta, wanted a fork that performed well in both high and low travel settings and to be able to dial in Progression. |
| Weaknesses: | Oh no! The guys review below me sounds awfully similar to my experience. Fork is begining to loss travel during decents. Noticed after my 3rd ride the fork had shrunk in length by 30mm. I thought I had missed something on my intial setup. Adjusted my settings to Marzocchi specs and experienced the same problem next ride. I had to stop on my downhill run repeatedely to wind up my ata. :( Given how much this fork cost I am very dissapointed to be sending it back to Marz. Particularly after reading the post below. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Psylo,boxxer,firefly, Z1, |
| Bike Setup: | Heckler, DHXair, Saint, DB, King hub, headset |
| Bottom Line: | Happy I held onto my Z1 probably have to swap forks for a month to ship the SL back to Marzocchi. Perhaps I should have gone with a Lyrik, or a 36. |
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Submitted by
Jacob
from Matthews NC USA
Date Reviewed: 2/1/2007 6:47:45 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | any |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $700 |
| Purchased At: | black sheep cycles |
| Strengths: | Color |
| Weaknesses: | Everything |
| Similar Products Tried: | RS Pike SL, Pike 454, Firefly plus |
| Bike Setup: | Morewood Shova 6" of travel |
| Bottom Line: | The first couple of rides the fork was fine. Then I noticed that it looked as though I was losing travel. So I measured exposed stantion and it came out to 5.25". I found that odd considering its marketed as a 160mm travel fork. I contacted Marzo and they said it has 10mm of negative travel. Kind of took that with a grain of salt. So I continued to ride the fork. Then I noticed the fork began to dial itself down. It was cold at the time so I figured it may have something to do with the cold air and the air fork. Then the final straw. During a trail ride I noticed the ATA side fork leg was covered with oil. Then I compressed the fork and noticed you could hear air leaking. I checked the air pressure and it had lost 70lbs of air during my ride. So, I replaced the missing air and continued with my ride. The travel adjusted itself down to about 90mm and I was unable to turn it back up. So recap, leaks oil, leaks air, travel dials itself down and the travel is stuck at 90mm. Fork is now back at Marzo and apparently all these issues have been corrected with 2nd production run. Its just too bad I'm going to wait about 3 months to get my fork back. I see a RS Lyrik in my future. |
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Submitted by
Dave
a Weekend Warrior
from Toowoomba, Qld Australia
Date Reviewed: 12/20/2006 9:26:39 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Rain Rutt |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $690 |
| Purchased At: | CRC |
| Strengths: | This fork feels so solid and light it contradicts itself. I love how easy it is to adjust the amount of travel. It has a great travel range (120mm -160mm). Metal adjusters. BLACK STANCHIONS! Both the positive and negative air are easy to set up, and seem to hold their pressures reasonably well. 5 TST |
| Weaknesses: | No wheel retention system (like rockshox and fox) means installing the wheel involves a bit of juggling. The white paint is a little flaky, but at least the undercoat is white so any scratches can't be seem unless you're up close. No point of reference for TST Dial. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Rockshox Tora 318, Rockshox Pike 454, Fox Talas 36. |
| Bike Setup: | DMR Trailstar LT, 729 rims, hope pro II hubs, hone cranks, LX shifters and brakes, 8" rotor front 7" rear, XT deraileur, NSB hanger banger.... |
| Bottom Line: | When I first got these forks I was a little disappointed at how easily the paint chipped, especially where the wheel goes. At first the fork felt sticky, but now that they have worn in a bit they feel plush through the full travel. I generally run these forks at the 135mm -140mm as retains good geo for my frame. Extending the travel is quick and easy to do, once click equates to pretty much one mm, so its easy to calculate how much travel will be available. With the fork at its full travel it feels bottomless. The QR20 is fantastic (almost identical to the maxle RS uses), however it is sometimes difficult to install the wheel due to the lack of grooves for the hub to rest in. Its still a million times better than QR, and the fact you don't need a tool to remove the wheel makes it better than normal 20mm in my opinion. The 5 TST system is very useful. I don't have the remote, and don't really think it'd be totally necessary. From the factory they don't have a making so you can tell what setting the forks are at, so I made a small scratch on the top of the dial, and it looks like it should have been there from the start! I mainly use the all mountain setting for climbing, the DH setting for trails, and the fully locked out setting for riding on the road. The only slight disadvantage is that it can sometimes take a little time to turn the adjuster from full lock to full squish. I'm used to the pop lock that RS forks have, but feel the 5 positions are more useful in the long run. All in all I'd recommend these forks to anyone who is after an aggressive trail fork, but still wants to be able to ride some XC, some DH and FR. Unless you are doing some crazy things, these forks should see you through in comfort. These forks really do epitomize the term ALL MOUNTAIN, they can handle just about anything going down, and will still let you ride back to the top before your smile wears off |
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Submitted by
Dangerous Dave
a Downhiller
from Northamptonshire, England
Date Reviewed: 12/20/2006 5:00:10 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | The ALps, or Afan, or FT Bill |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $420 |
| Purchased At: | LeisureLakes |
| Strengths: | Travel range (easily adjustable), damping adjustments very useful and practical for on the trail use. Feels strong and solid for it's weight. QR20 is fantastic. Marzocchi have attempted to put in wheel retention for when you are installing the wheel but it's still not quite the same as Rockshox's or Fox's attempts. All adjuster dials are metal, and just feel very sturdy and of high quality. Better than RS dials. |
| Weaknesses: | Er? Very sticky when new. I'm told this is the ridiculously tight tolerances in the ATA cartridge. But it's bedded in nicely now and works an absolute treat. |
| Similar Products Tried: | '03 Marzo Z.1 Fr Pro, Fox Vanilla RLC's, Sherman Fireflies, '06 Marz Z.1 FR SL and Z.1 Light |
| Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Chameleon, X.O gearing, Formula Oro Bianco brakes 180mm rotors, Thomson 50mm X4 Stem, Answer Pro tapers, CK headset, XT hollowtechII crankset, e13 DRS guide, Mavic EX721's on Hope Bulbs, or Mavic XM819's on Hope Bulbs, for XC Gemini Team DH for proper DH duties. |
| Bottom Line: | For ages I've been after a fork that does it all. With my Chameleon I tend to do it all, XC, DJ, a bit of DH, FR and even dabble in 4X. So I wanted a fork that was light enough to pedal up the hills and not be a burden on 4X, but be strong enough to take the abuse of light DJ, DH and FR. With my 03 Z.1s, the performance was incredible, but the weight was a pain on long XC rides, so I got the Vanillas, but hey squirmed under big stuff which put me off despite the awesome bump performance. Then the shermans? That was a waste of time, kept breaking inside. I bought the Z.1 SL's and was disappointed that the advertised travel adjustment was such a faff, but it was the only fork in Marzocchi's range that went to 130mm of travel which suits my frame best for general riding. Really good forks but I wasn't happy with not being able to dial the forks travel as I wanted, so when these came along I thought my prayers were answered. And oh boy they are. The 20mm system is great, really stiff, and confidence inspiring. Simple to use too. The ATA system is just incredible too, once you've set it up right (sag and bottom out) it's so easy to turn the adjuster and it just feels like it oooozes quality. This baby isn't going to break, and with Doppio systems reliability, I have utter confidence in it. The TST5 system is great, so simple to use and the cartridge is a piece of suspension art work. No faffing about with several dials to get different levels of platform, just choose whether you want it plush, not so plush or locked out. So you know you are going to be able to tackle whatever the trail throws at you with the fork working efficiently under all circumstances. Rebound range is great too with no problems with damping spikes yet at all. If you want a fork that is short enough for XC but are the type of person that sneaks out when the lycra brigade aren't looking and like playing dirty with the big boys on the DH courses, this is the one fork for all of that. Don't think I'll ever change this fork now. Only bad thing is the paint around the dropouts comes away very easily. |
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Submitted by
Jesse Hill
from San Jose, Ca USA
Date Reviewed: 11/26/2006 2:18:13 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | |