I have an 04 Fisher Marlin with Manitou Six fork. I want to upgrade to a smoother better fork. I am thinking about the Marzochi MX Comp Pro with ETA. The only problem is it is a 105mm travel fork. Will this mess up my steering and geometry. Should I stay with a 80mm fork. I want to make my ride a little smoother. Any suggestions and knowledge you can give me would be helpful. Thanks for your time in advance.
80mm travel to 105mm?
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I've been through a lot of the same stuff....
I have a Giant XTC SE2, came with a Duke 80mm air. Got lucky and a buddy lent me his dying Marz Atom 80 coil. Coil made the ride SOOOOOO much better, but as expected the fork died, so I had to replace it again.
yada yada yada
I ended up taking the Marz MXComp (I'm not sure but I think the MX Comp and MX Pro are two different forks, ie: mutually exclusive?) with ETA and 105mm off my Enduro and put it on my Giant. The steering is ever so slightly slower and less responsive. I almost never notice it, except sometimes on really fast, wide flowy turns I have to work harder to not go wide.
All in all, I think the move to 105 is a good one, and I don't regret it.
On the other hand, I think the MXC is a cheaper fork than the atom 80, and I will NEVER ever go to an inexpensive air fork again. This is of course related to preference and riding style, so it may or may not relate to you, but I would trade the small bump compliance and suppleness of a decent 80mm coil for the extra travel of a 100-105 in a second. The Atom 80 was a perfect fork for riding aggessive XC on my HT. On the other hand, it takes a pretty decent bump to get the MXC going, and it is just more harsh than a decent coil shock, hands down.
FWIW, I went from 105-130 on my Enduro and LOVE it, I'm using a Fox Vanilla 125r there.
One peice of advice: If you are really concerned, you can look at the Fox, because it is internally adjustable, and if you don't like the 100 setting, you can go back to 80. There are also the Rockshocks UTURN forks. While I am not a big fan or RS, I think the Duke and the Psylo get "pretty good" ratings if you are not too heavy. You can check the reviews and decide for yourself, but both of those are under $200 new.
I have a Giant XTC SE2, came with a Duke 80mm air. Got lucky and a buddy lent me his dying Marz Atom 80 coil. Coil made the ride SOOOOOO much better, but as expected the fork died, so I had to replace it again.
yada yada yada
I ended up taking the Marz MXComp (I'm not sure but I think the MX Comp and MX Pro are two different forks, ie: mutually exclusive?) with ETA and 105mm off my Enduro and put it on my Giant. The steering is ever so slightly slower and less responsive. I almost never notice it, except sometimes on really fast, wide flowy turns I have to work harder to not go wide.
All in all, I think the move to 105 is a good one, and I don't regret it.
On the other hand, I think the MXC is a cheaper fork than the atom 80, and I will NEVER ever go to an inexpensive air fork again. This is of course related to preference and riding style, so it may or may not relate to you, but I would trade the small bump compliance and suppleness of a decent 80mm coil for the extra travel of a 100-105 in a second. The Atom 80 was a perfect fork for riding aggessive XC on my HT. On the other hand, it takes a pretty decent bump to get the MXC going, and it is just more harsh than a decent coil shock, hands down.
FWIW, I went from 105-130 on my Enduro and LOVE it, I'm using a Fox Vanilla 125r there.
One peice of advice: If you are really concerned, you can look at the Fox, because it is internally adjustable, and if you don't like the 100 setting, you can go back to 80. There are also the Rockshocks UTURN forks. While I am not a big fan or RS, I think the Duke and the Psylo get "pretty good" ratings if you are not too heavy. You can check the reviews and decide for yourself, but both of those are under $200 new.
Are you sure your Manitou isn't convertable to 100mm travel? I have an '03 Manitou Six Sport on my old bike and it was convertable. It only takes about 5 minutes to take it all apart and remove the C-clips to get more travel. You definatly won't regret doing it, I couldn't believe how much of a difference just that extra 20mm of travel did for me. The handling/geometry didn't change (at least I didn't notice any difference) but now I seldom bottom due to the more travel and still have all the plushness I could want. With the 80 I could either have soft ride and bottom alot, or crank up the preload and have a harsh ride that didn't bottom all the time.
Is Ok
iWENT FROM 80MM TO 105. wILL SLACKEN YOUR HEAD ANGLE. gOOD FOR THE DESCENTS. i HAVE THE MX COMP W/ETA. sO I LOCK IT DOWN ON LONGER CLIMBS WICH HELPS. mOST O THE TIME i keep it in IN FULL TRAVEL. It will slightly raise your standover height depending on your frame. Check overall fork length from wheel mounts to crown race.
iWENT FROM 80MM TO 105. wILL SLACKEN YOUR HEAD ANGLE. gOOD FOR THE DESCENTS. i HAVE THE MX COMP W/ETA. sO I LOCK IT DOWN ON LONGER CLIMBS WICH HELPS. mOST O THE TIME i keep it in IN FULL TRAVEL. It will slightly raise your standover height depending on your frame. Check overall fork length from wheel mounts to crown race.
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