[MarzocchiFork]

I called Marzocchi up and they said a TST would cost 180 bucks! Teh gay! My plan is to buy a Z150 and put a 150mm TST cartridge in it. Anyone else get a different price? Maybe Ill call from the shop and see what they will sell it to us for.

It will fit, right? I thought a compression adjustment would be handy in some situations. The TST cartridge doesnt support a spring right? Just air on that side?

 

[Jm.]

well, what did you expect, that's their most exotic damping system right now, on a very high end fork. It ain't going to be cheap.

 

[tscheezy]

I think the ETA/TAS side would be more useful. I wonder how much that bugger costs?

 

[SSINGA]

I called Marzocchi up and they said a TST would cost 180 bucks! Teh gay! My plan is to buy a Z150 and put a 150mm TST cartridge in it. Anyone else get a different price? Maybe Ill call from the shop and see what they will sell it to us for.

It will fit, right? I thought a compression adjustment would be handy in some situations. The TST cartridge doesnt support a spring right? Just air on that side?

Yes it will fit. No spring, just air.

Tscheezy - While the TAS is very sweet, IMO the TST adjustment would be more useful and the Z150 already has ETA. I normally set the travel that best fits the bike and leave it, but fuss with the TST throughout the ride depending on the terrain.

You would also have to remove the spring from the rebound side to run the TST (or buy both the TST and TAS) or else it would severly preload the fork from compressing that spring.

SPAM - I built a second ZAM1 last night if anyone is interested - essentially an AM1 with 20mm thru-axle. Very sweet fork, I really like mine.

 

[Bikezilla]

Somehow I'm not surprised by the price. I'm sure Marzocchi would much rather deal with selling complete forks than managing lots of upgrade parts for sale...and the obvious increase in support calls it would generate... OTOH they have that great big banner on their site about travel change kits.

In any event, I bet they'd rather sell an AM1 than upgrade a previous fork...I wonder why they have no 20mm equivalent?

 

[Surestick Malone]

They seem to charge quite a bit for their cartridges.
I have a 2000 Z3 that I wanted to upgrade w/Z1 internals & the cartridges were $250 Canadian each! The guy at my LBS showed me the prices for current year Fox cartridges & they cost about the same as the 5 year old Marzocchi ones.

 

[BigLarry]

ZAM1's no pissy fork

SPAM - I built a second ZAM1 last night if anyone is interested - essentially an AM1 with 20mm thru-axle. Very sweet fork, I really like mine.

Yea, I'd love a 20 mm axle for more stiffness and to handle my Saint 8' discs without an adaptor. But the huckers would think a 20 mm axle permits them to use the AM1 for big jumps. The ZAM's also a great way to get rid of the pissy color. Love my AM1 otherwise though.

OT of OT: I finally figured out what the stiffest CL setting of the TST is good for. Normally when pounding on climbs, the ETA is perfect for lowering the front and giving just a perfect tad of suspension. CL is redundant and counter productive. So I never found a use for it.
Well, going down a steep paved road on a rainy day, I found every time I braked on switch backs, I'd pitch forward badly with resulting control problems on steep tight turns. I turned the setting the CL and the fork stayed up with the big rake angle while stiff. Made control so much easier. CL's not good for less than paved smooth DH, though. Manual says so, but it's obvious why.
The CL setting might also be good for jamming off the seat. But I don't do that for long enough to make changing the setting worth the effort. Also, the rear shock is the bigger problem off the seat (even with my DHX 5.0).

 

[Jm.]

But the huckers would think a 20 mm axle permits them to use the AM1 for big jumps.

Uhh, you are forgetting that the AM1 has tapered stanchions and a lightened crown. The tapered stanchions are thinner in sections, and are not going to put up with the same abuse that Z1 does.

 

[BigLarry]

Uhh, you are forgetting that the AM1 has tapered stanchions and a lightened crown. The tapered stanchions are thinner in sections, and are not going to put up with the same abuse that Z1 does.

Yea, that's what I meant. Sorry I wasn''t clear.

I was trying to say that I suspect one reason Marz doesn't include a 20 mm axle option on the AM1 is because the impression of strength would encourage this lighter fork to get used by big air huckers in stresses beyond it's rating or intention. The AM1 is an agressive XC fork that can handle small drops. (They don't explain, but I interpret that to mean up to 4-5' for smaller guys and up to 3' for me. Vice versa, it may not need the 20 mm axle for strength in it's intended use.)

I'd like a 20 mm axle option anyway for better stiffness and compatability with Saint brakes. But not enough to go through all the effort and cost of an ZAM1 (well, maybe for the color change ). I also like the simplicity of being covered by Marz, with the security of their engineering team properly certifying it for use within the intended range, instead of being a Holiday Inn engineer.