[ScottW]

Ok so I've got my new Z-1 light but have a few tuning questions. I weigh 165-170 with riding gear and I'm running the fork at 130mm travel. With the air preload set at 20 psi I get 1" of sag however on a ride or bouncing up and down on the fork as hard as I can I'm only getting about 105mm of travel. Compression is set about 2 clicks in from full soft, rebound is set at 5 in from full fast.

I haven't opened the fork up yet to look at oil levels, I can't find any information on the Marzocchi web site about oil levels for this fork. If I lower the preload air pressure I get more travel but too much sag and the fork is more prone to blow through travel.

So my thoughts are:

A. Raise the oil levels so I can run lower air pressure but still get the correct amount of sag and decrease the ramp up.
B. Lower the oil level and possibly raise the preload air pressure to get correct sag while decreasing ramp up.
C. None of the above

I don't know if Marzocchis are prone to not having as much usuable travel as they claim ( like the Fox Talas I replaced) so maybe the set up is fine and I just won't get much more in the 130mm setting. The quality of travel is good even though the fork isn't broken in yet.

Thanks for any tuning tips

 

[MK_]

How many rides you have on the fork? A little background on Zokes is that they are notorious for putting in too much oil, which affects the progressivity, at worst, limits travel. Best thing to do would be to dump the oil that is in there, which is the best way to refill it with known/proper amount. At the same time, it is somewhat wasteful as during the first 20 hours of riding, Zokes do a tromendous amount of braking in and the oil turns to black sludge. If you have lots of oil around, just dump what's in there and start from scratch, if you dont' want to waste oil, then ride it a bit, even around town, and change the oil after 20 hours. Set your sag with 0 compression damping.

_MK

 

[ScottW]

I don't have much break in time on the fork yet so I'll get a few more rides in before changing the oil. I still need to find out what the correct oil level is and I'd like to find instructions for pulling it apart so I don't mess anything up.

 

[ScottW]

I don't have much break in time on the fork yet so I'll get a few more rides in before changing the oil. I still need to find out what the correct oil level is and I'd like to find instructions for pulling it apart so I don't mess anything up.

Sorry for this double posting,,,stupid computers

 

[MK_]

Pulling it apart should be as easy as any other Z1. You have extra knobs at the bottom, so AM1 instructions would probably work best. From memory, you need a 2.5mm allen wrench to undo the bolds that hold the knobs (both on bottom and the top, it might be a 3mm, but I think 2.5). You then need a 12mm deep socket to undo the bolts at the base of the fork, bottom of the sliders. It is a special 12mm as a stock one won't clear the opening in which the bolts sit. The easiest thing to do is to take a standard, quarter inch compatibile, 12mm socket, and grind it down on the outside until it fits the opening. 26mm socket for the top caps. 6 wall works better than 12, as there's more contact area with the caps. It is also good to grind down the socket until the engagement point is at the top of the socket, to increase contact area and eliminate the possiblity of rounding off the caps. That's all, pull it apart, cycle the carts to get the oil out of them, reassemble. When you dump the oil, dump it into a graduated cylinder, to get an idea of the amounts. My 04 Z1 worked best with 125ml of oil on both sides. My AM1 has 140mm on one side and 40ml on the other. I would guess your Z1 would be between the two or on one extreme or the other.

_MK

 

[fsrxc]

I don't have much break in time on the fork yet so I'll get a few more rides in before changing the oil. I still need to find out what the correct oil level is and I'd like to find instructions for pulling it apart so I don't mess anything up.

Sorry for this double posting,,,stupid computers

Run less air?
Like others mentioned, the fork should loosen up after break-in, but in the meantime, why not try less psi preload and see how it feels.