Marzocchi 48mm Rider Reviews

[wence]

I sent mine to a respected suspension bloke over here in Oz and when I got them back they had gold valves and a little crosshatching on the outer fork leg to reduce friction.
I rode the bike for a while and it was super plush but would not handle any hits at all and would be really hard to set for anything really.
I eventually pulled them down and found a few faults, the obvious being the fork legs being about 100ml underfilled.
I refilled the forks with crappy left over stuff I had laying around just to see the difference. As you can well imagine it was a hell of a lot better.
I decided to send them to a bloke here in SA who does all the top endure blokes in SA.
He checked them over , removed the two large washers and then reset the preload for the pfp.
The forks were a hell of a lot better again but after riding for about 4 hours in sandy stuff they felt like they lost all compression???
Discussing it, we have decided it could be foaming of the oil, cavitation in the fork?
I was told to wind the comp up full hard next time I was riding out there and see how it felt. I did this and it was a lot better but it still needed more and of course the rocks deflected the fork like mad.
I have just taken them back and he has upped the compression shim stack from 9 shims in a single stage stack???( this was what the other tuner had done), to a two stage 24 shim stack that will hopefully keep the deflecting to a minimum and also give me the high speed resistance I need.
He increased the air gap a touch , about 4mm , to allow the PFP to work a little better.
I have not ridden it yet but it feels a hell of a lot more pliant in the first stage up to the mid where it begins to stiffen uniformly from then on.
Hopefully I'll give it a run tomorrow.
Cheers Mark

[Jakobi]

I only put one or two rides on my first revalve attempt. They were far too firm across the board, deflecting, beating me up, and even put me on the ground once or twice (something that doesn't happen all that often, and did out of nowhere).

Back home and softened the base valve a bit, and I think its pretty close. Now I'm running PFP at 2.5 and compression around 13 clicks, same with rebound, so middle of the field. I can get the fork to pack down a touch with the rebound in some more, and get it pushing back out a bit further. It should be perfect when I go up a spring rate. Compression wise I think I could use a little more LSC as its a bit divey under the brakes (probably due to the crossover shim). I might move a shim or two over to the other side of the crossover. High speed felt quite good. Sharp and firm, but compliant! Again, increasing the spring a rate may give it the extra support I think it needs.

[wence]

Mine has been a nightmare due to the gold valves and having to test and try it.
Cheers Mark

[desertgasser300]

Originally Posted by wence

Mine has been a nightmare due to the gold valves and having to test and try it.
Cheers Mark

What is it about the gold valves you don't like?

[Jakobi]

Theres nothing wrong with gold valves, however like all valving any setup is only as good as the time spent tuning it, and I'd say that at the time they were installed there wouldn't be much of a knowledge base to work from so first install is just a ballpark setup. From there its back to the drawing board to fine tune things. At least the stock valving was close and just needs a few tweaks.

[wence]

Exactly Jake.
Gold valves are great but I now question the need for them as the stock valves are pretty good anyway.
I didn't ask a lot of questions from the original tuner as I thought he knew what he was doing.
Turns out he may have but his apprentice ???? may not have.
100ml too little oil, valves not sent back to me, bits and pieces loose???
We are getting there now .
Rode it today with the upgraded dual stage shim stack and it feels a lot better although I still reckon as the day goes on the compression gets softer?
Whether it be foaming of the oil, cavitation? , I am not sure.
Some long sandy stretches of whoops will give me a better idea.
When I turn the forks upside down I can hear the fluid draining around in there.
Cheers Mark

[3beejay3]

Does anyone know for sure what weight the stock springs in these forks are rated for?
Mine are still stock, but are now overdue for a good service. I weigh about 200 or so fully geared up. I ride at a Vet B level here in Canada, often getting top 10s
Not the fastest guy, not the slowest either. The bike is a 2012 XC250ES
In present condition, I really like these forks on everything except deep whoops and heavy hits. They handle roots, trail junk, stutter bumps as good as anything I've experienced. The front end holds a line like its on a rail and gives me a lot of confidence in most conditions.
I need to get things sorted in the whoops, as that's where everyone is gaining time on me. Softer wider spaced rolling whoops are fine, I can hit them confidently at any speed. It's the deep, close, steeper faced whoops that are giving me grief. The bike seems sprung too soft, and rebounds too much on these. I want to get this cured without giving up the precision and plushness that makes these such great forks everywhere else. Other riders that have tried my bike have made the same assessment; it's awesome everywhere except the deep whoops.
If I crank the compression up, it makes the fork too stiff in the junk and it starts getting harsh and deflective.
I haven't played with the PFP, as I still don't understand how it works. It's still at stock setting whatever that is.
However, also the forks seem like they may not hold their clicker settings; I've made small adjustments here and there to experiment. The settings will make an immediate difference, but seem to lose that after a couple of hours riding. This is especially noticeable on the rebound and especially on my rear shock(another issue).
I've read a fair bit about these forks, but still feel unclear. I really need a good primer on how to properly set them up and operate them.

[Jakobi]

They really need a revalve and the rebound circuit in particular needs some work. Not sure how many hours you have on your gear now, but probably well and truly due for a service (especially if they haven't been done yet). I'm around the same weight when fully geared up (maybe a bit less), and will be moving to .44 springs at the next service.