Marzocchi broke with convention by substituting a single titanium coil spring for the compressed air chamber that suspends almost every other trail fork sold today. The Bomber 44 RC3 Titanium is not the lightest fork in its class, but that title has never been bestowed upon a Marzocchi product. At 4.34 pounds (1972 grams), however, the 150-millimeter-travel 44 RC3 Titanium is less than 100 grams over its air-sprung competition, and once you ride the fork and experience its ability to digest almost any bump that is put in front of it, you may want to keep it on your bike if you were told that it was filled with lead fishing weights. Marzocchi’s Bomber 44 RC3 Titanium fork retails for $779.
Marzocchi 44 RC3 Titanium Fork at a Glance
-Purpose: All-mountain/trail
-Travel: 150 mm
-Damper: RC3 open-bath type, low-speed rebound and compression adjustments
-Single titanium coil spring with Air Assist preload adjustment
-32 mm tapered aluminum stanchions with nickel plating
-Post type brake-caliper mounts
-Steerer tube: Aluminum, 1.125-inch or tapered options
-Weight: 4.34 pounds (1972 grams)
-Price: $779 USD
RC 44 Titanium Fork DetailsMarzocchi’s decision to suspend the 44 RC3 fork with a single titanium spring in the left stanchion tube is only one breakout feature of the fork. The 32-millimeter stanchion tubes are tapered aluminum, plated with a slippery nickel alloy finish. The RC3 open-bath type damper is in the right side, with the rebound dial on top and a low-speed compression clicker under the slider. Some of the fork’s weight is in the extra suspension fluid which is pumped through the damper and fed back into the fork leg, where it doubles as a lubricant for the sliding internals. In the center of the red rebound dial is the “Air Assist” feature – an air spring which is used to preload the fork and boost the ending-stroke spring rate to compensate for various rider weights and riding styles. The versatility that Air Assist gives the fork provides ample range for the medium (stock) and soft springs that Marzocchi offers to 44 RC3 owners.
Marzocchi covers the 44 RC3's titanium spring with a plastic sheave to keep it quiet while the fork is working.
The Air-Assist function is recessed into the center of the right-side rebound clicker. Very little pressure makes the fork significantly stiffer.
Marzocchi sells the 44 RC3 Titanium fork with its own version of the new-standard 15QR axle, which operates in much the same manner as the Fox/Shimano original. The brake caliper mounts are the post type that fit six-inch (150 mm) rotors. The sliders are magnesium alloy, with Marzocchi’s signature “M” logo fork-brace arch. Steerer tubes are aluminum, available in straight, 1.125-inch aluminum or tapered. Our test fork had a straight steerer tube and uncut, it weighed 4.347 pounds.
Marzocchi's version of the 15-millimeter through-axle has a standard adjustment knob on the left side that remains in place when the axle is removed.
Setting Up the Marzocchi 44 RC3 Titanium ForkWe tested the 44 RC3 on the steep descents of Vancouver’s North Shore where the fork does the lion’s share of the suspension work, as well as the fast-paced rocky trails in Southern California where small-bump sensitivity can make or break both bike and rider. Because there is no facility for spring preload on the left-side coil, suspension sag must be controlled by the Air Adjust spring on the right side (you’ll need a Marzocchi air-valve adapter for your shock pump). For the heavy hitting North Shore, five psi was enough to bolster the fork’s spring rate against botched landings and drops, while no pressure at all seemed to be the best option for the high speed corners and rocky off-camber descents down South.
Marzocchi got the 44 RC3's compression damping spot on. Low-speed compression is on the bottom of the right slider
Both low-speed compression and rebound adjustments seemed ineffective until we got the dials about half way in. We set both rebound and compression five clicks out. Compression damping was just hard enough to keep the fork from diving under hard braking, and we left it there for the duration, while we found that a little extra rebound force made the 44 RC3 feel like all the rocks were made of butter at singletrack speeds.
Riding the 44 RC3 TitaniumThe first pleasant surprise that Marzocchi had in store for us was the 44 RC3’s excellent speed-sensitive compression damping. Previous Marzocchi sliders had very linear feeling compression damping that performed well, but for a relatively narrow range of conditions. The RC3 damper feels sensitive at low speed, and bottomless when the fork is really hammered into a bump.
The coil-spring advantage: Before we tell you how wonderful the 44 RC3 is over the bumps, we’d like to say that there is a lot of banter about the superiority of coil-sprung suspension that, quite frankly, is largely verbal crap spouting from the mouths of riders who are living in the past, or have yet to experience the impressive performance the modern, pro-level air-sprung suspension which is winning races on the World Cup Circuit. The advantage that Marzocchi’s coil spring brings to the AM/trailbike arena is based upon its coil spring, which makes the fork’s rebound damping more effective at low speeds and delivers a smooth feeling ramp-up with its linear spring rate in compression. The magic of the 44 RC3, however is the boost in the ending-stroke spring rate that the right-side air-spring adds to the coil when the fork experiences a full-compression event. The Air Assist function still boosts the end-stroke rate, even if there is no additional pressure in the chamber. Marzocchi’s hybrid spring truly feels bottomless – as if there is another inch or so of extra fork stroke hidden in the mech.
Stiffness: The 44 RC3 chassis feels plenty rigid and while it does not compare with the oversized stanchion tube forks like the Fox 36, its steering precision and G-out performance are at the top of the all-mountain/trailbike class of 2011.
Big-hit performance: After testing the 44 RC3 Titanium for over a wide range of conditions, we would happily run it down some technical descents that we normally reserve for our big bikes. Botch a drop and land nose first, and the 44 RC3 picks up the slack for you. We often used up its travel, but rarely noticed until we inspected the dust marks on the stanchion tubes.
Nickel-plated stanchion tubes keep the 44 RC3 fork riding smoothly over the chatter - and they look great.
What would we change?Beyond its slightly porky weight figure, only two items, both minor, had us wishing for improvements in the 44 RC3 Ti fork. The first was that the post-mount caliper bosses were not perfectly faced, which angled the Hayes brake caliper slightly and added occasional brake drag to the party. Our second wish is more fundamental: the 44 RC3 Ti is such a great performer on trail, the addition of a part-time pedaling platform function would make for more pedal friendly ascending.
Pinkbike’s take on the 44 RC3 TitaniumMarzocchi’s Bomber series was the fork that launched the infant freeride movement. Now, as significant numbers of freeriders are venturing off lift-access slopes and back into the mountains on lighter weight, all-mountain and trail-oriented bikes, Marzocchi is waiting for them once again with a reinvented version. The 44 RC3 Titanium has the go-for-it technical performance of a big-bike fork, in a chassis designed to be light weight enough to enjoy all-day trail rides. The 44 RC3 Ti is the best trail/All-mountain fork to come from Marzocchi in a decade.
Contact Marzocchi USA to get a look at its complete suspension lineup, including the ROCO shock, and if you own or have ridden a 44 RC3 Ti fork, we’d like to know if you have any info to add to Pinkbike’s review.
Can't say anything about the new 888, but I hear many people in the bike parks that they prefere the new 888 before any other DH fork. So I think we all should give Marzocchi a chance again, after their quality seems to have changed after those bad years in 2008 and 2009. Just my opinion.
Feel free to correct me as I would like to be convinced to buy them. I miss my lime green Z1's and my '06 66 SL's, but not my '07 888 SL ATA's!
Theyre easy to service yourself , strong, plush and cheap second hand.
When they moved to taiwan they had reliability issues in some forks alright(particularly 08 ) , but they're very much back with the best I think.
Great reviews in Dirt magazine along with the rumors that marzocchi were back +3 year no service warranty + coil performance for near air weight convinced me to pick up a pair (2010 were 140mm but exactly the same otherwise).
I had a few problems initially with stiction but the UK distributor told me a couple of seals inside may not have been oiled at assembly, popped the seals off and oiled them up.
WOW. I can completely understand see where the reviews were coming from. really sublime forks. soak up all the hits you'd attack with a trail/AM bike. Done several DH days with these forks too and the only bad thing about them is they've made me realise how crap the rear suspension is!
It's strange that RS and Fox make such a big diistinction between XC/am and DH forks.Fox 36 Talas 2011 doesn't come any longer with RC2 damper, only with RLC. 160mm fork with a lockout - bri-kfn-lliant... comes handy in case some roadie wants a bike to do "extreme sports". It seems that only BOS and Marzocchi think about downhill oriented trail riders
With the ECC5 you can slow or even lock it down for the uphills and it's awesome on the downhills too! I love it!
"It's strange that RS and Fox make such a big diistinction between XC/am and DH forks.Fox 36 Talas 2011 doesn't come any longer with RC2 damper, only with RLC. 160mm fork with a lockout - bri-kfn-lliant... comes handy in case some roadie wants a bike to do "extreme sports". It seems that only BOS and Marzocchi think about downhill oriented trail riders"
AGREED!
this is why I am still rocking the excellent Fox 36 Float RC2 fork on my all-mountain bike
no plans to "upgrade" to 2011 as I can live without both the Kashima coated stanchions and RLC damper!!
1. Do Marzocchi accept that the 08/09 forks were a disaster?
2. What has changed since?
I really want to go back to buying 'Zocchi's but am afraid their reputation took such a hammering, I'm finding it hard to be convinced that everything is now "fixed". How can you reassure us?
Thanks
Basically, I am sold though. What you've written has convinced me that Marzocchi are worth buying again - in fact, I've decided to get some new Bombers, very much on the strength of you coming on here.
Consider a set of 888 RC3 Evo's officially "ordered" (although I can't stretch to the Titanium's).
Oh and any chance of ETA making a come back on the trail forks? I always really liked that. ETA allowed a really long travel fork to be sprinted uphill. Dead simple and never seemed to go wrong. Still got a set of Z1 Freerides (the orange ones) and they rock - just getting a bit old now being from 2007!
What if i have an 08 marz fork? Are you still going to 'take care of me' and the shit that you sold me?
and then, in my quest to look for a stiffer AM fork, i got myself a 2008 55R and another 2009 55R and that's were they really sucked big time. it weighed like an anchor (2.7 kgs for a 35mm, 140mm/160mm fork) and i hardly bottomed any of the 2 even if drained all the air (i also drain the air on my EXR and AM4 but it did a good job compared to the 2008 and 2009 55R's). so i just gave up on marzocchi completely.
a few things i want from marzocchi: bring back the old reliable, plush, stiff, easy to maintain marzocchi and make it lighter and affordable compared to RS and Fox and its a done deal! there are times that i think Fox is overrated but admittedly, they do make good forks but the price is just way beyond reach for some (like me!), hence, i feel they are overrated.
hope marzocchi kills it this year! cheers!
I do not experience the same for Fox even running after a year...
The mechanic say its normal... (a small trade off for plushness)
can anyone share is they have the same concern?
Right now I have the 180 Van with the Kashima coated stanchions, and from the very first run they just don't compare. I was going for the 66 Ti's as my fork upgrade but was sold out, so I got the Van's since the seller was letting it go relatively cheap (and I wanted to try Fox as well). If I could've gotten the 66s for the same price as my Van; I've already done it. And having the same 38mil stanchions as the 888's, there's no question in the stiffness department
My 55 felt bottomless and with just 10mil less travel, I'm positive the 44 will more than suffice for any AM/trail rides.
U want this super sweet xtr trail wheelset? Hm... Fox 32 series will go very nice with that... Just bought marzocchi 44rc3 ti, how about you accelerate to the future with changing your old 20mm xt am wheelset to easton ec90 hm?
I actually still run my shivers (had 888's but sold em of, as I really only rode my shivers. 8 years of insane beatings and they are still going strong. I do have to say though, the minute I took the stock axle out and replaced it with a custom lathed stainless axles, it literally made a night and day difference. The forks were as stiff as F1's, and tracked as good as the White Bros wider stanced legs.
And yes, USD forks compared to regular forks are a completely different feeling. 888's bounce and skip over rocks, while the USD's tend to keep a direct path, and flex enough to keep everything going exactly where you want it to.
Just my 2 cents. What better person to hear some feedback from than someone who has been on shivers for over 11 years (2 sets. 00-03, then my 03's to present, with pretty much daily riding).
My 888's rattle a bit and this might help the problem.
Also had some cheaper manitou, RST forks and these forks didn't had problems..
Therefor -> biggest heavy piece of trash..
Instead of having a graphic designer doing a warp with the word 'rebound' it seems that an enginneer used standard 3D program lettering and rotated every single letter by hand. Not the way to go in these days, where you can buy really nice looking forks for your money (not even talking about technical function here).
btw, you can ride your bike just as passionate even if you like it to look nice, no shit!
Marz has had a terrible couple of years (just before and since they were bought out by Tenneco). It was a purchase done specifically for the motorcycle side of the business. If they’ve finally got around to improving their bike brand, it’s about time. We’ll see more of their fork on racers bikes and everybody will start saying how good they are again!!
Pinske