sometimes building material or people are to busy to pay attention to pay attention to what they are making so they might miss a part in the fork.....its happened
Either you don't know much about manufacturing or you don't like the Taiwanese. They work similar to a production line where one part is added at a time then moved to the next station, if the product arrives at the next station with the part not installed or installed incorrectly, the worker at the latter station can inform managers. This way they can be sure all production stages are done correctly and in a timely manor.
Also production quality in Taiwan is high, and if you didn't know most suspension companies already have factories there.
Yeah even for the 08 zocchis, it wasn't the workers fault for the issues, it was that they weren't properly trained. Most things are made in Taiwan or around there nowadays
Initial thoughts It's not to long after interbike and I got a 888 evo in my grubby little paws. So after thrashing this fork a couple of days and getting it dialed in I decided to give you my initial views. Ok so this fork has a few knobs which to a novice can be a little overwhelming it has rebound and air volume on top left and compression on the bottom of the left leg and the spring preload is located on the top right. The one thing I did not like is the compression, preload, and air volume labels just say "hard - soft" and don't explain what they do individually.
Damping Marzocchi said with the stock spring it could accomodate most users and bieng 200lbs of human wrecking ball figured I could put it to the test. The first thing I noticed on this fork was how much better small bump compliance this fork had over my 2009 Totem it felt very similar to the initial stroke of my 2004 888 works. The second was that with the use of the air volume knob I could control the progressiveness of this fork to match the rear which is not easy due to the bike bieng it's super compliant and then ramps up towards the middle of the stroke.
Ride The ride of this fork is amazing it is so smooth and progressive all without dropping a ton of coin on custom tuning. I first let it rip on some fast single track with big flowy turns and nice water bars this fork stuck to the ground letting you easily breach the 30mph mark without blinking. The second part of my test was Colorado rock gardens which are very chunky with lots of loose rock trying to plow my way down the middle of chutes. I initially had to much compression and preload and not enough ramping that it made the bike a little uncomfortable at first but then with a few turns of the knobs and a trip back to the top I had this fork dialed. It took square edge hits very well without hard spiking and took some smaller 1-5ft rock drops at high speed with ease. I will further push this fork over time and hopefully after my foot is 100% I will get some 5-15ft drops in.
I will update long term testing as I ride but my initial thoughts are this is a solid fork with good tuning options without having to get it custom tuned.
Thanks to Mike and Chris at Marzocchi for getting me out so fast you guys are great
Initial visual impression they still look super cheap. Will need to ride one this summer to give a true impression but there would need to be some serious changes to change me away from my new found love in rock shocks.
Initial visual impression they still look super cheap. Will need to ride one this summer to give a true impression but there would need to be some serious changes to change me away from my new found love in rock shocks.
Initial visual impression they still look super cheap. Will need to ride one this summer to give a true impression but there would need to be some serious changes to change me away from my new found love in rock shocks.
Ryan
really? i think they look a huge amount more professional than the 08/09 forks. those graphics really didnt work IMO. that said, i think they would look better if they went back to having the stick on 'bomber' logo like in 06. ive always used 'zocchi forks and theyve always worked perfectly for me. due to currently being on flawless 66s from 06, im not going to be changing for a while. When the time comes though, i have a feeling that i'll be extremely interested in this new model years products.
The thing I find makes them look cheap is just the lowers shape and the arch the old ones were so clean these look blocky and just gross.
Ryan
ah yeah, you do have a point. i love the arches on the older forks. if i can, im gonna stick with my 66s until i absolutely destroy them, like snapping them or something. i'll just get them serviced if its just the internals.
The thing I find makes them look cheap is just the lowers shape and the arch the old ones were so clean these look blocky and just gross.
Ryan
ah yeah, you do have a point. i love the arches on the older forks. if i can, im gonna stick with my 66s until i absolutely destroy them, like snapping them or something. i'll just get them serviced if its just the internals.
I had a 06 66 I don't think you will be having any issues soon they are solid.
awesome. ive had them a good half year or so, got them second or third hand from a mate. they took a beating out in france but are holding up. need an oil change and a service soon. i havent done one on them yet. i'll have to find a guide on how to do it on the internets somewhere.