I currently have a pair of Marzocchi EXR Pro air forks on my bike. They are a good few years old (possibly 2005 model!) and I often wonder if it is worth upgrading them to something newer. I sometimes find I get sore wrists on rockier terrain. I don’t have much experience of any other forks though – would something like some Rebas be a significant improvement? How about Recons – presumably not as good as Rebas but would they be much better than the Marzocchis?

Thanks

Sure your sore wrists aren’t the result of incorrect handle bar angle?

Regarding the forks, all depends on how smooth your current forks are really.

Sure your sore wrists aren’t the result of incorrect handle bar angle?

Perhaps. I have some Ergon grips to increase the contact area with the hand, and I seem to have a fairly straight line from my forearms to my hands.

Regarding the forks, all depends on how smooth your current forks are really.

I guess this is the problem – I don’t have anything to compare them with. I was hoping there might be a clear answer – e.g. “they are rubbish and any new fork would be much better”, or “they are fine, man up”!!

marzocchi forks of that age tend to go on forever…if when compressing the fork you dont feel it sticking then they are still running smoothly.
it could be a case of you blowing through the travel without realising or that they have too much air and not compressing enough and feeling over sprung and stiff.
it could also be the grips and bar position as mentioned above. set up wise if you hold the grip and place your index finger on the brake lever, your elbow to the tip of your index finger should be in a straight line. if thats the case then the bar set up is fine and you should look at the fork to see that its still set up correctly.

Older Marz for may go on forever and be super supple but they also seemingly have very little in the way of ‘adjustability’ within it’s rebound damping (well MX comps/pro anyways). I had mine serviced by Windwave and there comment was “that’s how they are”. I wouldn’t suggest that the likes of Reba will be ground breakingly better but I would suggest overall they are the better fork (Recons, same internals but heavy chassis?).

No, there certainly isn’t much adjustment available. Air in or out is about it. I’ll have a look at bar and grip set up, and some different air pressures, and see if that improves it at all. Thanks all.