I’m after feedback on the supposed improved longevity of the Kashima coating.

Having killed my 32 Floats in about a year (yes, I know, I should have looked after ’em better), I’m reluctant to have Fox again but thought I’d seek some feedback before I strike them from the likely replacement list.
If I stay with Fox, it would likely be 36 Floats dropped to 140mm (on a Meta 5)

What’s your Kashima experience?

Ta

I would guess that its too early to really say. They’ve only been out for about 3 months, so its unlikely theres any real evidence yet.
I’d wait a year and see then.

They’ve only been out for about 3 months

Christ ! is it only that recently?

Seemed like they’d been in the mags for ages.

I guess that’s because I hadn’t taken any interest whilst I had properly functioning forks but have been watching intently for the last couple of months.

Will probably run the floats into the ground over the next 6 months and then either see how Fox are fairing or try to find a decent discount on >2010 ‘zocchis.

As above too early, it will be tougher but how much is the question especially as in a FIT 32mm forks have 30ml of lubricating oil in each leg.

Aye, not much data yet I suspect.

Meanwhile, back in the land of reason, Marzocchi are doing awesome forks that are cheaper, similar weight, work amazingly well (I reckon better than Fox) and have a 3 year warranty with NO SERVICE STIPULATIONS.

Good Shizzle

Sounds like a real mountain bike product to me. No “we’ve brought out a newer more expensive version to fix a design fault we’ve been denying for ages” from Marzocchi.

Rant rant rant!

Agreed on the Marzocchi’s – well worth a try now that they’ve solved the 2008/2009 manufacturing problems.

I’m about to get a pair of 44 RC3Tis – 3 year warranty, no hassle, no requirements, no excuses. Buttery smooth and plusher than a sofa! 🙂

A manufacturer would have to be very, very certain about the quality of their product to offer a 3yrs warranty.

RockShox and Fox (both of which I’ve had) certainly aren’t falling over themselves to offer that kind of customer surety.

i have 1.5″ lyrics at the mo but my bottom range 2010 55’s outperform them so far

really good to hear that zocchi’s are back in the game.

i saw them last year at core bike show and thought that they have finally got back to 2003 glory days!

There are a lot of people I know who swear by old skool Marzocchis which have only required the most cursory of maintenance since new.

Surely there’s a lesson there? I’d far rather have a fork that weighs a couple of hundred grammes more but is user serviceable and can last for eight+ years than have something with NASA tuning which I’m never going to be a good enough rider to take advantage of.

My Pikes have been amazing. I’ve a set in the garage that are approaching five years old, with no stanchion wear and a very relaxed maintenance schedule.

Ecky thump, bos forks are currently cheaper then floats, and can be internally set to 140mm.

1 year service intervals

Mmmm…. If I had the budget for a new set of 160mm forks, those Bos jobbies would be top of the list.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s a coincidence that the “more durable” coating came along at the exact same time as another gigantic service intervals reduction- they halved the basic service time for this year. Doesn’t show much confidence in the product really…

I got mine a few months ago – love my F120’s, rode them tonight – but its too early to tell but they are super smooth and in 3 months or so I have not seen any scoring 🙂

It’s titanium nitride I believe 😯 The benefits are well understood & proven in other applications. It’s micro porous & retains the lubricant better. I’m convinced of this 😉 as I’ve got the Talas 36’s on a new SC Butcher. Regular maintenance is essential with Fox forks 🙁 to keep them alive. Why this should be ?……Every other brand seems to last the course without the faf of lifting the seals & cleaning/lubricating the foam rings.

D.

My 2005 36r’s are still going strong, serviced every 1.5ish years, there was no stanchion wear at the last service 6 months ago.

I appear to be in a minority with this though, maybe I dont ride as much as everyone else? I guess they see about 75 hours riding a year.

Thanks all for the input.
I’m leaning towards the ‘zocchis at the moment, would probably stick to the 44 RC3Tis, rather than 55s.
Seen a few deals from USA sites but I beleive that would have warranty implications, which would negate one of the main benefits.

55s for the win 🙂

the reason fox forks wear out is because the coating on the forks is so thin its just not durable.

BTW my 07′ RL’s NEVER had any scoring on them – only my 09′ Talas started to as Imissed a service – I reckon it was the 08′-10′ fork uppers/seals that had the damage – pre 08′ were fine with me (07 and 04)!

I read somewhere Fox were making race forks so naturally they require more looking after. Bombers are riding forks however.
I’d go for Marzocchi over Fox if buying new.

The “Fox are race forks so need more looking after” thing has to be carp doesn’t it? What is “race” about a 140mm travel trail fork? And my Magura Durin SL and Spesh E100 forks are lighter and arguably more “Race” than any Fox fork, but only need a service every 50 hours compared with every 15.

Are the Marzocchis really going to be any better than say Pikes? And if so what would be better. I was thinking of getting some but I already have an 2006 pair of Z1’s that are fine but the Pikes are more sensitive to small bumps and just feel more responsive.

The Pikes are not prefect though and was wondering if the 44’s where any good. It is for a Dialled Bikes Alpine or putting on my Prophet MX.

Right had enough of this 😈

If you don’t want to service forks every 15 hous DONT GET FOX FORKS – Simples. Why bitch about it – cummon’

If you haven’t tried the new 2011 forks and the Kashima coatings then I don’t think one is in a position to bitch really? As I say, no problems in the last 3 months – we shall see if they have corrected some issues no? BTW fox forks are not the only ones to have issues – RS leaky seals and motion control issues?

Marz are pretty bomb proof and require little servicing but are pretty heavy – if weight is not an issue get the zocchis?

There are some amazing deals on Marzocchi’s in the USA, and while it’s tempting, for me it wouldn’t be worth saving the extra to have any issues should I need to action the warranty for whatever reason.

The 44 RC3 Ti’s are available for £550 online and any price difference would soon be eaten up by UK->USA shipping charges, phone calls, hassle, time out of action etc…

GEDA – I had coil Pikes previously and I reckon the 44 RC3 Ti are better damped – the Pikes were excellent but could get out of their depth on fast hard successive hits, the Bombers cope with it a lot better.

Foxy – Coil sprung Bombers aint heavy any more!

Sounds good then. Goes to find Credit Card.

ferrit do you notice any difference in the stiffness? (Going from 20 to 15mm)

If you don’t want to service forks every 15 hous DONT GET FOX FORKS – Simples. Why bitch about it – cummon’

How about if you buy a bike that comes with a certain fork…? Before buying my Stumpjumper, I’d have preferred Revelations on it than the TALAS Fox that it came with.
Now I’ve got them though, they do seem very good forks & so far (touch wood) I have seen no signs of wear. I have given them a couple of services, but nowhere near 15 hourly. That would have required a strip & re-build halfway through this years holiday to Spain……not ideal.

Also, it isn’t great for people who aren’t mountain bike obsessed like us lot, but just want to buy a bike & ride it.

Not really – I was concerned about this as well. Perhaps very slightly if you really, really hammer them but 99% of the time, no!

Go on, you know you want to….

And my Magura Durin SL and Spesh E100 forks are lighter and arguably more “Race” than any Fox fork, but only need a service every 50 hours compared with every 15.

15h service interval on Fox forks? Crikey. Funny how one of the criticisms of Lefties is that they need servicing lots (25h bearing reset/50h stanchion grease)…

Andy

Ooh, what have I started ?!!! 😯

PSA here for anyone wanting to get hold of the 44RC3Ti from the States.
Amazon.com @$325 delivered BUT… only to a US address. I was trying all last night to circumvent that one and failed misserably! Would be great if you have freinds out there and are not in any panic though.

Any good?

hmm, interesting ferrit, I’ll look into it.

It’s probably only a little cheaper than going to the amazon seller direct (circa $100 shipping quoted on the hucknroll website but you then have a different import tax regime to contend with, that would have been less unpredictable if through amazon).
The main obstacle would be the warranty I think… but if they’re that reliable anyway, then it might be worth sacrificing that.

My mate bought 2010 44 RLO just for the warranty. It’s a fairly basic model but the damping works, lockout works, easy to set up and You get two options of travel, 120-140 adjustable internally. On the cheaper models the adjusters are plastic not metal like for example adjusters in my old 07 XC500. It’s not an issue for him, as he just wants to ride his bike, not to service it (he’s not good at servicing anyway). It may not be the lightest fork but he had it for almost a year now and no problems whatsoever. Forks bedded in properly, are buttery smooth and the black coating on bombers seems to outlast the black coating on Manitou. I would consider 2010 Bombers onwards as they seem to get their act together.

However I look after my Reba and stripping the fork every now and again is not a problem so no need to change for me yet.

Another plus for Marzocchi is that they have normal looking decals on 2010 forks, not some half naked ladies, funky shaped numbers etc.

Bundlebox estimates £40 shipping and £60 import tax etc, so total delta costs circa £100 on top of the £216 ($325) item cost.

That looks attractive to me.

Also threw some numbers at their cost calculator to see if a group-buy would save anything but showed that it wouldn’t as most of the cost is item-value driven.

Scored stanchions might be recoverable. It is known in the off-road motorcycle world to get a replating job done. Have a look in some motorcycle mags’ classified section.

Not being able to get the stanchions out the yoke might be a problem though – but an engineering shop should be able to cope with that.

Stumpy01:

How about if you buy a bike that comes with a certain fork…?

Either don’t buy it or try getting frame only if you feel so strongly? Its is a major cost and part of the bike so choose sommink’ else? Just a thought 🙂

The minor service needed only takes 10 minutes once you’ve done it a few times and for any product of that expense that is exposed to that kind of abuse you’d be mad not to open them up regularly.

I’ve badly marked stanchions on 97 Bombers, Magura Menjas, Fox 32 coil. All through a lack of servicing. (I’ll claim the last 2 were due to nowhere to work on them during an extension.

My 36’s have done 1000miles in all weathers and seasons and are fine. Wipers/foam rings have been cleaned and lubed regularly. Seals have just been changed. Full fluid change about 3 or 4 times (3 times due to internal travel changes)
The only thing I haven’t done is the rebound damper but that’s inside a leg with fluid that is relatively clean around it.

I stopped using Marzocchi when they stopped giving out full service documents which is a PITA.

I’ve just ordered a set of 44 RC3Ti from America, they weigh under 2kg, so light enough, and should be awesome. They were about £300 on ebay, delivered, with customs on top, though I don’t know what that might be yet.

Only issue with them is that they’re 15mm axle only, but have picked up some wheels to go with them for £65 second hand so all is good.

Why do you need a document to service some Bombers? a) they don’t need servicing and b) you just undo a bolt and pop everything out, see that it’s fine, then put it back with some new oil.

My personal opinion is that if something needs 15 hour services and breaks as much as Fox Forks and costs that much, it isn’t something I want anywhere near my mountain bike. I’m not just referring to the surface coatings either, I know far too many people that have had issues with TALAS breaking, drop outs cracking etc. If that happens to you it’s cheaper to buy new forks than replace the damaged bits.

I’m sure the only reason Fox are popular is that they heavily discount to the manufacturers.