Anyone got these forks and have any gripes or info to share? And, if so, what year's model are they? I'm interested in the whole reliability issue after Marzocchi took a nosedive. Want something smooth, controlled, stiff and 160mm, without major servicing needs. Ta.
Bike Forum
Marzocchi 55 RC3 ti - any good?
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Posted 11 months ago #
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I'm not an owner but have had a wee go on a friends. He has had them a year and is incredibly rough with his kit - these forks lasted longer than the frame! They still feel buttery smooth in that bomber way and he has no complaints or regrets.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Just got myself a pair of 2010 ones, only had them for a a few weeks so still getting used to them, but they do feel very nice I did have a set of 2009 66ATA and a set of 2009 lyrik 2steps before that, you can definitely tell the difference in weight, lighter than both and feel much plusher than both.
Cant really say much on the reliability yet as I haven't had them long enough, but then I never had an issue with the 66's either, I do think they are going to be fit and forget forks once setup properly.
Only gripe I can think of at the moment is the arch and the fact it can fill with mud at the back (im not the best at cleaning my bike) I suppose thats the same with most forks really should clean it out and put some tape over it, apart from that they seem like great forks so far.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Cheers for this. Messiah - don't suppose you happen to know which year, 2009 or 2010? Ta v much.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I ordered a pair of the Ltd. edition Purple ones from Wiggle yesterday
They are the 2010 model with 3 year warranty and no service stipulations.
Down from £899 to £458
They still have 8 pairs left
Posted 11 months ago # -
they have the non-purple ones too for the same price. Unsubscribe and resubscribe to news letter for extra £5 off voucher, and buy via topcashback for another 4% back. Blinding deal.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I got some 2010 ones from ebay for £250. I have got them on my Dialled Alpine to replace a pair of Pikes. The Pikes got replaced as they tended to pack down on rough descents.
No such problems with the 55s and they are only about 100g heavier. Nice and plush, a bit of an overkill for the bike but they are fun. I set them up with a tiny amount of air preload, nearly no preload (A few clicks) and I think in the middle for the High/low compression. It was a bit counter intuitive to set this up though as I tried it at the soft end to start with but then this made it less plush when going at speed on rough bits. Feels great now though and it maybe took at bit of time to break them in.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Cheers, all. That's the deal I spotted - just weighing up the risk of going back to Bombers after their silly spell, so I fancied some user feedback. Forks will go nicely on either of my Oranges.
Posted 11 months ago # -
one of the reviews (bikeradar) I read in between seeing this thread and ahem buying some from wiggle
suggested that adding air preload caused the fork to spike, and recommended changing the spring rather than using air. 3yr no quibble warranty (after taking the manufacturing back in-house in italy rather than outsourcing) hopefully means a return to the form of old, I always used to be a Marz fan and a pair of '99 Z3s I had are still going strong. New for the price of used is usually a no-brainer.Mine are going on an Alpine to compliment a CCDB.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Ti = 2010 onwards. 2009 and before are the ones with issues.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I read the thing about running them with no air in them and let all the air out. Then I read something else that said you should run them with a very small amount of air. After messing around a bit they now have just enough pressure to register ans they seem to work well. Too many variables for my small brain to cope with though.
Posted 11 months ago # -
i loved the base 55's this year but got lyrics. i love the fact that marz look back to pre 2004 levels of awesome
Posted 11 months ago # -
GEDA, in between the fork (lyrik is as "bad" though) and the CCDB I'll spend forever tinkering. Part of the fun?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Also ordered a set through wiggle although I never went for the purple, and also hoping they complement a CCDB.
3year warranty and 49% off was too much to resist
Posted 11 months ago # -
are alternative ti springs actually available for this fork though?
i've done an internet search in the past and found absolutely no information on them
Posted 11 months ago # -
considering getting a pair of these to replace the 55 ATA2 i have at the moment; would these be fairly future-proof (at least for the next, say, 5 years or so) do you reckon? the ATA2s i have were 2008 and have had the internals replaced under warranty but i'm still not super convinced (although they are good)!
Posted 11 months ago # -
orange, one of the press release reviews said mutliple spring weights available at the same time as release of the fork. Not sure on price, or whether a swap is on the cards as a ti spring wont be cheap.
wiggle have sold out of the none-purple one.
not sure what you mean by future proof, xherb? They are 1 1/8th steerer so will fit any frame with the right headset, marz was taken over in 2010 and took manufacturing back in house in italy (heard on tinterweb the 2008-09 forks were made by junk miesters SR Suntour). These have been around a year and Ive heard no bad reports in that time and the warranty is as good as it gets. Looks like a return to the plush bombproof marzocchi of old, with the only traditional bugbear of weight being dealt with on these forks (I had some 08 Marz 55Rs and they weighed SEVEN pounds, these are closer to five?).
Posted 11 months ago # -
I have some 55 R's, 2009 model I believe, which now have about 20mm of travel (should be 160). Still debating what to do about it, might try to get them repaired under warrenty but my understanding is the cartridge will just blow again so seems inevitable that they will end up in the bin. I think if you just avoid the SR Suntour years you should be ok but I planning on switching to Rockshox.
Posted 11 months ago # -
marz was taken over in 2010 and took manufacturing back in house in italy (heard on tinterweb the 2008-09 forks were made by junk miesters SR Suntour)
I'm fairly confident that this isn't true. Do you have a source? Aftermarket 07s were the last of the Italian-made Marzocchis, although the lower-end OEM forks were made by Suntour from (perhaps) as early as 2006. Manufacturing of all Marzocchi forks has been in Taiwan since the terrible, terrible 2008 line-up.
Posted 11 months ago # -
yep, i have a set of the purple ones from wiggle. owned them for a couple of months now and can honestly say that they are an amazing fork - everything feels nice and controlled up front with good small bump sensitivity, not so much brake dive and ready to take on the bigger hits. they replaced a set of 2006 z1 lights, which were also great but i think that the 55s fatter stanchion just makes everything better.
definitely recommend them, especially at that price.
+ 3 year warranty with no service stipulations...it's probably one of the best bargains around at the moment & i can't believe that they still have them in stock. all i can think is the zocchi reputation certainly took a hammering!
edit: **** i sound like a journo at the start of that!
Posted 11 months ago # -
three_fish, would have to trawl all the frantic googling I did prior to purchase, but I seem to remember reading in 2010 Marz were taken over by US owners and they moved production back to italy. To be honest I'm not bothered who makes them as long as the problems have been sorted which it appears they have (pretty sure RS forks are made in taiwan).
spidey, there is an improvised fix for the failing damping carts in 08/09 forks which involves drilling holes in it, sure its on tinterweb if youre not already aware.
Posted 11 months ago # -
but I seem to remember reading in 2010 Marz were taken over by US owners and they moved production back to italy.
Tenneco took over Marzocchi 2008, but left manufacturing with SR Suntour in Taiwan. I agree that country of manufacture is not necessarily an indication of quality, I was just keeping the facts straight.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I knew they were bought by Tenneco in 2008, and from the website tenneco still appear to be the owner, but most of the press releases say
"Under new American ownership since 2010, Marzocchi has gone back to its roots with reliable open bath oil damping technology"
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/marzocchi/
so not sure how "you" can reconcile the two, unless Tenneco have been bought by another US company?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Tenneco bought Marzocchi in late 2008, by which time the 2009 forks would already have been on the market. The '08 and '09 range were typically all made from the same batch of parts and had lots of problems which seem to have been related to the switch to Taiwanese manufacture, or the switch away from decades of Italian manufacture - depending on how "you" (what does that mean?) want to put it. I wouldn't presume to know what the Marzocchi/Tenneco marketing team said to each other, but the 2010 (out in late 2009) range was Marz's response to the piss-poor stuff they churned out in the previous two seasons. Like any ailing business, it would make more sense to attach 'under new management' to the range of improved forks and not to the pile of parts that was still slopping, creaking and failing on hills and mountains all over the free world. The return to roots refers to open bath damping, not a return to Italian manufacture. They have been under new ownership since 2010; but they've also been under new ownership since 2008 - they're not lying, they're just only telling the truth from the point that suits their marketing strategy.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Have to say I'm a little nervous about my 2010 forks from wiggle having "09" on the lower leg casting. They feel great but I've been away with work so they've only had car park testing really.
Posted 11 months ago # -
three, I wrote "you" as in the royal you/we/one, not you personally, trying to reconcile 2 apparently contradictory statements about new ownership. I'm aware that the roots refers to the reliable open damping they always used, but would agree that it could be akin to businesses sticking a sign out to reassure potential customers and as you say its not a flat out lie.
oliver its the internals that failed not the lowers so it would have made sense for them to redesign internals to fit existing parts stock/tooling (especially assuming they had loads of parts lying around as everyone stopped buying them!). 2010 refers to the design/model year not manufacturer.
Posted 11 months ago # -
We're loving the RC3Ti's - I'm currently running a set of 44's on my Helius AC and we've just put a set of the purple 55's on a Helius AM demo bike (they're basically the same tech/design)
Nothing has ever compared to old zocchis for reliability - they'd go on for years without any attention and you'd open them up to find clean oil on the non-damping leg. The 44's felt great out of the box and just suck everything up. The weight penalty over air forks is not significant and you really can't argue with a 3 year no-service stipulation warranty. At those prices they're an absolute steal.
I do wonder about pricing though - the 44's are £700rrp, the 55's £900. I'd have thought the manufacturing cost would have been near identical.
Posted 11 months ago # -
simons, isnt it a case of what the market will bear? Regardless of the manufacturing costs, all they have to do is price it similarly to the competition (Fox 36, RS Lyrik). Pricing is also used to suggest quality, if they priced em cheaper than the competition would anyone buy them, or would we the market assume they were as poor quality as their disastrous 08/09 stuff? And in terms of structuring a range with pricing, fork manufacturers were charging £100 more for the same fork with an alloy rather than steel steerer years ago despite the negligible materials cost difference.
Posted 11 months ago # -
isnt it a case of what the market will bear
I suppose so. Looking at Fox's prices the equivalent 36 forks sells for about £100 more than the 32's so it's not unusual but the 44 to 55 jump seems a lot.
Posted 11 months ago # -
These forks have made the Dirt 100 for the last 3 years, so they can't be that bad!
http://dirt.mpora.com/dirt-100/suspension-marzocchi-55-rc3.html
http://dirt.mpora.com/zfeatured-box/dirt-100-2010-marzocchi-55-rc3-ti.html
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirt-100-2011marzocchi-55-rc3-ti.htmlPosted 11 months ago #
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