Taken from a Pinkbike article and cutting through the Sales & Marketing Directors spiel (or maybe its bad Italian/English inflection?

” The challenges are such that all of the initiatives we’ve taken are insufficient to achieve viability in a highly competitive and slow-growth market. Despite the great efforts by the Marzocchi team to improve performance and reduce costs, our business model is not sustainable in this environment. We are actively seeking potential buyers for the business and will make a final announcement after a sales market evaluation is completed by a third party that we have engaged[/b].”

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/marzocchi-tenneco-for-sale.html

The line I’ve hi-lighted reads to me like they are in the hands of receivers? What else could it be? Saying their business is not sustainable then going onto that line?

It doesn’t read that way to me. The business is for sale, if the third party advisor cannot find a buyer or comes back as says the business is worthless/unsalable they’ll close it down / sell off any patents. A business may not be viable for them but it could be to a buyer who has a different model / production facility / ability to cut costs

nah, 3rd party will be a specialist firm that will value the business then go out to select companies to try and sell it..

Sounds bad for them – it can’t be easy in the middle market they’re not as cheap as RS, which generally get as good, or better reviews and they don’t have the image of Fox who can charge more for their stuff, because, well they’re fox.

On lower end they’re completely out-priced by X Fusion and don’t have the R&D budget to compete with Cane Creek or DVO on the high-end and I can’t remember the last time I saw a complete bike sold with OE Marz forks.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a complete bike sold with OE Marz forks.

Commencal – http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/commencal-meta-am-origin-suspension-bike-2015/rp-prod123517?gs=1&gclid=CMOVuvbRqMYCFYGWtAodOzEIww&gclsrc=aw.ds

Shimano should buy the lot.

Don’t see how the brand or culture would work for a Shimano take over.

On One/Planet X will probably buy them…………

On One/Planet X will probably buy them

“Well the steerer’s 1 1/8″ give or take an 1/8th, what’s the problem?”

Don’t see how the brand or culture would work for a Shimano take over.

Less about brand or culture and more about shimano broadening their OEM offering SRAM are pretty much a one stop shop for anyone speccing a bike, shimano need to compete. Could be an opportunity, but they don’t tend to do acquisition do they…

don’t have the R&D budget to compete with Cane Creek or DVO on the high-end

You sure about that? Weren’t DVO set up by the Marz US team? Given that in several years they’ve produced two forks and a shock, I don’t think their R&D budget can be that big.

I think Shimano forks and shocks (under the Marz) brand would be fantastic for riders – maybe not the flashiest of kit, but almost without exception their stuff works well, lasts well and is well priced – imagine some Deore spec forks, plain looking, rebound adjustment only and no doubt hanging off every off-the-peg bike, a slightly flasher SLX that most people will buy and some super trick carbon and frankensense XTR for the fans of bling.

I can’t see Shimano getting in bed with Marz, they’ve had far too many dealings with Fox.

Hope they stay afloat, yet to try their forks, 29 Enduro fork sounds exciting.

WideOpenMag piece on this here.

There’s some gossip floating about about a less-obvious buyer: think OE player but without a drive-train offering.

Marzocchi have been heavily specc’ed on CRC’s brands over the last couple of years: Vitus especially. The Vitus offerings with the 350CR have been really good, but they’re not cool. Commencal too.

Also, the 350CRs are waaay more common in Asia than they are in Europe.

The OEM space is interesting these days.

RS/SRAM have a lot bagged
Fox/RF/Easton Packages a lot
As said I just can’t see Shimano/Marzocchi existing in the same space, just too different in brand/style.

DVO are hitting a nice space in exclusive/limited offer what they want in the space you want. If you want a good OEM deal then you need to cover XC to DH well. Marz are covering but not sure how well, without the backing of a big owner/parent to come through when things go lean or to undercut Fox by the amount RS did with the Pike deals that were going round.

It might be best to go for the specialist market but they would have to cut a lot and prices would rise (BOS/DVO/Cane Creek)

Throwing in the return of Manitou and the value that X-Fusion/Suntour offer with decent quality it’s not a good space to be working in and as it appears stuck in the middle.

OE player but without a drive-train offering.

Such as who?

Interesting line form that WideOpen article

Marzocchi has been dogged by production problems: dry forks, scored stanchions and horrific stiction on the come-back 350 line,

Didn’t think the 350s were doing that badly?

That Wideopen thing talks about Suntour as a possible buyer; didn’t Suntour make Marz forks until 2012, and own DVO?

Yeah Suntour would be a good buyer, if they were responsible for building the awesome RC3 Ti models from a few years ago.

They don’t seem to be gaining a lot of traction (pun intended) with their own models and it doesn’t sound like Marz will be going for top dollar as a company.

While it’d be great to see Shimano’s quality control and manufacturing resources thrown behind Marz, it’s just not how they do business.

What is this shimano QC? Snapping mechs, dead clutches, snapping pedals, dead BB’s, brake seals, lever leaking etc.

In some ways fork reliability is also a bit of a myth, RS crowns and seals (2 step), Fox Stanchions, Catrs falling apart etc. Reverbs come to mind too.

But when you put those issues in the context of the volume of units these firms make, and then take into account the whiny pedantry of internet know-it-alls…

that a compliment chakaping?

Just saying they are not all infallible and have managed to let a few things through the net recently.

Edit#
The upshot is if you want to play in the suspension game make sure you have some very deep warranty pockets

There was muttering a while back that Penske wanted to get into the mtb game as a manufacturer- they’re working with Trek currently but they’ve got the pockets and the skills, if they’ve got the desire…

There was muttering a while back that Penske wanted to get into the mtb game as a manufacturer

Aye, and Öhlins. But wouldn’t they be more likely to trade under their own name?

Ohlins have been happy to work with Spesh, CaneCreek and Yamaha in recent years if memory serves correct, they’re not too precious about stuff having to have their own logo plastered across it…typical Swedish understatement.

Ohlins are making stuff inhouse too- TTX damper and a proto dh fork, maybe others? But they’re already a pretty big massmarket/OE manufacturer with their lower end kit (where being blue and gold is more important than being very good) so that’s probably pretty transferrable to pushbikes.

(where being blue and gold is more important than being very good) so that’s probably pretty transferrable to pushbikes.

Yep, you’re preaching to the converted here….i’d sell a kidney to get my bike sprung front and back with Ohlins!

I put a 46hrcl on mine. It was pretty much as good as a good OEM Showa, except with a shorter service life 😆

Ohlins are making stuff inhouse too- TTX damper and a proto dh fork

we were staying with some nice swede guys and gals in the bunkhouse at EWS, they were sponsored by ohlins and had some very trick prototype enduro forks, wasnt slowing those guys down!

Yep, you’re preaching to the converted here….i’d sell a kidney to get my bike sprung front and back with Öhlins!

I’d settle for someone making a shorter-travel 29er fork with a built in mudguard like the DVO one 😛

It was pretty much as good as a good OEM Showa

Stop it now…HRC goodness waved across a Showa shock and fitted to my MTB, urnghh…while we’re at it lets get Kayaba/KYB into the MTB game too!….being able to spec Ohlins, Showa etc for the back end of the bike would be awesome.

deviant – Member
Ohlins have been happy to work with Spesh, CaneCreek and Yamaha in recent years if memory serves correct, they’re not too precious about stuff having to have their own logo plastered across it…typical Swedish understatement.

Yes, their subtle, understated shock is barely visible

To be fair in that photo you can barely see their name and the fact that people automatically associate the colour yellow with Ohlins is a mark of how successful they’ve been….kinda like seeing a flashy red supercar and assuming its a Ferrari without even seeing the badge….a victim of their own success

I personally find it amusing the amount of yellow/gold found on Cane Creek shocks given how much of an input Ohlins had as the consultant brand used from circa 2005 when Cane Creek started developing the Double Barrel…is it an homage by CC or a stipulation by Ohlins?!

i’d be gutted if they went under. hoping one of the bigger companies like shimano/suntour/x-fusion/trek/specialized will snap them up and give them the backing they need to continue

..being able to spec Ohlins, Showa etc for the back end of the bike would be awesome.

I’ve heard that Ohlins are joining forces with Norton to set up a dedicated apprentice school at Norton’s HQ, so perhaps Norton could start producing FS MTB frames as well? 😉

Mazz 350R’s with 10% BC discount £220 on CRC btw.

You can add ‘c’ with a bit of oil in the air res.

Thinking about it, aren’t short(ish) travel air forks pretty mature technology? Can’t see Öhlins/Showa etc. bringing much advance there; only places they can make an impact are LT forks (which is a limited market) and shocks, which is probably why they haven’t already made inroads.

hora – Member
Mazz 350R’s with 10% BC discount £220 on CRC btw.

You can add ‘c’ with a bit of oil in the air res.

How does adding oil to an air preload on a coil spring give you compression dampening?

How does adding oil to an air preload on a coil spring give you compression dampening?

If it was a pure air spring, it would make it less linear; what will it do to air preload?

Will still do bugger all to compression damping, mind.