Had an issue with my Marzocchi All Mountain SL. They went from 120 – 160mm adjustable travel to 80 – 120mm travel. I exchanged a few emails with Windwave and they agreed to check them out. Turns out the ATA cartridge has gone and Marzocchi don’t supply them any more. I was offered 25% of a set off new forks. I took issue with this and spoke to one of their mechanics who offered to try a fix. He’s done a sterling job and I’ve got the forks back – cheers Shaun, you are a gentleman.

However, aside from Windwave’s excellent mechanics, I have a little problem with a well respected manufacturer completely dropping support for an item after 3 years. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used lots of Marzocchi forks and not really had any problems but I will be very hesitant about buying another set if when I get a problem I will be told “tough shit, we don’t support them any more. Bin them and we will offer 25% off a new pair.”

Am I being unreasonable in expecting a manufacturer to support something for a little longer than 3 years? Again, I’m not expecting perpetual warranty, obviously I expect to pay for spares. I’d just like them to be available.

now I’m worrying about my ATA 66’s 🙁

On the web there are loads of “how to” articles for fixing ata problems. MTBR is about the best with loads of threads and pictures etc.

Fair comment Mildred but in the event that I can’t fix a component I would like to be able to get a replacement part.

I think it is unacceptable to completely dump a product after three years.

I’ve got some 55 ATA’s that need to go in as the Lockout isn’t working and can be a bit clunky. Still getting full travel though, and they should be under warranty as the are off a 2009 bike purchased in Feb this year.
I have a feeling it may be the ATA cartridge on those as detailed in many of the threads on here; it’ll be interesting to see what the response is from Windwave.

If they won’t lockout it won’t be the ata cartridge but possibly the tst side. The ata is the travel select and usually manifests itself in losing travel or sinking to bog all travel.

Yes I agree, 3 years is sod all time really.

Have to admit to knowing almost nothing about the internals of forks, but with everything I have read about these 55’s I don’t have much faith in them. Came with the bike, and don’t really want to be spending money on them if they do go.

Yeah, 3 years is a bit shabby really. but if Windwave can’t get them from Marzocchi then i guess money off a new set of forks is the next best thing?

I’d be p**sed off though

thats pretty unacceptable tbh, although maybe tft or mojo could help.

TF Tunded won’t touch the 55’s or the ATA’s from Marzocchi – agreed on the poor response from UK Importer and 25% seems poor value. Have got a pair of 55TST2’s wouldn’t go any where near Marzocchi again.

The TST forks are well know for being sh**e

The Windwave mechanic has done a stirling job and excellent customer service. However I’m now worried in case it goes again and I have to effectively bin what should be a perfectly serviceable set of forks.

@nickc, I agree that a discount is the next best option, but 25% off RRP?

I’m going to contact the customer side of Windwave and also drop a line to Marzocchi. If it’s the case now where support for kit is dropped so quickly then I definately won’t be using Marzocchi again, which pisses me off as I’ve had no problems at all with older forks.

I wonder how you’d fair if you bought these:

Marzocchi 66’s only £400 with 3 year warranty

It states that you get the 3yr manufacture warranty, so what if the ATA fails in say a year and a half? surely they ether have limited spares left to service the older forks in circulation or are levering you towards a replacement?

tbh I’ve only ever had good service for windwave (except for once but I’ll overlook what I consider to have been a genuine mistake which was quickly rectified) so I’m pretty hopeful that they’ll help should I ever need them again 🙂

Could be worse, manitou won’t supply service parts for anything over 3 years old, let alone internals!

They probably never anticipated the demamd for spare cartriges that the 2007-2009 forks experienced………….

MrNutt, the service from the mechanic Shaun was excellent.

I’ll see how long they last and then replace when necessary.

I had a fault on some 2009 55 rc3’s, they tried twice to fix the leak and failed, on the third time they were replaced for 2010 55rc3 ti’s which a worlds apart from the 2009 version.
All this was dealt with very well by Tony at merlin cycles and windwave.
Cant grumble really 😆

IIRC the TST2 damper was quite a good shim based design, which looked to have been deliberately downgraded to make a ‘cheep’ fork. If you strip them down theres a big 2p sized washer covering an orrifice which the TST2 opens and closes to lock them out. Swap that out for some shims and the pressures in the damper go down (so seals don’t blow) and you get something more like Fox’s RL damper where the further you turn the dial the more low speed compression you get.

There’s instructions on MTBR IIRC.

Ever since manitou have existed they’re dropped products after three years. Its nothing new.

Have you considered investigating if you can retro-fit a new and improved damper of similar type, or any type for that matter?

It is very poor to drop support so fast

As I understand it older forks like Z1, Z2 etc. are still supported. Infact the guy at Windwave recomended thhe old stuff as its so well made and servicable

So I bought some Z2s for an old hard tail. They just work so didn’t need any help from wind wave after all….

Ever since manitou have existed they’re dropped products after three years. Its nothing new.

Thanks for the info. I was considering Manitou as an option but not now.