I store my bikes hanging up from the front wheel, so the fork seals get lubricated. Well I hadn't ridden the Patriot for months, and I took it out yesterday. The Marz 66SLs were as dry as a camel's jockstrap. Even worse after a lap of Cwmcarn.

I didn't see any oil leaking out onto the floor.. any ideas on what's happening? Are the seals degrading with time perhaps?

No mechanical thing likes being left unused.(Cars, bikes, lawnmowers, tools, etc) It's just the way it is.
A quick DIY service should freshen them up again.

moths

Yeah but I want to know WHY it's happened. Where's the oil gone?

Becasue you haven't used them, that's why. The oil may have been low before you laid the bike up, it may now be all sitting up the top in the seals and foams. You may have an oil sucking fork vampire in your garage, who knows? 😉

To fix the problem I'd prescribe a basic service followd by therapy of more regualar use and storage as nature intended, i.e. on it's wheels

And if that doesn't work, make an appointment for 6 months time for some serious surgery: Amputation of the arthritic Marzoccis and the fitting of prosthetic Fox or Rockshox.

😉

It's not in the seals and foams, that's why it felt so dry…

My money's on seal degradation. Perhaps they've been in the air (isnide the fork) too much and deteriorated. Windwave may be getting a call.

Oh, I was hoping you'd find a vampire.

It's not in the seals and foams, that's why it felt so dry…

Well in that case, and if there's nothing on the floor, there was no oil in there when you hung the bike up. And the oil isn't primarily to lube the seals, it's there to lube the bushes:
Metal on rubber? – Hmm. OK. Bit sticky.
Metal on metal? – Utter devastation.

To be fair, I wouldn't waste your money sending them off. Marzocchis of that vintage aren't the best (Shall we say?) and all you need to do is whip them apart and relube them. I've just done some All Mountain SLs for Juan. Easy enough to do if you're confident, but not a patch on the simplicity of Rockshox internals. Sealed cartridges? What's all that about?

My money's on seal degradation. Perhaps they've been in the air

Err no. Really. Just no. There's more air than oil inside anyway, whatever you do with them. And hung up, all the oils should have been up against the seals….. And if it wasn't, there' wasn't any. So we're back to lack of use AND lack of maintainance on top!

I've had them apart a fair few times. Which is why I know there's plenty of oil in them 🙂 Or at least there was a year ago, and now there no longer appears to be. Hence the confusion. The point I was making abotu air was that when you use the fork, the seals get oil run over them once a week or whatever – if it was hung up all the time then all the oil would have drained away and they'd have been in contact with air more.

I take your point about Marzocchi in general – although I think my forks aren't the ones with the really bad reliability record. I had the common fault of the ATA winding itself out, and got that fixed under warranty.

I'd probably change them, but it's £800 quid's worth, so even used ones are going to be expensive. And used forks give me the fear.

has the oil just drained into the wrong part of the fork? are they open bath? is the bottom bush now dry? could the oil now all be in the top of the fork above the damper rather than in the bottom?

I'd just do an oil change on them and see if that helps.

Open bath, damper oil in one leg and 10cc in the other.

I haven't considered the possibility of water ingress on their last ride before being hung up… 😕

My money's on water,

Oil change, lather some super slick grease on the seal and get some stanchion lube to keep the seals from drying out

Hard to say what the cause is, cure's a service.

How much for some 66 SL ATAs then Loco?

mole mail me for details (in profile) and i'll get back to you tomorrow.