I have some marzocchi Z2 bombers on my 98 Kona Pahoehoe (upgraded from Z3s at purchase) that hasnt been ridden for about 10years they have never been serviced and I always used to run the as hard as the adjustment let me (im heavy)……2 questions.

1) They seem fine no signs of leaks or anything are they safe to ride?

2) Compared to forks nowadays what’s the difference? Its just im thinking of a steel hardtail that comes with Rockshox Recon Silver TK Solo Air / 120 mm how do they compare?

~thanks in Advance

i have recon solo air on my fs and was using z2 on a hardtail until last year. Not surprisingly longer travel is better on rocky rooty stuff. So i think it all depends on how rough the trail is. Wind wave can still service and get parts for z2s

Or you can sell them and buy something that you will have to service regularly instead.

I’ve got some Z3s on my Coyote Dual. They were second hand, having been donated from a bike in Vancouver, B.C.

I have serviced them once in 5,500 miles. I may service them at 6,000. They rock.

“Compared to forks nowadays…” They will be the mutt’s nuts. Marzocchi went shit in about 2005. I have not seen any evidence of a turnaround.

Post 2006, Rock Shox are where it is at.

If you’re a sucker for marketing, new forks will make you faster and cooler, at the same time.

Those Z2s would probably be sufficient for 95% of STW…. but the marketing department don’t want to tell you that, or they wouldn’t sell any products! 😉

1) Unless there’s oil leaking out of the seals they should be fine. As these forks are open bath with loads of oil in the legs there shouldn’t be any issues with stanction wear or corrosion. I’ve got a pair of Z1’s that haven’t been on a bike for about 4 years, but as soon as I can find a suitable retro frame, they’ll be back in action.

2) I’ve only got experience of modern Fox air forks and the main advance of those is the light weight and the adjustability, but in terms of suspension action I think the Marzocchi’s are far off the Fox.

How much travel and do they have disc mounts?

Got 2001 Z1’s here- They still rock, I just change the oil 😀

i’ve got a set of 2003 z150s (first single crown 6″ fork, from memory). in 5 years I’ve never serviced them, at all, except for topping up the air every so often. Still run plush as ever.

newer forks will be stiffer (laterally), probably weigh less (for the same spec) and have better damping, but having got a set of ’10 domains as well, I’d say the differences are fairly negligable.

Air springs have come a long way, my old z4’s were horrible comparedeven to my manitou minutes (the old original ones) which I still think are horrible.

I had some ’02 Z1 MCR’s which were great forks, with a simple to understand rebound adjustment and coil springs. Compared to the Menjas they were replaced with

Zochi
linear
controlled damping
under sprung, and not progressive (sorted with stiffer springs and more oil, but at a cost).
Compression damping was there, but I’d prefer more and/or adjustments, odly it had a rebound damper in each leg, makes it super plush as its damping a lot of oil, but surely it would cost no more to have made one a compression damper?

menja
lighter (a lot, ~2lb, maybe more)
stiffer (a lot, this is probably the most noticable thing)
‘wallowy mid stroke’ MBR speak for a not particulalry great air spring design.
Rebound seems stuck between not enough low speed to prevent top out and too much high speed to allow the fork to extend quickly, so one click either side of the ‘correct’ setting either results in it packing down or topping out, and the ‘correct’ setting still feels comprimised.
Badly needs some propper compression damping, and less of a spike.

Swings and roundabouts. One day I’d love to bucher some z1 internals into the menja chassis.

RS seem a good comprimise between being plush (but not as much as zocchis which completely flatten the ground for you) and firm (like fox). Rose tinted glasses asside the RS forks are probably better than the Z2’s.