[Closed] Marzocchi 55 CR - Any experience/thoughts?

Weirdly same here. Not buttery smooth on compression. Slight knotchiness- come to think of it sticky is right? Too.

jaame, I also have the same problem with the rebound being too fast. I have already changed the oil to 10w. I presumed that with me being on the 'larger' side and running about 90psi (max on the weight chart is 100psi) that was the cause. I'd be very interested to hear how you get on with this. I may try going up to 15w oil to see if that helps - but the odd thing is initially the rebound was pretty much in the middle!

[i]Weirdly same here. Not buttery smooth on compression. Slight knotchiness- come to think of it sticky is right? Too. [/i]

oh god, it's started.

There's mass panic breaking out in a warehouse/office unit on the outskirts of Portsmouth as we speak.

Mine is smooth as silk on compression, and my rebound goes from very fast to very very slow. But I am a dainty 65kg, set at 65psi

There's mass panic breaking out in a warehouse/office unit on the outskirts of Portsmouth as we speak

I've used them 3 times for service/warranty stuff on different forks. If I've posted overnight on a Monday I've always had them back for the Friday.

Local service first is probably best place to start, anyway, and I hope it sorts them.

I have just read something about bleedijng the rebound cartridge?? Does that make sense to anyone?

Dynamic bleed for the damper side, it looks a faff but isnt too bad.

[url]

There is a proper air /oil seal under the dust seal, pop the dust seal off and lube the proper one if its feeling notchy.

loverofminkys, 100psi for me otherwise its plowing through the travel, Ive put 20ml of oil in the damper to help it ramp up, might go for another 10ml.

Anyway, my 2012s have been back to windwave twice. Needed new seals as it was losing air, far enough. Was still losing air on return so then had a new air assembly installed. All work done by Windwave for nowt via LBS.

Can I just point out I've had my Pikes since last September and they haven't started knocking (yet).

Can I just point out I've had my Pikes since last September and they haven't started knocking (yet).

mutter grumble mutter

PWNED! 😀

I changed the oil to Repsol 10w. Not sure if there is a bit of air left in the cartridge though... I haven't tried them yet but I'd say just in the kitchen the rebound is slower.

Unfortunately I tore the air seal when trying to stick the seal head back in from the bottom of the air cartridge. I reassembled it from the top and it's holding air but I've ordered a new one.

Any of you guys had problems with getting the seal head back in after changing the travel?

Anyone got any tips for bleeding the damping cartridge? I noticed the after I followed the steps on that video, I couldn't be sure if all the air came out of the compression side. There is a squelchy sound when they rebound but I couldn't say if it's new or not. Damping works right to top out though.

Also, the dust seals were dry as a bone which I guess would be why they felt sticky.

I've been told the oil in the air cartridge should be 20cc of SAE90.

The air seal head is tight to get in, just needs gentle wiggling and a bit of lube.

Damping cartridge I just followed the youtube linky above, seemed to work OK.

I put plenty of Stendec grease under my dust seals.

I'm running out of fork oil so used dexron 2 gearbox oil oin the lowers, hopefully wont affect the seals.

I dont know if this applies to the 55CR, but on the 55rc3ti, if you store the forks upside down/on their side, or in any orientation that isnt the right way up, air gets into the damping oil and causes the rebound and compression to lose effectiveness temporarily.

The solution I have found is to just cycle the fork a few times before you ride to purge the air out of the damper. you can feel the damping going from too fast back to how it should be within a few cycles.

I dont know if this applies to the 55CR, but on the 55rc3ti, if you store the forks upside down/on their side, or in any orientation that isnt the right way up, air gets into the damping oil and causes the rebound and compression to lose effectiveness temporarily.

The solution I have found is to just cycle the fork a few times before you ride to purge the air out of the damper. you can feel the damping going from too fast back to how it should be within a few cycles.

Ah- I carry the bike in the car upside usually and when putting the wheels on before the start of the ride. Thanks for that.

I dont know if this applies to the 55CR, but on the 55rc3ti, if you store the forks upside down/on their side, or in any orientation that isnt the right way up, air gets into the damping oil and causes the rebound and compression to lose effectiveness temporarily.

I think that applies to every fork I've used - as you say, cycling the fork a few times usually resolves it.

question- surely on the first descent the fork-action would do the samething though?

Hora, what if you start with a climb? You hadn't thought of that had you.

question- surely on the first descent the fork-action would do the samething though?

When I say cycle I mean push the fork all the way through its travel a few times (10 should do it), I guess if your descent does the same then yep it should sort it out. Maybe if your descent only uses the 20% of the travel then it wont be as effective? or maybe all the other jiggling that goes with riding means its less effective I dont know.

All you're attempting to do is get the air bubbles that are in the damping oil out above the piston where they will have no effect, that would happen naturally if you left the forks upright for a period, you're just helping them along by bouncing the fork all the way through its travel.

Give it a try, but if after cycling them a few times your damping is still too fast then its not just a simple problem of air in the oil from being stored upside down.

The CR cartridge is sealed, it doesn't mix the oil and air if you flip it upside down. My DJ does that and it's fine after a few bounces as you say.

I went for a ride yesterday on my 55CR. To recap, the rebound was originally good on the slow side of the middle setting. After a few hours it became too fast even on the slowest setting. The compression range was perfect as stock. Fully off great for small bump sensitivity, half way in and giving a lot of support for pushing through corners and hard braking.

I've changed the oil to 10w (stock is 7.5). Now I feel that the rebound is just about slow enough on the slowest setting, but the range of compression damping adjustment has moved too much. The damping is acceptable now for hard riding with the rebound set on fully slow and the compression set fully open. However, I'd like to change the compression settings to how they originally were with 7.5wt oil.

Which leads me to my next question... anyone have any experience with revalving the rebound or compression ends? I guess I could try to remove a shim from the compression stack and keep using the 10w oil, or switch back to 7.5w and do somthing to the rebound end to make it slower? I haven't got any experience of doing this, and sending it off to have it done isn't an option.

I forgot to mention... I'm pretty sure there is still a little bit of air in the damper. When I was doing it, I tapped it and a lot of air came out, then I left it for about 20 minutes until the bubbles stopped coming out, but I felt at the time that the oil level didn't go down enough to fill the compression stack at the bottom as per that video.

Next time, I'll try pumping it in and out to get all that air out.

Have just bought a pair of these in 170mm - how much faff is involved in dropping them to 150mm?

Dont mind fiddling with stuff but dont want to really be faffing with oil levels etc on a brand new pair of forks

Agree. Ridiculous- I remember my old 36 Floats were so simple. Ditto Lyrik air to coil conversion by comparison. Mazz should default to 150mm with 'can be increased' rather than vice versa IMO.

help needed - and I must say I'm pissed off with these forks already.

No information on Marzocchi's website yet they bundle the spacer in with the forks.

Anyway took the lowers off and collected the small amount of oil in there, undid circlip on air side, removed aluminium end cap from rod, removed bottom bumper, circlip and aluminium retainer. Removed black rubber/plastic spacer from coil spring, inserted 20mm spacer then reinstalled rubber/plastic spacer, built back up but the confusing thing is the fork stantions still measure 170 ish mm and the forks achieve full 170mm travel with a small amount of air and on the bench.

Have I put the spacer in the wrong place?

Also the air seal is a shit set-up, you have to 'tuck the seal skirt back in with a screwdriver as the chamfer isn't big enough on the lower leg for it to squeeze the seal in itself.

Wished I'd just bought the coil version - would have been riding by now.

It sounds more or less correct, but it's hard to visualise without pics.

Can you possibly post some and I'll take a look later?

Found a pic on Pinkbike where the spacer is on top of the negative spring- not sure what difference it should make but when i stripped the fork back down to move the spacer about it turns out the circlip has blown out of the groove. Something is slightly too long for it too seat in the groove properly hence the lowers going back to 170mm ish travel.

shit forks so far.

Figured why the circlip wont now fit-the inner air tube has moved off i presume the top air seal making it 'slightly longer' hence the circlip groove being covered.
Have to now remove top cap and have a look in the top end....except its too tight and wont budge so now now needs some gentle heat applying....

pile of crap having to do this much pissing about to make them 150mm.

I empty all air out. Cycle forks. Pump back up.

Bobby dazzler.

Changing the travel on mine was piece of piss as was the dynamic bleed.
So far they have been bloody awesome.

This is how the spacer ended up;[url= http://s3.postimg.org/6hj2u25ib/WP_20140621_002.jp g" target="_blank">http://s3.postimg.org/6hj2u25ib/WP_20140621_002.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://postimage.org/ ]upload images free[/url]

but this is the problem- the inner air tube has come off its top seal, the only way to get it back on without damaging the lips of the seal is to take the fork cap off, but as stated previously even with a new cassette removal tool the cap is too tight and cannot be removed.

[url= http://s3.postimg.org/4borzk21v/WP_20140621_006.jp g" target="_blank">http://s3.postimg.org/4borzk21v/WP_20140621_006.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://postimage.org/ ]upload images free[/url]

hence the circlip wont engage in in the groove as the inner air tube isnt seating properly.

[url= http://s3.postimg.org/ydtcy33hf/WP_20140621_003.jp g" target="_blank">http://s3.postimg.org/ydtcy33hf/WP_20140621_003.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://postimage.org/ ]image hosting free[/url]

Im sure they're awesome but too much pissing about on a brand new £450 item for me. The stuck/unable to be removed topcap was the final straw.
Will ring Windwave on Monday

I have some 350 CR on the way I'm glad I don't have to bother with lowering them!

See my new topic: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fork-stanchion-marks-thoughts

Any one else?

Otherwise the forks ROCK 🙁

So I just fitted my 350 CR and the manual that came with it doesn't even mention this fork but it is basically the 55 CR with new lowers and uppers. I weigh about 68kg and I pressurised it to about 80 psi, the compression is set all the way to - and rebound is in the middle. The result of my living room test being very little sag and a very harsh beginning of the stroke it also doesn't use much travel at all.

Any thoughts?

Something doesn't sound right to me there...I've never seen a 350CR, much less set one up but it can't be a million miles away from the 55CR surely?

I'm guessing that the compression is backed right off (I never use mine unless I'm riding on road), the middle setting for rebound would be about right...try letting out 20psi and see what happens.

It might also pay to ensure that the lowers have oil in and that the seals are lubed. If the fork has been stored flat in transit then seals might dry out causing the stiction you're describing. It might even be resolved by leaving the forks upside down overnight to allow the oil to reach where it needs to be.

My new seals were tight but improved after a few rides.

So I lowered the pressure by 15 psi. They sag a bit when I bounce on the bike but they jolt through their travel.

You could lift the dust seals off and lube them up and the oilseals underneath.

Break em in?

I spoke to Windwave and they advised me to try and break them in. I took nearly all the pressure out of the spring and pumped the fork through all of the travel a few times this made it feel a bit better. I can see lube around the edge of the seals so I imagine they are well lubed already.

my seals were bone dry when i sripped my new fork ( as above posts). Squirted a fair bit of oil in the lowers to be on the safe side when I rebuilt them.

There is something definitely right with this fork it doesn't even sag properly when at 50% of recommended pressure. I will give windwave another call tomorrow about oil and such as I don't even know what weight oil goes where and how much of it.

Left upside down overnight this led to no improvement.

for what its worth i've had my 55cr's for a year now and i've not had any real issues with them. getting the rebound/compression and air pressure setting took a while but once i found a setting i was happy with i cant really fault them.
i stand my bike on its back wheel with the front secured to a hook in the wall so its nearly upside down when stored and i have to admit that when i get the bike down the forks can stick a little but once ive compressed the fork a couple of times they become smooth again.

one thing i remember i did do is that i put a very small amount of lube on the fork seals and the upper stanchions when i got the fork to help bed them in.
not sure if this is why i've not had any issues yet.

Rusty how much oil did you put in?

Mine should be back from the menders soon......with different coloured lowers. We think the bushes were too tight (weren't sized right?) which also accounts for why the forks always felt too stiff no matter what I did with the psi.

Will post up a pic 😀

Hmm... I wonder if this why my 350cr are still stiff and have a lot of stiction.

How can you tell/measure if this is the case?

My stanchions started wearing in lines- keep an eye on your stanchions?

No matter what I did the forks always felt on the stiff side. Especially the initial stroke- so maybe that?

Well I'm using my Rock Sektors as a baseline.

fr0sty125 - I fitted my 350CRs last night. I haven't ridden them properly (and TF Tuned lowered the travel for me before fitting) but they are very smooth with no obvious stiction and clearly want to sit into the travel a bit as TF Tuned set them up.

There's something the matter with yours....

Yeah I'm thinking the same I will give them a proper ride this weekend if they are not right then I guess I will send them back.

Frosty mine are back today or tomorrow- as soon as I compress them I'll be able to tell you. If I find its night and day- you should call Windwave.

Wow.
The pic really don't do them justice. They look BOS forks expensive in the flesh.

[img] [/img]

Frosty- mine are silky smooth - no initial firmness etc. At odds with the ones I sent back.

very nice Hora....i'm a bit envious of the colour scheme...looks much better than the black version

so have they just replaced the seals and lowers or given you a new fork?

Everything bar the cart inside.

so its practically brand new? you jammy sod!! 😆

look cool. I reckon you'd get more for them 2nd hand now than with all black 🙂

you jammy sod!!

Ironically, they managed to do a ONE day turnaround. I thought it'd been weeks due to the summer weather. Fantastic service and communication really. Couldn't fault it.

They look awesome. Well jealous of the white lowers over black.

Want to swap?? 😆

[i]Fantastic service and communication really. Couldn't fault it. [/i]

Windwave have always had a good reputation. My experience with them has been exemplary too.

They look brilliant.

I've always really like Marz forks since the MX Pro ETAs which were the first half decent forks I owned.

It looks like they are back to their best after a few years in the wilderness

Where can I get a set. They would be just the thing on my 5 spot spaced down to 150mm

hora - Member

Frosty- mine are silky smooth - no initial firmness etc. At odds with the ones I sent back.

Well I guess my suspicion from the start that mine were not right is probably true.

after my initial shit start with these forks - I finally managed a ride on them last night.

Does anyone else's 55's make a squishing noise when compressed or do I need to faff with the cartridge oil?

Mines fixed and squishes.

Pre fix it didnt squishy

My 350 cr doesn't squish.

They certainly do work 😀 but sound like a squabbling mouse is in them

Mine were great at first but get sticky after a few hours of use. Also the rebound damping disappeared. I took them apart and found them to be bone dry on the seals. I also changed to 10w oil.

Long story short, the 10w oil made the compression stroke feel shit and restrained (not recommended). I ripped the air seal trying to get it back in from the bottom (shit design - cartridge in stanchion, why they don't use the stanchion itself like RS is a mystery to me). Rebuilt them from the top, which was very tight but I used a handlebar on my socket wrench to get more leverage.

Eventually sent them back. They came back after a week feeling as good as new.

My advice is, keep them lubed up inside, and be very careful when trying to put the air head back in from the bottom of the leg.

In use, great. They are very smooth and composed. Definitely better than my other current forks on the compression stroke (Totem RC2DH, Domain R, DJ2).

So basically crap out of the factory. They need 'reassembly' to get them right.

As per Jaame.

Having to try and push the lips of the air seal in and get the whole lot inside the inner tube is crap. But then I couldnt get the top cap off mine to drop it in from the top - ie the correct way for the air seal lips. Apparently they are thread locked from the factory. My top cap started chewing itself even with a proper Shimano cassette tool.

I can see Marzocchi having stantion wear issues ala FOX with this fork.
I stuck 30 or 40cc of extra oil in the bottom of each leg and I store the bike upside down when not in use.

I think they work very well when they work. I rate them as the best feeling fork I've recently owned on a good day. My totems also felt great for about ten minutes when new. They still feel great now when I change the oil. Only problem is, you have to do that every three to five hours to keep them working well. My DJs have had one oil change in 4 years and it didn't make any difference. Awesome before and after but no compression damping adjustment. Same with the Domain R. No control on the compression stroke.

The 55CR feels great to me. Very smooth, they give a great amount of feel over the front end through turns and stuff. The compression adjustment range is very good (unlike the Totem RC2DH which doesn't make a discernible difference from one end to the other, and that fork cost me an an arm and a leg).

My 55 is feeling great now. I'm just planning to see how it goes, probably put more oil than recommended in the legs next time, and just leave the damper side alone. Any oil added to the air spring will go in from the top of the leg. I think I'll also lube the seals by pulling them open a bit with a plastic pick and pouring oil in from the top.

Not perfect, but it's a cheap fork. I paid 900 quid for my Totem and that felt shit after a couple of days too. It's a lot easier to service though. Even after this ballache with the 55, I don't regret buying it. I think it's going to be fine now.

Update on my 350 CR after a half dozen rides and a lot of Fenwick’s they are starting to feel really good. The initial stiction has nearly completely gone and the forks feel very smooth. I still haven’t had chance to ride them really hard as I'm recovering from a broken wrist but what I have found is that they are extremely stiff, track very well and handle the bigger hits effortlessly.

My rebound damping has disappeared for a second time and I haven't been able to fix it by bleeding the cartridge following the YouTube video. Seems like it's very sensitive to air inside the cartridge and yet the bleed process inevitably allows some air back in (when you reconnect the bled rebound and compression ends back together). It is a great fork when it works but that seems to be a maximum of two months at a time for me.
I noticed a recent review on pinkbike for a banshee downhill bike had similar problems with the 88cr which was sorted with a different damper (from the previous year form).
So next I'll be posting them back again to see what windwave can do, presumably fix them for another two months...

Update- I switched to Pikes from 55's. I'll admit to this- the 55's felt way plusher and better. Sad to admit as I got rid of my 55's. Bare with them- tbh anyone with 'issues' may be experiencing what I did before I had my lowers etc replaced- bushes that are in too tight from the factory. Once this was sorted.. wow. then I bloody sold them.

Just finished a ride in the peaks and i noticed this.

[img] [/img]

Same issue as hora's 55cr seems to hit my 350 CR

What couriers would people recommend for forks?

YGM

Didn't get it but ygm

My 55CR started to get a bit sticky again after almost a year since the last service. The air side had almost no lube oil in the lowers. The damper side was as it should be. I obtained another travel spacer from my friend and I've rebuilt the fork at 130mm travel. I'm going to use it on my Corsair 130mm travel bike for a bit for trips to the jumps and pumptrack. Post service it feels great on the carpet test.
I spoke to Marzocchi at the Taipei show this year. He said the gold race coating had some scratching problems so it was changed. The interesting thing he said was that all coatings scratch up, but on some you can't tell. I am guessing the Espresso coating, Kashima and Marzocchi black are examples of these.

I forgot to mention. Re the air in the damper. If the DBC works as they claim, it shouldn't matter that there is a little air inside the cartridge after a service. When the fork bottoms, that air should be purged through the one way seal, and fresh oil from the lowers sucked back in when the fork extends. If the rebound damping has disappeared, I think it is a problem other than air inside.

is it an easy job to remove the 20mm spacer?

Fitting and removing the travel spacers is easy.

I dropped mine to 130 but the rebound damping wasn't sufficient to handle the higher pressure of 120 to 130 psi. I rebuilt it to 170 and that very weekend met another guy with a 55CR. Back to back testing made it clear that my rebound damping was not as it should have been. I sent it back for the second time. They said they will probably switch the damper. I said you really should since this is the second occurrence.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this thread but I will post an update anyway.

My rebound damping disappeared for the second time. I sent it back and they told me they changed the damper with a new one, which came from Italy the week after the news came out about them looking for a buyer.

Anyway it was great again for a few weeks. This morning when doing a long climb in the saddle, I noticed a clicking sound. After washing the bike at home, it was clear there was a notchiness, kind of clicking and sticking when changing from compression to rebound. I thought it felt like there was no lube oil in the lowers. There wasn't enough in there to run out when I pulled the lowers off just now. I rebuilt the fork with 30cc of 7.5wt in each leg, and the clicking and sticking is still happening. Oh dear. The air side was smooth so I guess there is a problem with the damper again. The damping still works, but the feeling is new.