Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti 2011

Thinking about get the above forks, used to have a pair of shivers on the downhill bike years ago and they where supper smooth. Sick of my Fox 36’s letting me down.

Does anyone have or used the new 2011 version? How are they? Have they sorted out the reliability issues. Have read a few good reviews but I am always a bit dubious about some mag reviews.

Buy them you wont be dissapointed 😉

Have you tried them then?

Does anyone know what the standard spring is?

I’m running 2010 55 rc3 ti’s, same fork as far as im aware?
My weight is about 10.5 stone kitted up, im running no coil preload or air at all.
To be honest spring is maybe just slightly to heavy for me, but only just as ive had full travel from them often on biggish drops.
Had no trouble at all from them, they just work.
They do however take a little while to break in, they just seem to get better and better over a few month.
Hth sean.

Thanks for that, sounds like they are getting back to the good old days. Will have a look around and see what deals are going on the tapered steerer ones.

seen 2010 i think it was on the bay for under 500 quid

here you go
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Marzocchi-55-RC3-Ti-Forks-2011-/110671917475?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item19c48f71a3

hmmm maybe not, feedbacks not great?

A bargain if you like purple?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/marzocchi-55-rc3-ti-160mm-coil-purple-fork-2010/

Yea feedback not the best and I don’t think purple forks and a green frame will look good. Really would prefer the tapered steerer to save me getting a new crown race.

Sean do you know if it is possible to get lighter springs, had a quick look but couldn’t see any.

Sorry stu im not sure mate, what weight are you? surely not much lighter than me?

seanodav, if you find them a little firm you can soften them up a bit by compressing the fork and then pressing down on the air valve. This will create a slight vacume when the fork is extended and make them a tiny bit softer.

I have the 2011 damper retro-fitted in an older pair of 55R’s and the RC3 damper is amazing.

Thanks finkill might try that, however i quite like them a bit firm and i do get full travel on occasion especially when it goes a bit wrong 😉
They have become loads more supple with use but took a while.
I love mine especially not having to worry about them for 3 year

Whats the best setup people have. I got a pair and am 11.5 stone but they just seem a little stiff to me. I am running them with a little air as when I let it all out they did not seem to be as smooth. I have only one click of coil preload and 5 clicks? of compression adjustment but to tell you the truth I can’t tell if this makes any difference.

Any tips for set up? How do you work out the high Low speed compression settings?? How long does it take to break in?

Hi Sean, no I’m about 11.5 stone in all my gear so going by what you said the standard spring should be fine.

I can always try what Finkill says if they still feel a bit stiff.

I’ve got the older 2007 Z1 RC2, the springs a bit soft, almost needs too much air and they get a bit stiff.

Compression damping took ages to get right though, at first I was bouncing around and they were always bottoming out, running it quite firm feels wrong in the car park and i was convinced they were wrong even over smoother bits of trail, but once they get going through bigger rocks and drops they’re just so controlled, feels harsh, but they only use enough travel to maintain control, not make it comfortable, definitely a fork for going flat out with, they don’t like mincing around .

Stu the spring will be fine for you, think you would be able to use them from the box without any preload or air, should be just right.
Dont try softening them up for a good while, as said earlier they take ages to bed in and just get better and better over time

@ geda, try backing off everything, preload, air, maybe 1 or 2 clicks compression. play with rebound till that feels right then see how they go from there.
Mine are about 6 month old now and im guessing took about 4 of them to bed in.

I did that to start with. The coil compression is right off and I let all the air out. I put a tiny bit more air in though as it seems to make thing smoother (So it just registered on the shock pump gauge). Any good tips for testing out the correct settings for the high/low compression as I know it is meant to affect how the bike responds to stuff at speed but I can’t really tell a huge difference.

Would think the more towards hard you set it the firmer the fork is gonna feel on slow hits, which is why mine has hardly any.
Felt like i was hardly moving the fork when i increased mine

The best way I have found to try out different compression settings is do a good few runs on a section of downhill trying out different setting one click at a time. Low speed is more to do with how your weight acts on the fork, so if you feel it diving in corners or not staying up on steep stuff a click or two of low speed will help. High speed is more for the big fast hits on the trail.

I did it by running it fully open then making a big change, not fully closed but enough to be really noticeable. That way when you make more runs fine tuning the settings at least you know what your looking for.

Although saying that the guy helping me was twiddling the rebound and doing car park tests thinking its the compression, proves 2 things, 1 people talk bollocks occasionally even if they’re well qualified to say the right thing, 2 adjusting one thing affects another, so upping the compression means its got less to rebound so you can add more damping.