Marzocchi Z1 coil owners

May I ask how much you weigh and which spring you are on?

I’m right on the cusp of medium and firm (about 82kg or a touch more) and wanted feedback before I splash out on a firm spring.

I’m 97kg and use a firm spring on my Kenevo, so would suggest you try the medium…

Thanks for the reply, that’s a handy benchmark 🙂

I’m on the medium and it’s pretty good – but possibly dives a little on steeper trails.

I’ve seen some reviewers a similar weight to me preferred the firm spring, but then I do tend to favour comfort over support to help me go faster.

I’m in a similar position to you chapaking (albeit a bit heavier), I was comfortably between medium and firm springs but having upped the travel by 10mm I’m apparently now in firm spring category. I do find the medium dives a bit more now with the longer travel so I figure if I can get the support from the firmer spring I can then back off the compression dial a bit which might help maintain the comfort. Fingers crossed eh?!

I looked at the Marzocchi kit for my Z1s as have converted from air to coil. In the end I was feeling fancy so went with smashpot and a couple of springs to work out whats best as I am very much on the medium/firm boundary.

One slightly related but maybe not that related question – Marzocchi state that the 29″ Z1 can only go to 170mm. What would happen if you bumped that up to 180mm? The smashpot kit would go up to 180mm. Would the fork explode? The 27,5″ Z1 does go up to 180mm. I know different forks etc but……what would happen?*

*This is not considering frames or their suitability for 180mm forks.

 I do find the medium dives a bit more now with the longer travel so I figure if I can get the support from the firmer spring I can then back off the compression dial a bit which might help maintain the comfort. Fingers crossed eh?!

What travel change did you make?

If you’re a bit heavier than me then the firm spring might be spot on for you.

Come and report back if do you try it.

Rhid – would that be a question for Vorsprung?

I think part of my issue is that the fork is at 160mm on a bike which previously had a 180mm Zeb, so I’ve had to raise the bars but the geometry is still steeper than I’m used to (albeit about 64deg HA).

I’m going to put it on a more suitable bike before I make any rash decisions.

When I bought my Z1 coil last year I was 90kg. The medium was too soft for me and I had to dial in some compression damping to stop it bobbing so much. I upped the spring to firm & it’s much better.

However, swapping the grip damper to a Fast sc5 has transformed this fork. It now sits very high in its travel, and I think I could now get away with dropping to a medium for certain conditions without the bobbing & diving I previously experienced.

What would happen if you bumped that up to 180mm?

at a guess there wouldn’t be enough overlap between the uppers and the lowers of the fork and the possibility that the stanchions won’t be properly supported by the lower bushings in the lowers.

So I’ve found I’m in between medium and firm, one is a touch too soft and the other is not letting me get anywhere near full travel.

Anyone used alternative springs?

Otherwise maybe I’ll have to knuckle down and lose about 8kg bodyweight.

I have a firm spring here if you wish to try, same issue. pm me.

I have the firm spring and it’s too firm, cheers.

I’m about 82kg kitted up and seem to be between spring weights.

sounds like the damper solution might be the way. I was similar situation with coils in a lyrik and was in between coil rates. Changed fork and the different coil rate was no longer an issue.

Either that or weight gain…its easier than weight loss ???

one is a touch too soft and the other is not letting me get anywhere near full travel.

I had a z1 air not coil and despite the ability to adjust the spring rate infinity found the same thing.

Even a couple of PSI made it go from slightly harsh and not getting all the travel to divey and unsupportive on steep stuff.

I think a damper upgrade would help massively.

But I love the feel of the damper, it’s the closest I’ve found to the old Marz RC3 ti forks.

I just think there’s too much of a gap between the spring weights. I was hoping another brand of spring might fit.

It doesn’t help that there’s effectively two springs… there were in the older pre-Fox coil forks as well, but there the secondary air spring was adjustable. These current forks effectively have a fixed air spring as well as having a coil spring with only four rates to choose from.