Marzocchi OEM vs. Aftermarket forks

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What gives with Marzocchi's aftermarket and OEM forks?

Their name makes people buy bikes. As a result, they make more money through their Taiwan
production. Maybe they don't make as much aftermarket. Just a guess.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Subject: Marzocchi OEM vs. Aftermarket forks From: Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> Newsgroups:
alt.mountain-bike

What gives with Marzocchi's aftermarket and OEM forks?

Now, I understand that the OEM forks are largely (exclusively?) made in Taiwan, but there are also
some odd spec differences.

The DJ II OEM seems slightly better than the DJ II aftermarket: the OEM specs the QR20 axle,
otherwise they're seemingly identical.

But now look at the 888R, where the OEM fork is 170mm travel versus 200mm travel on the
aftermarket.

Holy hardtails, where'd the extra inch go?

Oddly enough, the same thing seems to happen in reverse on some forks: the Dirt Jumper III lists
130mm on the OEM, and 110mm of travel on the aftermarket, but both can be adjusted with a travel
kit to the other length.

So, is there a story here? Is this just a colossal rip-off of people buying Marzocchi-equipped new
bikes? Do other makers pull similar stunts? Are the Taiwanese-made forks inscrutable, and not to
be trusted?

Trying to scrut an answer....

You are a little confused on this issue and it's not your fault, the OEM Marzocchi forks you
describe are not made in Taiwan, they are the same made in Italy forks you get in a box. The
difference is that they are speced whatever way the company making the bike asks for. Usually
cheaper but sometimes better. For example, there were a great many Marzocchi forks on bikes that
featured an ECC when you couldn't get the same fork retail with an ECC. Often if the only different
is the travel amount then it is the same fork, just with different springs. To shorten the travel on
a Bomber you put shorter compression springs in and longer rebound springs in to take up the slack.
this is desirable on hard tails or shorter travel FS bikes to keep them balanced.

Now, there are Marzocchi forks made by Suntour in Taiwan. These are the EXR forks. They appear to
be a Bomber from a distance but they are not, there is no oil bath and they use a different
spring which only comes in hard and soft varieties, the cheaper forks int he EXR line have
plastic parts! in them, they very much resemble a Rock Shox Judy XC or worse. They have since
expanded that line into a few other EX* forks, some do have oil. Marzocchi had to do something to
break into the low end [censored] market and there's just no way to manufacturer an Italian made bomber
at that price point.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia ramsays-online.comramsays-online.comOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>,

Chris Phillipo said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Subject: Marzocchi OEM vs. Aftermarket forks From: Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> Newsgroups:
alt.mountain-bike

What gives with Marzocchi's aftermarket and OEM forks?

Now, I understand that the OEM forks are largely (exclusively?) made in Taiwan, but there are
also some odd spec differences.

The DJ II OEM seems slightly better than the DJ II aftermarket: the OEM specs the QR20 axle,
otherwise they're seemingly identical.

But now look at the 888R, where the OEM fork is 170mm travel versus 200mm travel on the
aftermarket.

Holy hardtails, where'd the extra inch go?

Oddly enough, the same thing seems to happen in reverse on some forks: the Dirt Jumper III lists
130mm on the OEM, and 110mm of travel on the aftermarket, but both can be adjusted with a travel
kit to the other length.

You are a little confused on this issue and it's not your fault, the OEM Marzocchi forks you
describe are not made in Taiwan, they are the same made in Italy forks you get in a box. The
difference is that they are speced whatever way the company making the bike asks for. Usually
cheaper but sometimes better. For example, there were a great many Marzocchi forks on bikes that
featured an ECC when you couldn't get the same fork retail with an ECC. Often if the only
different is the travel amount then it is the same fork, just with different springs. To shorten
the travel on a Bomber you put shorter compression springs in and longer rebound springs in to
take up the slack. this is desirable on hard tails or shorter travel FS bikes to keep them
balanced.

Now, there are Marzocchi forks made by Suntour in Taiwan. These are the EXR forks. They appear
to be a Bomber from a distance but they are not, there is no oil bath and they use a different
spring which only comes in hard and soft varieties, the cheaper forks int he EXR line have
plastic parts! in them, they very much resemble a Rock Shox Judy XC or worse. They have since
expanded that line into a few other EX* forks, some do have oil. Marzocchi had to do something
to break into the low end [censored] market and there's just no way to manufacturer an Italian made
bomber at that price point.

It's becoming clearer now. But I thought the EXR forks were getting quite a following, at least the
ECC versions. But what this really means to a cheap jerk like me is that I shouldn't worry if I find
a really good deal on an OEM fork sometime in the future, as long as I understand the spec
differences.

Maybe I should just put the new seals in the old Z.2 and be happy,
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

It's becoming clearer now. But I thought the EXR forks were getting quite a following, at least
the ECC versions. But what this really means to a cheap jerk like me is that I shouldn't worry if
I find a really good deal on an OEM fork sometime in the future, as long as I understand the spec
differences.

Maybe I should just put the new seals in the old Z.2 and be happy,
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Actually last year, the EXR fork had oil and coils, it is actually a good fork along the lines of
the 2001 Z3 only without external rebound damping adjustment. The EXR Comp, (sounds better right?)
had no oil and plastic parts in it, great if you want something slightly better than a RS Jett but I
wouldn't buy one. In 2004 the line has been expanded and I haven't seen them yet. The EXR Pro
appears to be dual coil/oil or air/oil, essentially the same as the EXR from last year with Pro
written on it. Maybe that is so that the Comp will now be below the EXR in the naming hierarchy like
it should have been. There is now info on the Marzocchi web site regarding these forks where there
wasn't previously. I only know about the previous year's EXR forks because I ordered the different
models into the shop when they first came out and took them apart after I first ran into trying to
get springs for an owner of one and calls to even the Marzocchi tech didn't yield straight answers.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia ramsays-online.comramsays-online.comOpen ↗