Forko Reccomendo

[aredee]

Alright, I have a three er four year old 70 mm White Bros fork that I believe has seen it's day. It has been making some noises that I don't think it should. (cracks, creeks and squeeks and such)

I gots a question for all you brainiacs out there....


What kinda fork should I get next? I like the White alot, but I dunno if I gots the dough.

Fox?
Manitou?
Marzocchi?
Rock shudder Shox?


Ooor, do I quit worrying about noises and rebuild me ole squishy?

[Goride]

My advice? First off, since I'm a tight-wad I'd try to rebuild the fork. You may be able to replace some bushings and seals and end up with a like new fork. Or it may be too late. Without seeing the inside of the fork its hard to tell. Based on the age however, it may be time for a new fork.

While I'm sure you'll get many half-brained answers to which fork to get, the reality is that just about any fork on the market is far better than the highest end fork we were all drooling over a mere five years ago. If you have issue #91 at your disposal you may want to give it a read through again. Karl reviewed the RockShox Duke Race, Michael reviewed the Fox Forx Vanilla 100RLC and I reviewed the Manitou Black Elite. As of this date, all of the reviewed forks are still in use here at Dirt Rag, and all of us seem quite happy with our respective forks. Basically, you can't go wrong with any of them. Take a look at the reviews and decide for yourself which one, if any, meets all of your demands in terms of price, performance and features.

-brad

[jimilton80401]

Unless you're a weight weenie, I'd consider Marzocchi. I've been using them for the past 5 years with great results. I started with a 97 Z2 and upgraded 2 years ago to a 99 Z1. I recently replaced seals and oil on the Z1 and it's still working great.
IMHO, they work well and do not require a whole lot of maintenance. According the the techs at a LBS, RS and Manitou, while working well, need tons of maintenance and as far as anything "major" is concerned, ie, new seals, cartridges, springs, they will send them back to the factory for servicing rather than work on the fork in the shop. I'm not sure that all fork manufacturers are heading in this direction, but I don't think that it's a positive one for mountain bikers who enjoy riding, rather than waiting for their forks to be serviced.
I guess you could also keep your old fork as a back up.

[a2psyklnut]

I second the suggestion of Marzocchi products. Sure they're a little heavier, but they're more reliable and require less maintanance. I'm into that! I've had numerous fork from each manufacturer and have worked on many others. IMO, Marz are the best for reliability, and performance, but suffer in the weight weeny classification. Manitou's are a great balance between the three and RS suffer in reliability!

I've not been a big fan of RS over the years, and everytime I think they've got it right this time, I hear of another little nagging problem. i.e. the bushings wearing out on the Psylos.

Granted it kinda depends on how you treat your gear, but as far as the Marzocchi's, you can almost forget about them once they're dialed in!

That's what I like, a product I can install, fidget with it, get it right, and forget about it!

Like I said, just my $.02.

L8R

[a2psyklnut]

Hey, I just check out the "Buy and Sell" and Buzz has a good deal on a great fork!

BTW, I don't know Buzz, in case you were wondering!

Oh yeah, hey Buzz, "got your back dude!"

L8R

[phatlizard]

I went to eBay and bought the exact same fork that I just crashed the week before!
So now I ride a Manitou Comp 4 again and am happy!
Tried the new forks and hated them!!!

I am too oldschool I guess... :cool:

phaty!
Germany

[scotteagan]

I bought a 2001 Marzocchi X-Fly from my local shop (ogden Ut) for 350 (retail is around 500) The fork is an air fork, and is incredibly easy to setup. I put air in and didn't check it for 3 weeks and it was still the EXACT Same pressure. If you have the tools to install a fork yourself then check out the internet I think cambria or price point has them for 280. The 2002 fork looks identical to the 01 model to me. I went from an older Manitou sx-ti, and this fork is soooooooo much better. The weight isn't really that bad either about 3.2 lbs. Don't even consider a Rock shock, but thats pretty obvious.

[Xteife]

I slapped a 'Zoch Z2 Bomber on my old GT and loved it. Something about that oil/coil... Unfortunately, I couldn't swap it over to my new Giant b/c of the lack of disc mounts. Now I'm living with the Rock Shox SID XC. It's not bad, but I'd prefer to have the Zoch on there. Just keep future upgrades in mind if choosing a new fork. It you want to eventually go to discs, it'll need disc mounts from the getgo...

[mckean26]

I'm with you guys on the Marzocchi: I replaced the stock Judy on my new stumpjumper with a 98 Bomber Z1 on the advice of my lbs (i'm 6'1" 185 and they said the bomber would hold up under my weight much better than the Judy).

So far (a year and a half later) I have only good things to say about the fork. If you're concerned about their bulk, save weight somewhere else, maybe your wheels, cause the benefits of the bomber far outweigh (ha ha) the mass.

[Andy in Wi]

Depends on weight, both you and what you want your bike to be. I've had two mars air shocks, and fscked the bushings on the super. I'd say if you are pretty hefty or ride with the goal of hitting every obsticle dead on, go with a marzocchi or a (gasp!) 2002 or later psylo; the 'zocchi has always been stable for me, and the psylos have seen some good improvement, mainly longer bushings. If you do get a marzocchi, get one with the weird lockout. It's cool to watch the fork pop back up when the switch is released!

[threepiece]

Yo, Fork Maniacs

I just recently bought a Marzocchi 2001 X-FLy and have only ridden it once, say I can't say much. But...I used to ride a proflex linkage fork, it rocked on singletrack hands down. Previous to scoring the fork I have been riding rigid, and besides the serious hakes on some rocky downhills, it ain't all that bad. For all the other old school riders out there, I have to say riding rigid can be a real eye opener to what a bike really feels like.

I am nore than happy to finally get suspended.

I am not a weight weenie, I could lose more weight off my ass than any ti bolt set. I love knowing that I can hammer my fork, and not sweat it crapping out on me.

In addition to this outstanding reply...I used my floor pump to fill my fork. Did I do a bad thing? Or do I HAVE to get a Marzocchi brand shock pump?

Oops

PS. Smoke herb