MARZOCCHI FORKS

Hi there,

Coil spring is probably better - if you get the air you'll have to take a shock pump (more equipment!). my boyfriend says: they're both as durable as each other, but air is more tune-able to your weight, meaning you can change the air pressure in it and change the response. coil shocks will be more sensitive to small bumps, air shocks will be SLIGHTLY lighter. originally coil shocks were more reliable, but these days reliability is pretty much the same for both, as long as you don't blow a seal (if you do this on the air shocks you lose all suspension...if you blow a seal on the coil you just lose rebound damping). perhaps another reason why you may want to go for the coil, it seems like it requires less maintenance. hope that makes sense!

How rough are these roads? if you're looking for something durable and reliable, obviously the best thing to go for would be a rigid fork. however, you obviously have your reasons for wanting a shock, so good luck!

(most forks are probably AIR these days or otherwise hybrid air and coil... unless you go for dirt-jumping or downhill forks, which you probably don't want!!!)

If you check out the Marzhocci website they tell you which are air and which are coil. Note that a lot of the recent forks have a mix of air and coil for shock absorbancy and rebound control. The latter type of fork is probably better for touring as the rebound shock will keep working if you have a failure in the main shock.

Theoretically, coil springs are more reliable than air (and of course you don't have to bring a pump with you), but air shocks are very reliable now, so i wouldn't worry about it so much. A nice thing about air forks is that if you are doing a lot of riding on the flat, you can pump them up to the max and they are almost like a rigid fork - and when you hit rough ground or hills, you just let the air out to get a soft ride.

I've used the Marzhocci MX Comp for touring and I've found them a great fork. The only issue with them is that the lock out (on the ETA version), locks the fork in the 'down' mode, so it pitches you a little forward on the bike if you lock it down when cycling on the flight. But remember that they change the design all the time - my 2005 MX is a very different fork than the 2003 MX i used previously, so its hard to give a firm recommendation, i've no idea what the 2007 forks are like.

How rough are the roads you plan on riding? Unless you are really going off-road, most of the roads I have encountered in Asia don't need suspension. You could save weight and money with rigid forks.

Having used the MX Comp 06 (air shock) for a while I can't say I'm particularly impressed.

However, I have a non-Marzocchi recommendation- the Magura Odur. It's pretty much perfect for touring:

- It's a mountain bike fork, with dual arches, so it's very rigid and durable.
- It's coil-sprung, so you don't have to worry about shock pumps, seals blowing, and reliability should generally be better.
- They have both V-brake bosses and disc mounts installed as standard.
- You get rebound damping control for tuning if you have a lot of weight on the front, and you can change the springs for firmer/softer for the same reason.
- 100m travel - just about right for touring
- They feature something called Dynamic Lock-Out, which isn't quite full lockout - there's still a little travel in case you hit any bumps
- Small point but the drop-outs have replaceable parts so when they become worn the can be replaced rather than the entire lower assembly

Suspension forks cause more problems than they solve for touring, and there are very few places in Asia where they might be worthwhile. If you want a bit of cushioning, a steel fork with a bit of give and a fat tyre is a much better choice.

However if you're determined to use them, 100mm is way too much travel - although the travel needs to be dictated by the frame design not what you think is appropriate for the terrain.

Make sure you've worked out a way to attach panniers to them - that is if you're taking enough stuff to need front panniers.

I've thought about this myself and think suspension forks for touring are a can of worms.

You might find it's possible to attach the Tubus Swing rack to some of the Marzocchi forks. These racks have the advantage that the weight is attached via the fork crown and steerer tube so doesn't affect fork action by increasing unsprung weight. Some of the trekking forks have bosses on the crown (but not the MTB forks), but Marzocchi keep changing the crown design and the Swing might not attach to some of them. If using a suspension fork means carrying all the weight at the rear, this is likely to make handling worse than it'd be with a rigid fork and some weight at the front.

I'm inclined to agree with pq and suggest just using bigger tyres, but a suspension fork might be useful if you're planning a lot of off-road riding/MTBing. It's unlikley the front wheel will lose traction with the weight of front panniers attached, and pinch flats on the front are unlikley unless a too-small tyre is combined with too much speed. Himalayan roads aren't the place to bomb downhill anyway, due to washaways, landslides, blind corners, huge potholes, fallen rocks, gravel, etc. Make sure you get decent grips and gloves either way.