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11/22/2008
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Marzocchi
Goes Euro 2006
The 2006 goods on display in Saalbach Austria
Cam McRae
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You're holding your 2006 launch where? Austria? Giddy up!
I'm all over it.
It took me all of 30 seconds to decide whether I wanted to head to Saalbach
Austria to check out the new goods from Marzocchi. They always put on
a plush event but for the past three years it's been just up the road in Whistler.
Now don't get me wrong - Whistler is awesome - but when you live on the North
Shore it's not all that exotic.
I had a three-leg itinerary; fly to Toronto, then Munich and then 'transfer'
to Saalbach. Things were going well until the hour of our scheduled departure
in TO. Pearson Airport got pounded by a thunder storm causing our flight
to be delayed by 45 minutes. Our luggage was just about to be loaded on
the plane when the deluge hit and the handlers abandoned the carts on the tarmac
leaving my bags to take on about 14 gallons of acid rain.
Toronto is beautiful in June. Photo ~ Cam
McRae
The flight went well and I grabbed my water-logged bag and rolled it through
the hyper-modern airport in München. I had no idea who was meeting
me but as I emerged I saw a sign with a Marzocchi logo and my name on it.
I thought for sure there was going to be some kind of cock-up but everything
was dialled. The driver didn't speak English and my vocab was limited
to 'ein bier' so I dozed for most of the two hour trip.
This year's Marzocchi girls were equipped with cosmetic factory
upgrades but the internals have been downgraded.
Marzocchi still has the original Dirty
Girls on the roster but they have again decided to hire 'models' to represent
their line. They looked fine - if you fancy silicone - but they were
about as much fun as a Mountie at a house party. I have a feeling the
recruiting process will be overhauled for next year. Photo ~ Stefan Hunziker.
As we rolled into Saalbach there were no surprises; the Von Trapp family would
be right at home prancing and singing on the pastures and mountains that surround
the tiny Austrian town. The place appears to have deep roots but a little
research will reveal that there was nothing much here before around 1975.
This started to become clear after some odd experiences. On the day I
took an XC ride with Karl Platt and some others our climb ended at our lunch
destination which looked to be a centuries-old alpine hut. As we walked
inside two ancient looking wooden doors silently slid open and into the door
frame. The bathroom in the basement had auto flush urinals - in fact everything
was auto from the towel dispenser to the taps. The place was made to look
old but all the fixtures were state of the art which was all a bit eerie.
Rob Jauch riding a new Rocky Mountain RMX equipped with the
888 RC2X in Saalbach. The hills were indeed alive. Photo ~ Stefan Hunziker.
Back to the topic at hand; Marzocchi. Despite being a wildly successful platform,
there were some knocks against the 2004 and 2005 888 forks. The most significant
issue was the height of the fork. The stylish M-arch with the integrated
fender raised the front end up at least an inch higher than it needed to be; this
at a time when many top riders - particularly racers - were doing whatever they
could to lower the front end of their bikes. After-market flat crowns appeared
first and then last year Marzocchi began making their own. For 2006 all
888 forks will come stock with an M-Arch that lowers the front end as much as
the flat crowns did in the past while retaining the signature Marzocchi style.
Left to right: The 2006 Monster T, the 66 RC2X, the 66 Light
and the 888 VF2.
An issue I had with 888 forks was the fact that it was possible to bottom out
metal on metal - which was always accompanied by a loud 'clack.' I was eager
to find out whether or not this was still the case. There is also a lot
to love about the 888. They are tough and generally low maintenance and
can be tuned to be über supple off the top while still resisting bottom-out.
With a few tweaks they could be unbelievable.
Ryan Leech enjoying some heli time. . Photo ~ Cam
McRae
The 66 made a big splash last year. It was available with up to 170mm (7")
of travel and it was stiff enough to feel right at home on big bikes. Richie
Schley rode one in the Crankworx Slopestyle last year and more and more riders
are choosing single crowns to compete in these comps. Not yet sure of the
market for a large single crown, Marzocchi took a shortcut with the 66 last year
and used the lowers from the 888. As you can imagine this wasn't an ideal
solution and it resulted in a fork that was heavier and taller than it needed
to be.
The Roco is legit. It's a user friendly shock that anyone
can work on. No need to send it to Edmonton.
Probably the biggest news from Marzocchi this year was Roco - their rear shock
program has finally reached maturity. LaPierre (a French brand that will
soon be looking to penetrate the North American market) will be spec'ing Roco
on many of their bikes this year. Perhaps the coolest thing about the Roco is
that it is the first shock for bikes that is user serviceable. According
to Tom Rogers just about anyone can rip a Roco apart and rebuild it. Here
in Canada Fox Shox need to be sent to Edmonton when they fail while Progressive
and Manitou are serviced in B.C. Marzocchi's new service centre in North
Van will quite happily rebuild a Roco if you aren't up to the challenge.
Marzocchi made it pretty clear that they aren't chasing platform systems.
In their eyes a shock should be active all the time and a platform isn't necessary
if everything is tuned and set up just so.
Marzocchi has a huge number of forks this year. Photo ~ Stefan
Hunziker.
Another treat for the deep pocket set is a high line model for both the 888
and 66 line. The RC2X
models add a new hydraulic low speed compression and rebound damping (RC2)
as well as a new high speed compression adjust (X). Together
the new systems form the RC2X
designation. The compression circuit can be adjusted to be both
position and speed sensitive meaning you can adjust it to avoid dive (position)
and to resist bottom out (speed). There is an air preload as well - on both
sides for the 888 and just one for the 66.
| I didn't have a chance to ride the new 66
but the 888 RC2X
was a revelation. My first 4-inch travel fork was a Marzocchi Z1
- an orange one from 1997 that I bought used. I still remember how
amazed I was by the way it felt. It was buttery, robust and it seemed
bottomless. Obviously a lot has changed since then and at that time
my frame of reference was a RockShox Judy LT (for long travel!) that sported
elastomer stacks and 80mm of travel. The Z1 was heavier - and we
were all weight weenies back then - but I was prepared to pay for that
butter. I doubt that old Z1 would feel quite as special to
me now but the new 888 RC2X
took me back there because it felt so good compared to the other Marzocchi
forks I rode in Austria.
This was our first full day in Saalbach and we were riding trails that
didn't seem to be mountain bike trails - across the valley from the bike
park. In fact the lifties running the Gondola - who didn't utter
a word of English - tried to chase us off the hill if we attempted to
put more than one bike in the Gondola at a time. The trails were
wet for our first runs down and it seemed like the entire bottom half
of the run was off-camber, icy roots. Even the pros were biting
it - and that often meant tumbling off the trail and down the very steep
slopes. In these nasty conditions the new 888 - in all its glistening
white glory - performed like a champ. The 888 has always been stiff
but the way RC2X
system responded to bumps large and small was a fantastic.
I did my best to make it hit bottom but I was never even able to tell
if there was one. This is going to be a great choice - particularly
for those of you who aren't too concerned about weight. With Rock
Shox, Fox and Manitou all making legit. 8" travel forks around the
7lb mark - and with dh and freeride athletes becoming more fussy about
weight - it may be time for the 888 to become the 887.
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The 2006 Marzocchi 888 RC2X
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On our third day in Austria we had a chance to ride the bike park in Saalbach
(I chose to climb on day two). Unfortunately it was wet and very slimy
and there was a lot of woodwork. Here on the Shore the natural cedar grips
fairly well in the wet but the treated wood used in the park was like riding
on roller bearings. Tom Rogers of Marzocchi found this out the hard way
falling off a ladder bridge and landing 8 feet later flat on his back.
He bounced back with a smile on his face but not before dislodging enough internals
to spit blood.
Geoff Gulevich testing his 888 in the Adidas
Slopestyle. Photo ~ Cam McRae
For this day I jumped on a 888 RC2X/Roco equipped 2006 RMX for a few runs.
The bike felt great. It was nicely balanced and the Roco was lively and
active. I do like platform shocks - even the Progressive 5th Element which
is probably the least active feeling of the lot - but it was nice to get on
something that reminded me of the old Fox Vanilla. I had a great
time on the RMX.
After that I saddled up a Norco A-Line. This bike offers a lot for the
money but obviously when you make an 8" bike and try to keep the price
under $3000 Canadian there are some sacrifices to be made. The bike was
spec'ed with a base model 888 and this was a great chance to compare the top
line model with the base. The fork lacked the control and smoothness of
the RC2X but that's not surprising. The unfortunate part was that on any
drop over about two feet it would hit bottom with a clang that reverberated
through my hands and into my spine. Marzocchi tells me this can be tweaked
with oil levels but I still don't think this should be able happen on a fork
of this quality.
Many of the features in the Bike N Soul park were built for
the Build it and Ride contest. Photo ~ Georg Oberlechner
Bike N Soul, from
what I've heard is probably the best bike park in Europe. The trails were
fun but there wasn't much vertical or much variety. A nice factor is that
there are many challenging stunts to help you squeeze more fun per vertical
foot but it's got a long way to go before it can hold a candle to any bike park
in B.C.
Thomas Vanderham about to enjoy a Schnaapappetizer at the
Goaßstall. Photo ~ Stefan Hunziker.
You won't see a Shiver in this year's line up. Last year it was available
in the US but not Canada and this year the much-loved inverted Zoke is gone.
The Super Monster has also gone the way of the dinosaur and Josh Bender's absence
from this year's Marzocchi Session may be a sign of the times. The grind
from the rumour mill has also revealed that Bender is no longer on Banshee - less
than a year after they gave him a signature model frame. The regular Monster
lives on - now with a full 200mm (8") of travel. I'm amazed to see
how many people love this behemoth of a fork but with the 40mm stanchions and
double digit weight it has a feel that can't be duplicated. There is no
Super T for 2006 but the Junior lives on.
The riders formerly known as Fro Riders. Left to right
Tarek Rasouli, Wade Simmons, Thomas Vanderham and Richie Schley. Photo ~ Stefan
Hunziker.
The new 888s are 25mm (an inch) less axle-to-crown than last year and
the 66 has dropped by 40mm (1.5"). Another change for this year is
that most of the big forks in the line, including all the 888s and 66s will
feature post mount brake attachments that will only allow use of an 8"
rotor. All in all there have been some nice refinements to this year's Marzocchi
line as well as a few very promising new models.
Our schedule was pretty packed with lunches, heli rides and of course the Adidas
Slopestyle so I didn't get nearly as much riding in as I would have liked so
my impressions are based on limited experience. The laps I did manage
make me very optimistic about this year for Marzocchi - 2006 may well mature
into the best Italian vintage in recent memory.
For more from Marzocchi click here.
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