Marzocchi has a rich history of making suspension systems for Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the Dakar Rally, and Formula One. Albeit facing some challenges in recent years, the brand now offers a range of suspension forks for trail, enduro, downhill, and even dirt jump mountain bikes. If you're unsure of which is best for you, you've come to the right place as here's everything you need to know about Marzocchi's fork range.
Here, we're going to go through each of Marzocchi's forks to tell you which forks are best for your chosen application. We'll also take a dive into the tech each model comes with.
The Marzocchi fork range
Compared to the bigger brand's offerings, Marzocchi's is relatively small, being made up of only five models. However, the range covers all disciplines from the trail, right up to downhill.
Bomber Z1 - £800
The Z1 was known for ruffling feathers upon its release back in 1997 for its beasty stanchions and unrelenting grip. In its current guise, the Z1 has 36mm stanchions with an EVOL air spring with adjustable volume and a FIT GRIP Sweep damper with adjustable compression and rebound damping.
It comes built with a 1.5" tapered steerer and a 15x110mm thru-axle. As for travel, it's available in 140-170mm for 29" wheels and 150-180mm for 650b wheels.
Bomber Z1 Coil - £850
Building on its past, the Z1 Coil gets the same 36mm stanchioned chassis as the air-sprung version of the Z1, and it keeps the renowned GRIP damper. However, as you may have guessed, the Z1 Coil is sprung with a tempered silicone-chromium steel spring, the most advanced coil spring system Marzocchi has made to date. There's also a noise reduction system built into the fork to make it run silently. There's an integrated air assist to help control bottom out and progression. Finally, there's an externally adjustable preload, and travel can be changed in 10mm increments.
Like the Bomber Z1, the Z1 Coil gets a 1.5" tapered steerer and a 15x110mm thru-axle. With a 29" wheel, it offers either 160 or 170mm of travel, with 650b wheel that's bumped up to 170 or 180mm. There's also a 44mm rake on either wheelsize.
Bomber Z2 - £580
The Bomber Z2 is made to be simple but very effective. Unlike the Bomber Z1, the Bomber Z2 uses Marzocchi's own RAIL damper with full sweep compression adjust. That damper combines low maintenance with ease of use and on-trail performance. The Z2 is built around a 34mm stanchioned chassis with butted 6000 series aluminium upper tubes. Then this fork uses a FLOAT EVOL air spring system.
This fork is available for both 29" and 650b wheels with travel from 100mm to 130mm in the former and 140 to 150mm in the latter. There's a choice of a 44mm and 51mm rake, with the 51mm being available for the bigger wheel only. Then, there's a 15x110mm thru axle.
Bomber DJ - £789
The Bomber DJ brings the Z1's 36mm stanchions to a fork made especially for 26". It rocks 100mm of travel a GRIP damper and a tapered steerer.
Bomber 58 - £1,139
The Bomber 58 is the brand's dual crown downhill fork. It gets chunky 40mm stanchions, a GRIP damper, a FLOAT air spring and 203mm of travel.
Marzocchi tech and jargon buster
A lot of what you'll see on Marzocchi's forks has come as a direct result of Fox's aquisition of a number of Marzocchi's assets, hence why you find GRIP dampers and FLOAT air springs. If you're unsure, here's what all that means.
GRIP
GRIP is the name that refers to the fork's damper. It's inspired by moto and uses Fox's sealed FIT cartridge tech combined with a coil-sprung independent floating piston. To maintain consistent damping, GRIP purges excess oil through special ports.
FLOAT EVOL
FLOAT EVOL is another piece of tech that's been inherited from Fox and this time it refers to the air spring. Regardless of the air pressure setting, it's designed to equalise the positive and negative air chambers for a boost in sensitivity and traction. It's super tuneable too.
RAIL
The RAIL damper has been designed by Marzocchi and is only found in the Bomber Z2. It uses a 'sweep' compression adjustment, which means that there's no indexing on the compression dial but it does, in fact, offer three compression modes. They act as an 'open' mode, a slightly firmer 'trail' mode, and a lockout when fully turned.
