Marzocchi Service truck, teams and media 2014/15

On Monday 26th and Tuesday the 27th the Marzocchi service truck stopped by on Aston Hill on the was to the EWS and WC. This was a great opportunity for our sponsored athletes to get some pro-set up from the amazing Pedro, Marzocchi's vastly experienced MTB and Moto tech guy. We also had the chance to show the UK media the new 350 enduro fork.

We will all be at the Fort William World Cup on the 6/7/8th June for with a demo bike, so if you are there please pop by and say hi!

here is the image gallery.

Marzocchi's service truck 

Morewood with 350CR fork waiting for a Roco Air Lo with 'special' tune

Ride.io team bike with its 380's removed

ride.io's long term Saracen with 350CR

Pedro working his magic

Stefano working on a team Morewood

380 check, Moto, check, lets ride!

Stefano re-fits a team 380

Steve Jones from Dirt checks out the 350 CR and 2015 NCR!

Team Aston Hill, now with dialled suspension! 

where the magic happens! 

Windwave at Core 2014 gallery

Over the 26th to 29th of January 2014 the Core Bike Show was once again held in Whittlebury hall near Silverstone, we also celebrated the shows 10th Anniversary.

Here is the Windwave image gallery.

BBB Cycling

BBB Cycling

BBB Adapt Sport Glasses 

Colnago

Dainese

FSA K Force disc brake

Marzocchi

Marzocchi and Daiense

Morgan Blue

Vision

Marzocchi 2014 tech video

Here is a great video introducing the Marzocchi 2014 range and the core technology.

2014 Marzocchi 380 C2R2 fork and Moto

Marzocchi recently presented their new downhill fork and shock at the Sea Otter Classic, here is an introduction by Marzocchi's Simone Bassi via Sicklines.com

380 C2R2

The “380” is Marzocchi’s all new flagship downhill model and brings together 2 years of racing development to produce Mazocchi’s modest advanced racing suspension fork to date.

The hart of the 380 is the new semi-closed C2R2 Dynamic Bleed Cartridge, this is a high-end evolution of the already market proven CR damper which is in turn derived from Marzocchi’s motorcross technology. 

note: tape was just to cover the oil 'ejection' port, so it didn't squirt anybody!

The cartridge features a one-way seal at the base to allow oil to enter and a flow hole at the top to expel any excess, keeping the cartridge always at the optimum oil level. At the top of the oil chamber is a compensator piston that works against a small coil spring, when the internal pressure becomes too high, the oil compresses the compensator piston exposing the flow hole and the excess oil is expelled. This design keeps the oil flowing through the fork to help lubrication (like an open bath design) and keeps the air outside the cartridge for more precise damping control and to eliminate cavitation (like a closed).

Damping is controlled via a new three stage compression circuit with separately adjustable high and low speed compression and high and low speed rebound adjusters. The compression group can be removed from the cartridge with the cartridge and fork still installed to the bike, making track-side damping modifications a possibility.

Stanchions are 38mm internally tapered with Nickel plating. The Nickel plating actually strengthens the alloy stanchions by 30% enabling the stanchions to be made lighter for the same given strength.
The new lower crown is machined hollow saving 40g over the existing 888 crown.

crown is cut-away to show the hollow cavity 

New lowers have been designed to be both 26” and 650b compatible and feature a new flattened arch to increase stiffness and save weight. The axle pinch bolts now use a replaceable alloy insert to prevent damage to the lower leg by over tightening.  The axle itself is now internally tapered (saving 30g) and features a key way on one end meaning you only need one tool undo it.

Specification

Travel: 200mm

Weight: 2850g/ 6.28lbs

Damping: C2R2 Dynamic Bleed Cartridge

Adjustment: High and low speed compression, high and low speed rebound , pre-load

Spring: Titanium coil, K5.5

Stanchions: 38mm nickel plated, internally butted.

Steerer: Tapered or 1”1/8 AH

Axle: 20mm taperwall

Moto 380 C2R rear shock

The goal for the Moto shock was to produce one of the lightest and most adjustable long travel coil shocks on the market. 

Weighing in at just 369g (241 x 77mm, no spring or reducers) the Moto uses a unique one piece alloy 14mm shaft and head, not only does this eliminate the weak spot (in all shocks) it saves weight also. Damping is controlled via separate high and low speed compression adjusters with the complete compression group designed to be easily removable for tuning.

The moto also features externally adjustable low speed rebound damping with the possibility to internally adjust the high speed rebound circuit.

Specification

Size: 267 x 89mm, 241 x 76mm, 222 x 70mm.

Weight: 369g (241 x 77mm no spring or hard ware)

Adjustment: External high and low speed compression, low speed rebound + high speed rebound via shim setting, pre-load.

Availability September 2013

Marzocchi factory trip 2013

On Tuesday the 5th of March we headed off to visit Marzocchi in their home town of Bologna to see what they have been working on for the past 12 months and also to see what they have planned for the future.

entrance to marzocchi.com

A little background to what has been going on. Last July (2013) Marzocchi’s fork assembler (Suntour) ceased production of all Marzocchi MTB forks, this news came somewhat abruptly and caused many problems and industry rumours. However with the help of Marzocchi’s parent company (multibillion dollar company Tenneco) they made a new long term strategy and investment to create their own factory and re-start production. To enable production to continue while the new factory gets up and running Marzocchi have already invested $1m in new tooling and assembly line in an existing assembly partner, Hodaka. Hodaka have an extremely high reputation for quality and already assemble the Roco rear shock line.

some classic's and prototype parts

We got the factory around mid-day and after a catch up with all our friends and colleagues we took some time looking at their ‘classics’ collection and the many prototype components they have in the offices. It is always great to be reminded of the vast and rich contribution Marzocchi have made to the mountain bike market over the years. Marzocchi have always produced motorcycle suspension and entered the MTB market back in 1991 with the original idea to do so coming from a Dutchman! Obviously the game changer was the ‘Bomber’ and it was really cool to see they still had the prototype Z1 with steel stanchions that was raced to glory by riders such as Rob Warner.

prototype Z1 Bomber, note steel stanchions

We also looked in depth at a motorcycle project that offers fully electronic active damping; this is something usually reserved for modern sports cars (sport mode button). Marzocchi’s system makes micro adjustments in compression and rebound damping in response to the terrain with a 10 millisecond response time and is fully user customizable using an ipad app – ground breaking stuff on two wheels!

Marzocchi still make lots of motorcycle forks for BMW, Ducati and MV amongst others...

We also ventured in to the MTB testing department. This is where every detail of the fork gets tested to all the current safety standards, in fact Marzocchi test well beyond the limits of their own products as safety has always been in the forefront of their designs. Here is where all the competitors’ products are also bench marked, it is vitally important to know what other suspension brands are doing in order to make sure your own is competitive performance wise.

At the 2014 meeting we spoke extensively about the new product range, which unfortunately I cannot go it to any details here, but we have seen it along with a 2015 concept and what I can tell you is that they have something very special in the works!

Ok here it is, but dont tell anybody I showed you....

UPDATE: Pinkbike exclusive on the new downhill fork and rear shock: READ HERE

sorry not yet...!

We spoke at some length about Tenneco plans and strategies, budgets and quality control. We had a look at the motorcycle plant where quality is measured in PPM (parts per million), the Bologna factory has now been running at ZERO PPM (for rejects and failure) for two months, which is an insane by anybody’s standards. This gives you an understanding of the QC that Tenneco insist on and what they expect in their new MTB factory.

Tenneco is a manufacturer so it is only logical that they want to make their own products so the budget of $2.5m is already in place for the new Marzocchi Asia factory. Marzocchi also now have complete control over the entire supply chain and can manage and monitor every single component. The goal of all this is to completely control every aspect of the fork production to ensure every fork performs and lasts as Marzocchi intended.

Lastly Marzocchi are also very proud that all the design and engineering is done in house in Bologna and that they have never had any forks or shocks designed out-of-house. It is also worth noting that none of the engineering team have left the company, they are all still there!

Our lasting impression of the trip is that Marzocchi are very positive about the future. They are now back in production with a very high end assembler, they have budget for future growth and new factory, they have a passionate and talented team and lastly and most importantly have some great products!

Get to the Marzocchi booth at The Sea Otter Classic for a 2014 first look!

As a foot note a Bologna Airport had a stunning 25th anniversary lamborghini Countach on display, part of another local company’s 50th birthday celebrations…

Lambo!