Mountain Biking - Got answer from Marzocchi...

For those that were holding their breath, waiting for the answer :), Marzo emailed me yesterday...

The 2004 Marzocchi MX Comp Coil can be easily converted to an air fork by removing the springs and increasing the air pressure. This is authorized by Marzocchi and won't void the warranty and effectly converts it to their 2004 Marzocchi MX Comp Air. The two forks are identical when the springs are removed from the Comp Coil.

Yay!

Yeah, marzocchi stuff is pretty interchangeable...as long as the stanchions are the same size you can interchange almost anything it seems

I thought the same thing but wanted to verify they didn't use weaker seals on the Coil version since it's not designed to hold as much pressure. Thankfully, they use the same seals in both forks so it can be run as an air or coil.

I'm surprised they actually market them separately. Wouldn't it be more attractive to market it as an air OR coil fork instead of selling two different versions? Any rider trying to decide between an air or a coil fork might lean towards this one since he can try it either way.

*shrug* I guess that's why I'm in engineering and not marketing.

My guess would be that they do this for those who aren't likely to take apart their forks to do the conversion. People who take their bikes to shops for any and all tuning, but want a fork upgrade because they've thrashed something or just want something that feels a bit nicer.

Does anybody know what the MAX pressure is on the MX Comp (air,coil,eta) forks? The Manual is trash...

I didn't know the Comp coil had Air Valves...

I think they added the air valves in 2004. Mine has them. In fact, in the manual (which, I agree, is trash) they recommend running up to 15psi in the Coil fork.

No idea what the max pressure is. Sorry.

I would assume that's the maximum if they state up to 15psi. The 2003 manual is absolutely horrible... I think that I had read somewhere in a messageboard that 2004 manual is a bit better but I haven't the slightest idea if it is...

i have 2005 Marzocchi Dirt Jam Pro air forks, and the manual is just as bad, im having problems with them right now tryin to get this terrible noise out of te damn things.

Does this mean I can put exr comp internals into my mz race?

if the stanctions are the same size.

Does this mean I can put exr comp internals into my mz race?

I swear they were the same internals.....coil and elastomere