suspension fork glossary please
 

hi... im always looking and comparing bikes (i think im an internet weenie) and i have watched a lot of forks and my question is quite dumb i guess but i use english as a foreign languaje and its hard for me tu understand quickly the meanings of preload adjust, coil, springs, rebound and all the stuff that fork specs state... so i understand what a spring is but not in the bike languaje... which one is better and so... for example... i looked at the specialized hardrock comp an it comes with a marzocchi mz comp while some kona of the same price level has a marzocchi mz race... and the difference is on that kind of terms...
well after all these words i hope you understand my point and thanks in advance

The MZ series fork is not very good. The only difference between the "comp" and the "race" is the steer tube, which makes it a little lighter.

Preload adjust helps you set the sag on a fork.

Sag is how much travel the fork compresses when you are standing on your bike.

Rebound damping is using oil being pushed through valves to control the speed at which the fork springs back after it is compressed.

On the MZ series, the only adjustment is preload, and when I had that fork, I didnt notice any difference when I tried adjusting it.

thanks for your answer. useful!

Love this Forum! This way I can ask stupid questions here, and not look stupid at the bike shop or my friends.

I love my bike, it's a 2005 Bianchi Lynx. Great frame, crappy forks. (Rockshox Judy TT) I'm looking to upgrade shocks to probably Marzocchi Z1 FR SL. I sell a lot of stuff on ebay, how do I measure the steerer and steerer tube on my shock. If someone says 26" when refering to a shock, what does that mean?

Uncle :beer:

From top of crown to top of steerer tube.

If a person mentions 26" when referring to a shock, that means that person is an idiot and meant wheel size.

OR

The largest wheel size allowed for that fork.

Also, a Z1 frsl is overkill for that bike, you'd be better off getting a fork like a Marathon S.

Thanks a lot for the information and suggestion. The Marathon S seems perfect for what I do, I just read reviews on it.

Peace,
Uncle

You need to know one thing about forks......Fox! Now go get you one.