Marzocchi fork separation

It was just a small rock jump. Next thing I know, my face is in the dirt, front wheel is about 20 feet in front of me, fork oil all over the place. The fork separated from the stanchions. I collected all the parts and hobbled my way back to the car.

'06 Marz 66 RC2 ETA terminally injured






So upon closer inspection, it turns out the both cartridges separated internally (shafts pulled out of the cartridge bodies). Neither the top nor bottom nuts were loose.

A call to Marzocchi offered no help for this "rare", "catastrophic cartridge failure" (according to them). Considering, Marzocchi themselves last serviced this fork, I was disappointed. Repair estimate was over $300 for two replacement cartridges, so I started shopping for a new fork.

The incident was so sudden and unexpected, I had no time to react. I am sore in about five places, but all minor injuries. This stupid Marz failure could have landed me in the hospital.


One rod, looking down stanchion


Other rod


Cartridges in fork bottom



So I decided on Marz 66 RV ETA over at Wheel World because they had a great deal on them and it was most similar to my old fork. I took my old fork to the store make sure I had all the dimensions right and the guys there were pretty surprised at what happened, including Marz not standing behind their product. They (Mike and Yan in Culver City) hooked me up with a great discount on the fork, not standard practice but an exception they made for my pitiful story. Mike even called up Marz to see if they could get the old one fixed. To my surprise, they obained an RA number and said they would send it in for me. Now that's what I call service! They stood behind a product they didn't even sell me. Needless to say, I was very stoked and will be buying all my forks there.


Turner happy again.

 

Wait. You just had that happen to a Marz fork, they didn't seem to want to help you at all, and you went and bought another one??

 

holy crap man.

I've heard of that happening on cheaper forks, but NEVER an 06 zocchi. I've taken a look inside those cartridges and they aren't exactly delicate either...

I can't believe that marzocchi didn't at least offer a crash replacement on that. I know I would if someone said they had a hard crash because the fork failed and the wheel fell off. I'm with gray, why did you buy another one???

 

kind of like the girl who gets beaten by her BF.... but she keeps coming back?


Glad you arent hurt.... but i would've jumped ship with a giant F U to marz....

 

That is one of my biggest fears right there.

If they were the last ones to service the fork, how are they not responsible in some way? It's not like it was some random shop working on the fork, it was the manufacturer of the fork who worked on it.

 

Change your screen name to Rihanna.

 

'06 66 Light?
If so I got the same fork on my RFX/6pack.
Should I worry?
I better keep it on the bike path from now on.

 

Did you send the fork back to Marz or did you go through a shop? If you went through a shop I would have called the shop first to get the problem corrected. Most companies in my line of work only deal through their dealers and not directly with the public might be the same here.

 

i would have had my lawyer call marz at that point. That is completly un acceptable since they last serviced it, and it was defintly missing one or two parts to fail like that.

PS if you didnt pu the new fork on yet take it back, the stiff after 06 is the worse product , may not fail like yours but defintly will valving and seals wise

 

I bought one of those OEM takeoff 66 RV ETA's from wheel wld
and theyre great & also one of the last Italian-made forks. You get less travel tho (160mm opposed to 180) and the
steerer tube was only 8" long, but the price is nice glad youre OK

this one is the old 2005 Italian-made old scoo one that has the IS brake caliper mounts

 

tear i love happy ending

 

I bought my Marz fork over at Wheel World last year. Took care of a warranty issue myself last month....think I'll go thru WW next time.

 

what he said. :-k

 

Yeah, I agree with all of you, but the price on the fork was too good to pass up. I actually liked the fork when it was working. I knew Marz would come around eventually. You get told something different depending on which tech you talk to. I think going through the shop gets a better response than end customer, esp. when the shop sells lots of Marz forks.

My replacement feels really good, can't tell much difference from old one except 20mm less travel. It was an '07 and says "Made in Italy" for all thats worth.

I wouldn't worry about a fork failure like this. Something was definitely defective with the cartridges and it is a rare occurance. The fork did produce a clanking sound when quickly unweighted, like during jumps (as if something were loose, but nothing was in my case). So if you get this warning, get your fork checked out. Or maybe give it a tug before your ride.

 

Did you get hurt?

 

The hearts at Marzocchi are cold as ice. Those pictures are almost as scary as what couldve happened to you.

 

That's called Top Out. A feature marzocchi is notorious for :lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Signature anyone?

Glad you're okay.

 

Should forks have limiter straps?:?: