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2010 Marzocchi 888 Evo tuning thread

Capricorn

Monkey
Jan 9, 2010
425
0
Cape Town, ZA
to all the 2010 marzo evo owners: where to get spares from: lowers, seal kits etc?
I see this [38mm Oil & Dust Seal& Wiper Kit] seal kit over at CRC, will it work on the EVO?
Maintenance manual for the fork?
I reckon i'm due for a bit of a service, but since the marzo rep faceplanted here in south africa, I'm gonna have to DoItMyself. Advice appreciated.
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
Oh Marzocchi, how you have forsaken me. Here I was thinking with this new nice compression assembly (and it is built very nicely, better than Fox), that you'd have a nice shimmed rebound piston to go along with it.

Well, much to my horror, this is what is in their top of the line fork, a simple ported damper. I am whipping up piston design now.
 

Attachments

May 13, 2010
10
0
Oh Marzocchi, how you have forsaken me. Here I was thinking with this new nice compression assembly (and it is built very nicely, better than Fox), that you'd have a nice shimmed rebound piston to go along with it.

Well, much to my horror, this is what is in their top of the line fork, a simple ported damper. I am whipping up piston design now.
Dilzy, thankyou for confirming. It is disappointing, but then again, I haven't heard many complaints about the rebound damping on 888s...

Ah well, it looks identical to the TST piston so I'll just do the same mod with these. Good that you can finally completely dismantle their DH cartridges.
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
Can you get me a picture of the tst comp piston that you put on the rebound shaft without the shims/nut ect on it?
 

RedOne

Monkey
May 27, 2007
172
0
Nuremberg, Germany
Oh Marzocchi, how you have forsaken me. Here I was thinking with this new nice compression assembly (and it is built very nicely, better than Fox), that you'd have a nice shimmed rebound piston to go along with it.

Well, much to my horror, this is what is in their top of the line fork, a simple ported damper. I am whipping up piston design now.
Same style of damper can be found in a ~2000 Z2.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Ronnie worked his magic on my Evo Ti today at the Open.
it sits a bit lower in the travel, but doesnt really blow through the travel at all.
he set some negative pressure, changed the shim stack and added 10mm of oil to each side.

unfortunately, the lifts closed when he was done, but ill be riding some shuttle runs this week.
feels good so far...
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,855
9,560
AK
I believe the rebound "piston/check valve" controls low speed rebound, and high speed rebound is on the backside of the compression piston, as it's always been. There are shims on the backside of the compression piston, although they look to be somewhat crude. But yeah, the "new" Evo is still a lot more crude overall than something like a Fox damper.
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
I believe the rebound "piston/check valve" controls low speed rebound, and high speed rebound is on the backside of the compression piston, as it's always been. There are shims on the backside of the compression piston, although they look to be somewhat crude. But yeah, the "new" Evo is still a lot more crude overall than something like a Fox damper.
The compression (base) valve does not control rebound at all. This is the sole responsibility of the mid-valve.

As for the Fox, I would say that the compression valve on the Evo is actually better executed than the Fox, but the rebound valve is obviously inferior.

The hydraulic bottomout control on the Fox is an advantage, however the price of an Evo plus an Avy cart will be less than a 40 and offer better reliability and performance. Better chassis performance is a definite, after having owned a 40 before. You also won't need seals every 2 seconds.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
I just got out on my new Ti 888 last weekend at Sol Vista and had some questions on tuning for you folks.

First, I am very happy with my 2008 Fox 40. I run more HS than LS compression. I run just enough low speed to prevent the fork from diving in the corners, I find if I use too much it can get hung up in rock gardens. I run more HS to help with braking bumps on sections of race courses.

I found the 888 to be smooth and nearly as stiff as the 40. But I didn't like the compression settings, only 1 dial. Too much and it hung up on rocks, too little and my hands hurt on braking bumps. It also ramped up fast during the last 1/3 of the travel.

So how do I get more HS compression, less LS and more of a linear feel out of it? I do all my own work on my bikes so I'll be doing this myself.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
It also ramped up fast during the last 1/3 of the travel.

So how do I get more HS compression, less LS and more of a linear feel out of it? I do all my own work on my bikes so I'll be doing this myself.
have you tried backing out the volume adjustment knob under the rebound knob?

the compression knob is speed sensitive so the compression knob will effect the HS more than the LS if im not mistaken.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
have you tried backing out the volume adjustment knob under the rebound knob?

the compression knob is speed sensitive so the compression knob will effect the HS more than the LS if im not mistaken.
Yeah I had the volume adjust all the way out. How do I change the pressure in it though? I've read a bunch of this thread and I remember some one mentioned that.

Is there an online resource somewhere for modifying the shim stack? Is that more of what controls the low speed compression?
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Yeah I had the volume adjust all the way out. How do I change the pressure in it though? I've read a bunch of this thread and I remember some one mentioned that.

Is there an online resource somewhere for modifying the shim stack? Is that more of what controls the low speed compression?
how much do you weigh? the stock Ti spring might be too much for you.

when Marz did the work on my fork this past weekend, i did gain more LS when Ronnie changed the shim stack. i havent been able to test how it affected the HS yet, but will be doing some runs on it today to test it out.
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
have you tried backing out the volume adjustment knob under the rebound knob?

the compression knob is speed sensitive so the compression knob will effect the HS more than the LS if im not mistaken.
Just about all dampers are speed sensitive. The compression knob effects lsc and the point at which the shim stack comes into use. Davep posted a great chart showing the "knee" of the adjuster. I'll try and find it.

If you have the lsc control completely closed off, the fork will offer very little extra resistance at very high shaft velocities (square edge bumps) compared with having the adjuster all the way open.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
how much do you weigh? the stock Ti spring might be too much for you.

when Marz did the work on my fork this past weekend, i did gain more LS when Ronnie changed the shim stack. i havent been able to test how it affected the HS yet, but will be doing some runs on it today to test it out.
I'm 205 without gear on.

I'd like to try it with less air in the volume adjust chamber.
 

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
Just about all dampers are speed sensitive. The compression knob effects lsc and the point at which the shim stack comes into use. Davep posted a great chart showing the "knee" of the adjuster. I'll try and find it.

If you have the lsc control completely closed off, the fork will offer very little extra resistance at very high shaft velocities (square edge bumps) compared with having the adjuster all the way open.
It won't have less resistance at high speed than it would with the adjuster open. It will just have less compared to the low speed. Closing off the low speed bleed will affect the high speed part of the damping curve a TINY bit, but it won't be decreasing it.

I just got out on my new Ti 888 last weekend at Sol Vista and had some questions on tuning for you folks.

First, I am very happy with my 2008 Fox 40. I run more HS than LS compression. I run just enough low speed to prevent the fork from diving in the corners, I find if I use too much it can get hung up in rock gardens. I run more HS to help with braking bumps on sections of race courses.

I found the 888 to be smooth and nearly as stiff as the 40. But I didn't like the compression settings, only 1 dial. Too much and it hung up on rocks, too little and my hands hurt on braking bumps. It also ramped up fast during the last 1/3 of the travel.

So how do I get more HS compression, less LS and more of a linear feel out of it? I do all my own work on my bikes so I'll be doing this myself.
The Zoke revalve I got did exactly this. Not much low speed so it just flutters through braking bumps, and the damping really kicks in on high speed stuff. Ran a stiffer spring with it to keep it up in its travel, and now trying to get it to stop from deflecting on super high speed oblique square edges. I have a feeling the solution lies in the midvalve. Seems like I can feel the valving modulating through average trail features, but then it just overwhelms the damper on the super fast stuff.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
The Zoke revalve I got did exactly this. Not much low speed so it just flutters through braking bumps, and the damping really kicks in on high speed stuff. Ran a stiffer spring with it to keep it up in its travel, and now trying to get it to stop from deflecting on super high speed oblique square edges. I have a feeling the solution lies in the midvalve. Seems like I can feel the valving modulating through average trail features, but then it just overwhelms the damper on the super fast stuff.
This is sounding encouraging and I'm glad to hear it. Why do these forks take so gosh darn much to tune correctly?

On another note, I would have posted this over on mtbr but that ShiverMeTimbers (*or whatever) guy seems to derail every thread about how he goes from 6 to 12 about the big M.
 
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Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
Well, they come with an "average" tune out of the box. There's a lot you can do with the tuning, and I wouldn't even necessarily say that this is a "correct" tune that I have now, but it works for really aggressive riding over big features (gaps, g-outs, drops, etc), while still keeping some good bump sensitivity.

Needs just a little bit more low speed support, like that maple syrup feel, and a LOT more flow at high speed (still lots of damping, just less spiking).
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Well, they come with an "average" tune out of the box. There's a lot you can do with the tuning, and I wouldn't even necessarily say that this is a "correct" tune that I have now, but it works for really aggressive riding over big features (gaps, g-outs, drops, etc), while still keeping some good bump sensitivity.

Needs just a little bit more low speed support, like that maple syrup feel, and a LOT more flow at high speed (still lots of damping, just less spiking).
I race CAT 2 right now; but everyone on my team tells me I should be in CAT 1. I tell them to wait until I win a race, not just podium:thumb: I'm not bragging, but I do ride fast and aggressive with it. I want it to be a race fork, not a freeride fork.

My team has a Marzocchi sponsorship so I will call Ronnie; but I wanted to hear what The Internet* thought as well. So far this has been helpful for me.
 

Capricorn

Monkey
Jan 9, 2010
425
0
Cape Town, ZA
Hey RMs.

Anyone experience very slight oil leakage from the area around the compression nut? I've been running my compression 3 clicks off max, but decided to relax that abit. that's when I noted a slight bit of oil. I dont see any drips where I normally leave my sled, so it's not a leak proper. Might be happening under load. Any experiences and thoughts on repairs?
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Hey RMs.

Anyone experience very slight oil leakage from the area around the compression nut? I've been running my compression 3 clicks off max, but decided to relax that abit. that's when I noted a slight bit of oil. I dont see any drips where I normally leave my sled, so it's not a leak proper. Might be happening under load. Any experiences and thoughts on repairs?
I've only had mine a short while and no leaks anywhere. I'd just check over the fasteners and make sure they are snug if it were mine.

*Oh and I just sent mine in for a works treatment. I didn't want to try and dial it all in myself and my buddy Santiago over here in CO is a Marz trained guy for it. I'll see how it rides this weekend.
 
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Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Update: Just finished the Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte Colorado. The fork worked great, but I think I need a stiffer spring. I rode Keystone last Wednesday and the fork was definitely having some bottoming issues, 4 times a run typically.

The CB course isn't that techy so it did great. I am going to put a stiffer spring in there and I should be all set. I still haven't sold my Fox 40, but for now the 888 is staying on the bike.
 

-D-

Chimp
Jul 28, 2009
5
0
Does anyone know the rider weight range for the stock spring on the 888 Evo Ti ?

I'm about 160lbs but not getting full travel. I've got the preload, progressive adjust and low speed comp backed all the way out. I am getting about 25% sag..

I called zoke and they said a lighter spring was $270 and they were out of stock..:eek:

There must be a way to make the fork less progressive using the shim stack, right?

My other disclaimer is this; I've been riding my local resort (deer valley) but I'm heading up to whistler in a few weeks. We don't really have any large jumps/drops at DV so I'm also thinking that while I'm not getting full travel out here, I probably will be up there..

Also, the small bump compliance feels great. (I'm coming off a 36 talas though..) It's very comparable to my 07 66 and it's not even broken in yet.. Based on this and my sag numbers, I'm thinking changing the spring may not really be the issue, maybe the stock settings are too progressive? The only downside is that I'm basically at the end of the adjustment range, and don't have room to modify settings for different terrain..

Anyone else experiencing this?

Any advice, or changes I could make?
 

AlCapone

Monkey
Apr 5, 2009
192
0
North Bend, WA
Just got mine. I weigh about 150lbs with gear. What settings would be a good place to start when I'm tuning it for DH and also when I'm tuning it for FR.
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Does anyone know the rider weight range for the stock spring on the 888 Evo Ti ?
Anyone else experiencing this?

Any advice, or changes I could make?
It definitely depends on the internal settings. When mine was right out of the box retail I would only get 3/4 travel, I'm 205 pounds, with the stock spring. It ramped up hard 1/2 way through even with the volume adjust all the way out.

When I had it Works tuned I asked to have it made much more linear. I basically said "make this ride like a Fox 40". I got what I asked for, it feels very linear. However that now shows that the stock spring is too light for me, I'm at nearly 50% sag. I've got a new spring on the way though:thumb:
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
It definitely depends on the internal settings. When mine was right out of the box retail I would only get 3/4 travel, I'm 205 pounds, with the stock spring. It ramped up hard 1/2 way through even with the volume adjust all the way out.

When I had it Works tuned I asked to have it made much more linear. I basically said "make this ride like a Fox 40". I got what I asked for, it feels very linear. However that now shows that the stock spring is too light for me, I'm at nearly 50% sag. I've got a new spring on the way though:thumb:
i had a similar experience with the stock valving, though i would usually get full travel, but not all the time.

after the works tune, it sits a lot lower in it's travel which i now have grown to love. ive been adjusting the volume adjustment as needed.

im 220lbs too.
 

-D-

Chimp
Jul 28, 2009
5
0
i had a similar experience with the stock valving, though i would usually get full travel, but not all the time.

after the works tune, it sits a lot lower in it's travel which i now have grown to love. ive been adjusting the volume adjustment as needed.

im 220lbs too.
Thanks Guys.

Any idea what they change on the works tune as far as shimming or oil volumes? Go-ride is local to me, I'm sure those guys would have no problem duplicating..

I have noticed this thing rides high in it's travel also, which seems to work great for the high speed repeated hits and chunder. I'm not used to it in corners though. My poor 36 gets so low in it's travel under braking it makes my bike feel like a 4x bike. :eek:
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Thanks Guys.

Any idea what they change on the works tune as far as shimming or oil volumes? Go-ride is local to me, I'm sure those guys would have no problem duplicating..

I have noticed this thing rides high in it's travel also, which seems to work great for the high speed repeated hits and chunder.
10cc's more oil in each leg 310/90 and they added some negative air volume to the system as well.
i forgot the size of the shims that Ronnie said he used, but all i remember is it was a tapered stack
 

-D-

Chimp
Jul 28, 2009
5
0
10cc's more oil in each leg 310/90 and they added some negative air volume to the system as well.
i forgot the size of the shims that Ronnie said he used, but all i remember is it was a tapered stack

Thanks! I'll try to call zoke and see if they can recommend something for shimming. I'm sure the go-ride guys will have a good idea too.

PS, wouldn't more oil in each leg make it more progressive? Or you think that was just to compensate for the new shimming setup near the end of travel?
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
PS, wouldn't more oil in each leg make it more progressive? Or you think that was just to compensate for the new shimming setup near the end of travel?
correct.
also with the new valving, the small bump sensitivity went up dramatically which is what i was really after
 

Ithnu

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
961
0
Denver
Thanks Guys.

Any idea what they change on the works tune as far as shimming or oil volumes? Go-ride is local to me, I'm sure those guys would have no problem duplicating..
Santiago told me some of what they do is proprietary, secrets of the trade. They break in the fork for you and add some "liquid gold" according Santi. Some low friction juice I guess.

I wanted him to explain more since I do all of my own bike work, but I guess not. Oh well, it rides much better now. And Santiago only lived 30 minutes away so if I have problems he's close enough to help.