I Ditched My Marzocchi Z1 Coil Fork - Here's Why

Like a new romance, the Z1 wooed me initially. I loved the traction and supple ride, but with time and experience, my initial joy started to fade. I realized that coil forks can have some shortcomings - it may not affect everyone, but it could affect you (like it did me). Tell me your thoughts and where to ride next in the comments below!

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[GlobalTrailGuide]

It’s great to be back after a refreshing break - thanks for being here with me and I look forward to seeing you all again soon 🤘🏼 hope you enjoy the vid

[mtbtelly]

It looks and sounds like you’re under sprung up front. I’d say the next spring rate up will solve most of your woes with that

[steviejks]

Funny how I moved from Zeb to Z1 Coil, put the firm spring first thing and I do not miss my Zeb at all. The reason I got the Z1 was because the Zeb steerer was creaking and wanted to ride while I warrantied my Zeb. Never installed the Zeb on my fork after all. This fork feels superb on very harsh terrain, I rarely feel any hand fatigue(except I'm really tired). Probably does not ride as high as the Zeb, and it's not that stiff but this thing works great for me. I honestly believe I got lucky with the spring rate, but obviously with 4 springs it does not work for everyone.

I think that you can convert from coil back to air using the vorsprung kit since it has a sleeve fully covering the spring. Either way an expensive upgrade but I believe it would be a killer fork.

[TheMTBRider]

Theory, volume spacers don’t change the mid stroke but the ramp up

Coil has more mid stoke support as the spring is linear while air is harsher, regressive and then progressive 🧐
I guess with the right spring it would’ve been better ( perhaps a push spring that in theory should fit the marzocchi but have plenty more spring rates )

[pikoliii]

My guess whould be, that your stack is to low. Considering, you are not even bottoming the spring, springrate is probably correct. But, during harder compression, migth feel, that your bars are too low. I had the same feeling, and was always "afradid" of using the travel, because it felt wierd. I raised my bars for cca 3cm and that did the trick. I can suddenly use more travel, without the wierd feeling of handlebars dissapering beneth me. just a guess :)
I heard this idea in one of the vorsprung videos, tried it, and am glad I did :)

[lukelavine]

@GlobalTrailGuide I live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and ride mostly chunky, hard edged, sharp angled rocks (because of the Rocky Mountains LOL) and I'm wondering if the Z1 Coil would be a good solution for me. I currently ride a Specialized Evo Stumpy and have a Fox 36 Performance (GRIP) fork. I realize the stiction just bounces me off of rocks, I've gone with higher and lower PSIs, etc. to try to make it a softer/smoother ride without making bottom-out a typical reality. So, I've been thinking about getting a coil fork.
From your experience, do you think that it would be a solid choice for me, given my terrain and desire for smoothness over super steep, rocky, and rough trails?
Thanks ahead + thank you for this great video!

[artgreen]

Did you need to do the Grip2 damper conversion perhaps? I've just recently watched a video about it, and understand it's potentially of most use to heavier OR light but above average aggression riders.
This could allow you to keep the small bump response, but damp the bigger movements better.
Edit: oic this has already been discussed.

[warracer]

I had the same issue with my Z1 on medium spring, went with hard spring (215lbs). Fixed my issue, still felt great but ! HSC and HSR felt not that great, switched to a Grip 2 damper to get the adjustment I need and its been wonderful since

[mtbbiker]

Coil forks need progressive springs similar to coil shocks. Why is this not a thing?

[Pienimusta]

Testing the new Charger 3 upgrade kit could be nice idea.

[nigehill]

Did you not get much more support from changing the damping and rebound setting to suit? I’m right in the middle of the weight range for the firm spring and find it so much better than the air Z1. and I ran 3 volume spacers in that. The only reason id change is for the 38mm Stantions over the 36, plus the weight saving . Cheers from Aus

[rpiian]

Do you think Smashpot on the Z1 could have helped you? Again it’s a $400 upgrade, but could help dial in that coil size better. And eliminate the ramp up air chamber.

[Michael-bsyu]

I have a 2013 float fit CTD. I was able to stop diving through my travel by adding some oil to my air chamber. The fork was pre NA2 so no tokens at the time. They have them now but I'd have to dump money into the fork. Sucks cuz it's a factory version. But I'm looking at the Z1 Air. I'm also an aggressive lite rider. So I've had trouble dialing suspension at times

[lonelymtbrider]

I ride a Z1 coil and found that I could get it to ride noticeably higher by simply adding preload, without becoming harsh. I am between medium and firm spring but I actually prefer medium spring with max preload. It bottoms out way too easy with any spring so that is not a reason to go up in spring rate, but adding compression damping approx 50-60% adds just enough resistance, so that it won't easily bottom out and still be pretty supple. People who say they never bottom theirs, I gotta wonder how they ride tbh. I'm not a particularly hard hitting rider.

[rgemtb]

mmhhh...I still feel the coil to be superior, but if you're in between springrates, that may be an issue. Before ditching the Z1 Coil i would test different springs, i.e. the helm springs or Vorsprung or other. I just love coil so much. In my case actually, it is the opposite. Being a heavier rider (220lbs) i have to over token and pressure the ZEB. So it is much harsher (over pressured) or delivers far less mid stroke support( under pressured). At your weight however you are perfect in line fore the air fork designs.

[SUPERCOOLZZ]

Why wouldn't you just raise the bars or get higher rise?

[marcopaganotto]

Dude, I've literally just discovered that Marzocchi did a modern coil fork.
Must have been hibernating or something!
Back in the day, I owned a Fox 32 Vanilla and till this day, it was the best fork I have experienced, and it was about as basic as a fork could be!
No compression damping, just rebound and preload.
But the ride feel was just amazing and Fox kindly gave you 3 springs in the box so you could get the perfect setup without having to spend more money on extra springs.
Marzocchi should have done the same given the Fork isn't cheap and because, well you're the perfect example, you absolutely should be able to set up your brand new Fork right immediately out of the box, without having to go back to the retail store!
Personally I think that's a joke and at the very least they should send out a replacement spring if the stock one isn't right for your weight.
But I still can't believe that you'd rather an air Fork over the feel of a quality coil!
Looking at the brief glances of you riding the Marzocchi, it look pretty damn perfect to me in terms of it's movement.
Oddly, I ended up buying the Fox 36 Vanilla after my experience with the 32 and was mildly horrified that it didn't compare at all with the 32 Vanilla.
So, ultimately, who knows, I guess go with whatever you enjoy but I have found in my experience, that the more compression damping tech Forks have on board, the less responsive they become, so I'm typically happy with rebound and preload!

[denesk]

At 80Kg I am right at the bottom of the firm coil for the Z1 and it feels perfect (in bike park g-outs too) .

I am thinking on putting one on my e-bike too and probably I would go to the heavy coil due to the added 10Kg of the ebike. I am not sure about the stiffness though for an ebike... I think it would be fine, we were all fine 2 years ago on the Fox 36 after all ..

[brad]

Why buy a $45 spring when you can buy a $1k fork

[LaurentiusTriarius]

It's a fantastic fork until you try something like a well tuned DVO onyx, Zeb Ultimate charger 3.1 or a Formula Selva... It's not even close 😂