Vintage Marzocchi fork comparison ….

[RSSS]

Hi. I need some help determining what fork to buy for my 93 zaskar. im a 150lb roadie at heart but i do love switching it up and riding trails every now and again. I don’t do downhill or jumps or anything crazy like that. The trails I ride are mostly dirt, roots, rocks and ruts. Northeast terrain.

I started looking around for good used fork and after a ton of reading, Marzocchi forks seemed to come out on top from the mid to late 90s from a cost, reliability, performance and maintenance perspective.

Anyway, I’ve narrowed it down to a z2 atom bomb or a xc700/xcr. The z2 seems to have a solid following. I’m unsure how the xc700 stacks up. Does anyone have any thoughts on which is the better of these two forks?

Thanks

 

[Vesatoro]

Different generations of forks. The Bomber is far superior to xc-series of forks. More travel and stiffer. Probably also heavier and easier to service due to steel springs.

 

[FluffyChicken]

The fork people talk about from that late 90a era into the turn of the 00s is the Bomber.
Don't bother with the XC700, while nice (I have one) they are not near the same.
Great for commuters, but everything else since you have the choice, get the bomber.

Look for any with the bomber name in the look you want.
I prefer air over springs, but that's because I don't need to look for the correct springs for my weight or change them if someone else uses the bike (E.G. my son)

Stick to 60/70mm travel on that 93 bike. They would be classed as downhill fork in 1993.

----
If you are building for era correctness, then the MAG21 (Rockshox) / XCx00 (Marzocchi) are the forks I would look at since they are air/oil, unless you like the look of the RC35 (Pace, all look the same) / Manitou (they, all look the same too) elastomer forks.
Will give you the style and look of the era.

The bomber will no doubt be a better for general offroad riding.

 

[Vesatoro]

The fork people talk about from that late 90a era into the turn of the 00s is the Bomber.
Don't bother with the XC700, while nice (I have one) they are not near the same.
Great for commuters, but everything else since you have the choice, get the bomber.

Look for any with the bomber name in the look you want.
I prefer air over springs, but that's because I don't need to look for the correct springs for my weight or change them if someone else uses the bike (E.G. my son)

Stick to 60/70mm travel on that 93 bike. They would be classed as downhill fork in 1993.

----
If you are building for era correctness, then the MAG21 (Rockshox) / XCx00 (Marzocchi) are the forks I would look at since they are air/oil, unless you like the look of the RC35 (Pace, all look the same) / Manitou (they, all look the same too) elastomer forks.
Will give you the style and look of the era.

The bomber will no doubt be a better for general offroad riding.

Yeah, and a beefy aluminium frame looks better in combination with a Bomber than with a skinny XC-whatever.

 

[RSSS]

Thanks guys!

 

[dirttorpedo]

Yes, Bomber all the way. I had a Rock Shock based fork on my 91 Stumpjumper and it was terrible. I upgraded to a Bomber on my next bike and never had any issues with it. I'm more a spring and oil guy - pretty much set and forget.