"As is customary with Marzocchi forks, they take a fair while to break in and feel sluggish until they do"

How long is a "fair while" ? I've had mine for about 3 months, but only done a couple of hundred miles. How much difference does it actually make ? and is there any way to speed this up ? or is it just a matter of riding them more and harder ?

I have a pair of 2002 MXC's and they took about 3-5 rides to break in and the seals to loosen up. I guess that it was around 100 miles.

I don't know if the newer 03 forks have tighter seals and therefore take longer to bed in. How much sag are you running? I'm running about 20% - 25% sag and they feel nice and smooth. If you run them with little or no sag then they won't move around that much, except on really big hits and they generally feel pretty cack.

Can't really speed it up, except by riding more and making them move more. Running them a bit too soft helps. A couple of hundred miles ought to have done it.

On the up side all my mates with Rock Shock Judy forks are changing their seals and bushings every 6 months while my Marzocchis are still going strong after 18 months.

2002 MXR Coils, about 200 miles to get plush. Don't worry, as Alan says, you could have Rock Shox, like my rattling Judys!

My 2003 MX Pro Coils took ages to free up, I guess about 100 miles or so. The following helped.

Minimum air in the preload chamber (right leg)- that is, lots of sag. Got them moving over the full travel more often.
Big undulations, or popping the front off drops to go through the full travel more often.
Avoiding road work, even if that means going up and down the same trails!!

Now they are there, they are great!!

very happy with these forks after about 3 months - a huge improvement over my old judy XCs. in your article you mention checking air presuure - is this something i should be worried about, ie is it worth me spending £28 on a shock pump

I've got a quite old Z3 M80, and it was tight as a gnats ar$e when I first got.

Had it broken in in no time by just running min pre-load and riding moderately bumpy trails. As soon as it starts bottoming too easliy, just give it a bit more pre-load, till you've got it how you want it.