whilst the fork flexes when you push it around stationary, having the correct springs for my weight has reduced the problem up front when riding.
i think the problem was that, with the springs only medium, the fork was blowing through it's travel so fast that the damping system couldn't operate properly at all!!! excess diving was causing my problems and causing my crashes!!
just goes to show (us large gits should get the correct springs straight away or suffer the consequences!!) and now i don't care at all if i fly through the air going down a bumpy hill and land on my front end :)
I've drilled the compression cartridge as per instructions in many threads on mtbr.com that come apparently from marzocchi usa, drilling a 2mm hole each side, 25mm up the cartridge body. I opted for a 1.5mm hole as i'm quite light (approx 150 lbs), and i'm now using Silkolene 5wt in both legs and that seems to feel a lot better. (I flushed them out with WD40 as i couldn't get my hands on any GT85. I'm fairly confident there's no wear problem from when i've had them apart not long ago. There still seems to be a reasonable amuont of adjustment (as in range of damping effect) from the compression adjuster. I'll have to take it out for a ride at the weekend once the exams are done...
It's a shame i didn't find out about this 6 months ago... then it might have been in time to save my wrists from lasting RSI triggered by 2 weeks of DH in the Alps on spiking forks :(
Thanks a bunch for your help Dan :) i was suspicious of the oil and the compression damper, but the LBSs round here had no idea there could be a problem with either!
This raises two questions in my mind:
1) How on earth did Marzocchi get away with producing a whole bunch of forks with totally dodgy compression cartridges, and yet i didn't get to hear about it until 3 years downstream? I am now convinced a large portion of the MTB market can't tell a product that performs properly from one that doesn't!
2) What are Finish Line playing at? Fork oil is supposed to (a)lubricate and (b)damp. Theirs does neither. And yet all the LBSs i've seen sell the stuff! I think it might be good if more shops were warned about just how poor it is!
oh, and before anyone else does the same to their compression cartridge, obviously, the rod needs to be extended so that you don't drill through the piston!
