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Marzocchi is an Italian manufacturer founded in 1949 by the two brothers Stefano and Guglielmo Marzocchi. The company profile includes hydraulic industrial pumps and suspension components for motorcycles and bicycles.
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Motorcycle suspension
Up until the 1980's, Marzocchi were original equipment manufacturers ('OEM') for a number of Italian motorcycle marques including Moto Morini and Ducati, their oil shocks also being OEM for Triumph motorcycles in the latter stages of their prodcution at the Meriden plant. Their later 'Strada' model introduced a degree of air suspension to motorcycling and, like the oil shocks, were available as aftermarket fittings for a large number of models. Strada units was OEM for Triumph's T140LE Royal Wedding and T140W TSS models. Although considered by some as somewhat stiff in operation, a big advantage of the Marzocchi shock was it's ability to be rebuilt, seal kits and service manuals being readily available.
Marzocchi shocks albeit of more modern design are still OEM for a number of manufacturers.
Bicycle suspension
Marzocchi forks are generally known for their supple suspension characteristics, high reliability, low maintenance requirements, but on the other hand usually are considered being heavy compared to similar offerings from major competiors. This weight penalty partly comes from their famous open bath system, which the firm brought over from their successful motorbike suspension technology. The other factor is that the company policy is not to cut corners to reach a weight advantage while compromising reliability. It is a question of personal preference, but it's no surprise that Marzocchi is very well received in the freeride and downhill branches of mountain biking, quite popular among the enduro and all mountain crowd, while it's much less likely to see a Marzocchi fork on an XC racing bike.
Until 2007, fork production was based in Italy (apart from the entry level OEM parts, which are produced by the Taiwanese SRSunTour in Taiwan). Since 2008, all forks have been made in Taiwan. The move was accompanied by some fork quality issues, especially in the 2008 range, but Marzocchi has since managed to solve these problems.
Marzocchi sponsors dozens of high caliber bike racers, among them are Brian Lopes , Wade Simmons , Cedric Gracia, Angel Rodriguez, Jorge Hermosilla, and Adrián Arroyo.
Critique
Marzocchi does not publish service manuals for their bicycle forks and shocks. However, there are some leaked ones on the internet concerning all models from 1996 to 2006.
When the Rocco shock came out Marzocchi promised that the shock would be user friendly and that the end user could service it using common parts and that shims and other tuning parts would be available to purchase. This was viewed by many customers as the strongest reason to buy them. However no service manuals have been posted on the shock and no shims or tuning parts have been offered.
Lowriders
Marzocchi pump heads are widely used in lowrider car community for hoppers.
External links
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