Greetings Doubters! I hope you find the kindness in your hearts to excuse my episode numbering abilities or lack thereof. The previous scree about racing (Ray-sing?) was to have been number 40, but alas I blew it. My math skills have always been suspect. I can add tips and sort of do percentages, but that’s about it.
However, I can discuss bike schtuff and my experiences therein that may be of some interest to y’all. So, without further cat poo let’s dive into not a shootout (this ain’t MBA or LW), but rather some musings on a several forks I’ve put a great deal of time and mileage on. All three have the same amount of travel (150mm) and two have identical cartridge dampers. They all have slight differences in stanchion diameter going from 35mm to 36mm to 38mm. None are new; you can peep a million and one resources for those reviews. I paid for all of them, so no sponsorships, bro deals or other financial chicanery here. I have more than a year of ride time on all with the oldest having been in service for me since 2021. I will get into my experience with each, the pros and cons, and who they will best serve. First however, let me not be a forking ice hole and forget to set the mood.
Music Selection: Crass: The Feeding of the 5000 This may be the first legit anarchist punk record ever coming out in 1978. While the Sex Pistols were getting the punters to dance, the anarcho-punk art collective Crass were doing the real work in bringing harsh sounds, challenging black and white imagery, eminently quotable lyrics and practices that have influenced and inspired generations of punks for decades. The artists having ties to Crass are tremendous: from Bjork to Fugazi to Napalm Death and tons more. The profanity, metronomic grinding noise and thick cockney accents still make for a bracing listen nearly 50 years on, which is damn impressive in its own right. Nevertheless, despite the din you can tap your toes to most of it. So, remember that punk is dead, do it yourself, up the punks.
End hits, beauty before age or something, something. The forks on deck are a ’23 Rockshox Lyrik Base, a ’22 Marzocchi Bomber Z1, and a ’20 Rockshox Zeb Select. Both Rockshox forks have been updated with Charger 3.1 dampers with Buttercups, basically making them the same as the Ultimate editions in their respective line ups. Furthermore, both were serviced and tuned by Diaz Suspension Design out of Durango, Colorado. The Marzocchi runs Fox’s (Marzocchi’s parent company) simpler Rail 2.0 damper.
Let’s begin with the Lyrik. I purchased this as an OEM close out with idea that I could score a sleeper and save some weight over the heavier Zeb (more on this later) I had on my bike at the time. The cost with shipping was less than a fifth of the cost of a Lyrik Ultimate so I felt like I had little to lose. Certainly, worst case scenario, the fork sucks and I put it aside and/or rebuild it. I did both during its tenure. My main take aways with the Lyrik were that it was great with the Ultimate/Charger set up, but damn good with the basic Rush RC damper it came with. Rockshox forks remain incredibly simple to set up, and it is difficult to make them feel truly bad. The only reason I had the fork rebuilt was that the original Rush RC damper came unbolted (not a big deal, but I didn’t know) causing the fork to feel like it had a blown cartridge (a slightly bigger deal). While it was in for service, I thought why not spend a few dollars and jazz it up with new guts? I did and it came back feeling the same as my OG Zeb.
The Zeb Select, which I picked up used, has been the benchmark for me for since first landing on my Wreckoning V2. Like it’s smaller brethren in the Lyrik, its original damper felt great, but I then later replaced its guts with a Charger damper with the new-at-the-time Buttercup system. In a nutshell these are mini high frequency dampers attached to the bottom of the fork’s air spring. Buttercups (yes, they are actually gold in color; so fun!) mute high frequency trail chatter while leaving the medium and larger hits to the main damper. As described on the Rockshox site they act like a having a rubber grip on a chainsaw vs a bare metal one to mute the vibrations into your hands. Buttercups are a damn clever idea and in bike-related terms are like the muted feel of a good steel hardtail on the front end of your bike. They provide a noticeable difference and now having them on these forks, they are a nice-to-have (almost need-to-have) addition.
That brings us to the last of this group, the Marzocchi Z1. I acquired this fork last year when I purchased a used Kona Honzo ESD. I will be the first to admit that I have remained more of fan of Rockshox suspension for years but always enjoyed the Marzocchi forks that were my go-to until the late aughts. Today Marzocchi is a subsidiary of Fox Suspension, and their comparable offerings come in at a slightly lower price point. The Marzocchi models share similar dampers, but they are simplified and the forks are of a heavier duty build without being rebadged Fox models. The Z1 has a familiar feel to its cousin in the Fox 36 which I had extensive time on, albeit its tunability and resulting ride feel is less nuanced than the more expensive Grip dampers found in those forks.
Enough technical kvetching. Let’s conclude with who these are for and where they are for me. None of these are lightweight models, but that was never a big concern. All the forks have never let me down nor made so I couldn’t finish a ride apart from the Lyrik Base, but upon repair it’s been without issue. The Zeb remains my homeboy and is my do-it-all choice. The Lyrik is also awesome and feels the same as the Zeb with one key difference. The Zeb outclasses the Lyrik in fore/aft stiffness; 80 percent of the time (made up statistic), it’s hard to tell the difference between them, but when I hit any chunky rock sections (the tricky to walk let alone ride through kind) or bigger less than ideal landings I notice the flex. It isn’t a deal-breaker, but it does make me second guess things more than I’d like. The Zeb doesn’t give AF and can be thrown into anything. The only downside for anyone would be the additional ¾ pound weight you are carrying on the bike. This doesn’t bother me, but YMMV. Lastly, the Z1 is almost the same as the Zeb in torsional flex, fore/aft stiffness and weight. However, I must give the Charger 3/buttercup-equipped dampers the edge in feel over the Rail on the Z1, but I do think the Z1 is tough to beat for price and simplicity.
In conclusion, it’s pretty tough to find a bad performing fork today. All these fork lines have been upgraded since these models came out and while I’m sure those new ones are stellar, you can save a few shekels going used and still get something great. Now, let’s ride how we ride.