ok different fork choices now. Vanilla 36 or marz 66?

[LoveB]

Ok, I posted I found a fox vanilla 36 for 300$ which I've seen is in good condition and now just found a marzocchi 66 rc2x for 200$ which I still need to check out.

The vanilla has 160mm travel and the marz i believe has 170. I'm using it for trails/AM and a bit of XC so the 170mm will probably too high. BUT I think its adjustable to 150mm?

Anyway, to those who have tried or know anyone who have, whats a betetr fork? fox or marz? just looking for something that wont be so hard to maintain and something that gives good performance.

[zero]

I'd suggest rotorburn for that sort of question, as you should be able to find riders that have ridden one or the other there.

My opinion would be to find out what size fork the frame was designed for and stick very closely to that in sizing.

[Alistair]

The Marzocchi quality dropped off a while back. I'm not sure about that particular fork, but MTBR or rotorburn will point you in the right direction.

It is going to be a big bike though. Are you sure you need so much travel? Nothing with 170mm of travel will be nice to ride on XC trails... that i have come across anyway.

[trailgumby]

They're both a lot of fork for an XC bike. Will be very mushy to pedal

If fitting to an XC/AM frame, the axle-to-lower-headset-bearing length of the fork will most likely exceed the design limits of the frame, and snapping your frame behind the headtube becomes a very real risk.

While you may not be worried about snapping the "neck" of your frame, in your shoes I'd be less sanguine about the flow-on risks to my own neck. :O

For a general trail riding bike outside of Sydney, 130mm is about right... 150mm if you are tending towards the more technical end of the spectrum.

[LoveB]

The guys over at rotorburn seem to be more inclined towards the marzocchi for a worry free shock.

But people are saying go fox for the performance.. I'm about to bring my bike home to the Philippines btw. Guy who sold me bike said 140-160 is perfect for the bike since the frame has 6' of travel which is about 152mm anyway. I agree the marz may be too high for me at 170-180 and the fox is only at 140-160. Might still end up with the fox as I think theres more shops in the philippines that can service it as opposed to the marzocchi. Plus I like climbing lol