New Fork for the Bonty

1994 Bontrager Race, now with Marzocchi Bomber Z2 fork
Originally uploaded by jimgskoop.

Several months ago (last year mebby?) I bought this fork via Ebay. I'd grown frustrated with trying to keep my Manitou 3 fork running -- parts are getting pretty scarce -- and I'd heard that these Z2 forks are pretty bulletproof, low maintanence, work great, and parts are still available (kudos to Marzocchi)! The right fork leg had a pretty bad oil leak, so I sent it back to Marzocchi's USA offices in Valencia, CA and they rebuilt it for $60, so it should be good to go for a while. At any rate, I finally got around to installing the fork a couple of weekends ago.

I took this bike out for a short 20-mile mixed-roads ride this past Sunday, and it worked great. The Z2 rides very differently than the M3 fork -- much more active, plush, and longer travel. It pogos when honking out of the saddle, but I guess that's to be expected. It's also HEAVIER -- the bike gained about 1.5lbs from the fork swap.