Marzocchi 55 or 66 for SX Trail?
Lee,
Your articles are always spot on. Thanks for all the informative info and advice.
I have a 2007 SX Trail. I am debating between the 2009 Marzocchi 55 ATA or the 2009 66 ATA. This bike is my only bike and I do everything from long XC rides, DJ, DH and FR. I have worked my way up to 20-25ft gaps and 6ft + drops. The problem is I like to do everything on this bike. It kicks arse. I know that I must compromise. So what do you think is the best compromise between these two forks. Thanks.
Christian
Hey Christian,
It sounds like you like to go big, and that you don’t want to feel limited by your equipment.
First a little review:
55 ATA – 120-160mm, rated for all mountain and light freeride
66 ATA – 140-180mm, rated for downhill and extreme freeride
While a 55 ATA won’t exactly hold you back, the 66 ATA will slacken your geometry, make your bike more capable and increase your confidence. If you want steeper geometry for climbing or more stiffness for dirt jumping, you can always drop the travel from 180mm to 140mm.
Get the bigger fork.
— Lee
Hey Lee,
Thanks for your advice. I thought so too but I guess I was being a sally and worrying over another 1lb. of weight. I’ll stop being a wuss and get the bigger fork. Thanks.
On that kind of bike, riding the way you do, an additional pound is meaningless.
If you want the bike to feel quicker, run lighter/faster tires.
Again, your always spot on Lee! I have one wheelset, Mavic Crossmax XL with 2.35 for all around riding, then have another that are more burly and heavy with 2.5 for getting down and dirty.
Lee,
Going to purchase your book because you are as true as it gets and for my own selfish reasons, I would like to improve my Braap! If you are ever in the area, contact me so I can show you some of the local DH & FR terrain around here. Jackie Chan, Chinese DH, Pinenuts, Dirty Harry’s, Tyrolian, etc. I am fairly certain you can humble me like Brandon in North Shore on my own terrain. It would just be fun to Braap with ya. Much props to you!
Hey Christian, I’ve got an early 07 enduro elite same as an sx esitialy, the bike has been HIGHLY modified to fit my riding style. I have a ATA55 on it now, it has plenty of travel for an aggressive rider. I tend to be VERY agressive up to 8′ drops to flat in Moab and Grand Juntion etc. The fork can handle that with a little bit higher air pressure. BUT all in all I’m very disapointed in the forks performance in a whole not very PLUSH at all.The best fork I had on the bike as far as feel was a black Box Rock Shock Lyric Coil but I blew the gate valve out in 30 miles I want to hope it was because it was a black box test fork. The left seal of the ATA55 is leaking allready and it is only 4 months old. So good luck with the fork selection but in my opinion Marzocci has gone DOWN hill. T-Coop
Troy,
Is this the ’09 ATA55 you have? I know that ’08 seemed to have a lot of issues. Hoping that ’09 is better. I am going with the 66ATA. I was able to run the 66RV 07′ and noticed a huge increase in stiffness from the front end. I am going to go with Dr. Lee and run the 66ATA because for the steep stuff I can run the bike a little more slack than stock and a little steeper than stock. I agree with you though that Marzocchi has had some reliability issues over the last couple of years but as with anything when you try new things there are always growing pains. If I was paying full retail though I would probably get a Fox Talus.
I have ridden my new 09′ 66 ATA a few times now and all I can say is it rides damn nice! Lee, sorry about Rufus. That is really a drag. I lost Sydney from cancer when he was about 9yrs. Amputated is leg to try to save him but it came back in his lungs a year later. I still get choked up now.