Setting up a Marzocchi 888 ATA WC

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Hi Lee,

I have just bought the Marzocchi 888 ATA WC, 2008 model. I notice that there are a lot of conflicting thoughts of proper setup for it. I weigh 191lbs. How much air should I put in the upper and lower chambers respectively? The manual is not that clear on many of the settings. And do you have any other setup tips regarding this fork for DH?

Keep rocking this brilliant site!

Adrian

Hey Adrian,

For this one I contacted Tom Rogers at Marzocchi. He does R&D, pro rider support, suspension setup, pretty much everything. And he is a very fast pro-rider type guy.



Tom tests the new 66 fork on Whistler’s Dirt Merchant, summer 2004.

Hi Lee,
How’s it going? I hope you are doing well. I am doing well, staying busy, raising kids, riding bikes, etc.

So you need a set-up for your 888 ATA WC huh?

Let me see, I would first start by adding air to the bottom valve. I would run about 110-115 psi.

Then adjust the top air pressure to around 40-50psi.

You will need to dial it from there depending on the initial suppleness you want. Rule of thumb, top valve = beginning travel, bottom valve = is for end of travel.

Let me know if that works for you and we can go from there.

Talk to you soon,
TR

Right on. Thanks Tom!

Know more. Have more fun!

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11 replies
  4. Adrian says:

    As a matter of interest, do you think this fork will work well with my 2003 Specialized Bighit?

  5. jimmy says:

    Gone are the days of adjusting your preload and rebound. Nowadays the forks and shock have more knobs than a porcupine.

    A couple years ago I bought a Judge that came with a Marzocchi 888 and Marzocchi Roco shock. The bike was plush as hell but didn’t feel that well controlled.

    A couple months after I got my new bike I took it up to Whistler during Crankworx. Headed straight for the Marzocchi tent. They asked me how much I weighed and type of terrain, etc. The bike was like night and day.

    A year later I blew the Roco and sent it to Push. They sent it back with instructions that mirrored the Marzocchi Crankworx tech settings.

    Yeah, it’s worth getting help from someone who knows their stuff.

  7. Colin says:

    I recently got a 2008 888 ATA and spoke to the UK distributer about setting it up. One important point is ALWAYS have at least 30psi more in the PAR (bottom) chamber than the main (top) chamber. Running less pressure in the bottom than top causes less than full travel to be used and other problems. The top chamber contains both positive and negative air springs. Beware of a problem with the seals allowing air to migrate to the negative chamber and not returning. After a ride the shock pump would read 5 psi after filling it to 70psi. I am a similar weight to you and found 70-80 psi in the top was required for about 30% sag.

    The manual is terrible, here is what I found out about the other dials –
    The red compression adjusts both the high and low speed at the same time, max positive (clockwise) = max low speed and min high speed. It is about 22 clicks total so 11 clicks is neutral. If your sag is good but you get some brake dive (like I was) try adding some extra clockwise clicks.
    The rebound is the black knob on the top, clockwise is slower.
    The red knob on the top is the volume adjust, which has a similar effect to increasing the amount of oil in the leg. Basically it is bottom out resistance tuning like the PAR chamber but out on the trail without a shock pump.
    Supposedly a new site with good setup and servicing info will be online soon at http://www.bombercafe.com

  8. Adrian says:

    Wow Colin!

    Thanks for the heads up! I’ll be looking out for the info on that website.

    Much appreciated.

    Regards,
    Adrian

  9. Adrian says:

    And by the way Colin, are you happy with the fork and have you experienced any problems?

    Adrian

  10. Colin says:

    I mentioned the problem with losing air from the positive chamber because it happened to me. The fork arrived like that, it got fixed pretty quick and it has been great since. I am hoping its the only problem I will have with it. I have noticed a tiny bit of wind down where the ATA rotates by itself during a run. It has only been about 30 degrees at most, it takes about 3000 degrees to change from 200mm to 160mm so I am not too worried, yet.

  11. jimmy says:

    “I have noticed a tiny bit of wind down where the ATA rotates by itself during a run. It has only been about 30 degrees at most, it takes about 3000 degrees to change from 200mm to 160mm so I am not too worried, yet.”

    You shouldn’t have this problem on the 2008 ATA. The 2008 red ATA knob can be locked in place by pushing it down. The 2007 ATA knob was held in place with friction so that was an issue for that year.

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