Marzocchi 44 RC3 Ti Tapered Suspension Fork

Review from Singletrack

This review related to the almost identical 2011 model.

In conclusion...

It's no secret that the Marzocchi forks had been struggling to compete with the might of Fox and Rockshox in recent years. In an attempt to 'sex up' its forks, Marzocchi had added feature upon feature until you needed to adjust and balance three different air pressures just to go for a ride.

Wit new company owners, though, Marzocchi was forced to reconsider its whole fork line and take it back to a simpler, more reliable range – back to the days when the Bomber forks earned Marzocchi a rightful place on bikes and podiums everywhere.

The 140mm 44 RC3 forks are just such a move to a more reliable, supple fork. The forks are sprung with a titanium coil, assisted by low-pressure air to give it some ramp-up. In addition, the fork uses the same style of damping cartridge as the 'everybody loves them' Marzocchi 888 forks. Down below, the fork takes 15mm hubs, using Marzocchi's very simple quick release, operable with one hand. The stanchion tubes are slippery nickel coated alloy. The controls are suitably simple too: just a rebound and a compression dial at either end of the right leg, with an air top-up valve in the middle of the rebound dial.

How do they ride? It's a real return to form for Marzocchi. The forks have many of the (good) aspects of the old, orange Bombers: super supple suspension action and simple set up, only now with the benefits of a decent thru-axle and Post-mount brake. The ride can be tuned with the compression and rebound dials, along with topping up the low pressure air chamber to give a little more ramp-up to the fork.

If you're used to lockout and platform forks and shocks, then the Marzocchi's are an eye opener as they're very active and there's no easy way to dampen them down. Dialling the compression will help, but that knob is annoyingly at the bottom of the fork leg, so it's more of a fit and forget thing. If you can live with a fork that's very active on the climbs, then you'll love how supple it is on the descents. It's not particularly a fork for riders who like their forks firm, only giving on the biggest of hits, it's more for riders who feel cheated if they don't get lots of travel out of their forks. Say that, though, the air assist stops the forks feeling too linear and they're still hard to completely bottom out.

Rating: N/A