Oh, hell yeah, again! The Marzocchi coil kit for my Fox Rhythm 36 has done the same for my front as the X2 did for the rear. Anytime I make a big change to my bike, I take it on the same, about 17 mile ride with some good flowy up and down single track with a couple technical steep climbs. Nothing super difficult, but challenging enough to give me a good feel for the changes I’ve made. And, I know this trial like the back of my hand. The coil kit definitely allows me to keep up more speed with better traction everywhere. I didn’t feel any increased weight. I think because it lets you keep your speed up easier. It’s really amazing. I’m 180 pounds ready to ride and I’m running it at 160mm with zero preload and the compression dial wide open. I’m getting 20% sag. Which is ok with me. I’ve never been able to get 25% or 30% sag on an air fork, unless I was running insanely low pressure. I set rebound at the recommend setting for my green firm spring and weight. That’s 5-7 turns out. So, I set it at 6 turns out. I didn’t feel that the front end was any higher. I think it just settles in a little more than the air setup. But, mid stroke support felt good. I really noticed an improvement when climbing short climbs, where you’re trying to keep your speed up to get over it, to a flat section or downhill section. It just allows you to keep that speed up easier, so I’m shifting less. Longer steep technical climbs were no harder and I didn’t notice any difference here. Going down chunky downhill sections, it gives me more control and I can just relax my arms more. I feel more comfortable turning and just letting that front wheel hang out to the outside a little more. I hit an embedded basketball sized rock at just over 20 mph. I know I was going at least 20, because I was in high mode and I wasn’t getting any motor power anymore. Before I hit it, I said to myself, “oh, that’s going to be a hard hit. But, I didn’t feel anything. It felt like my front tire was half flat, but no jolt or shock to my arms at all. I used all but 10mm of the travel on this ride. Which is ok with me. It was a shorter ride and I didn’t go down the steeper, faster and chunkier downhills that I usually ride on. And, I didn’t get anything over a foot off the ground. I did use more travel than I usually use on that ride with the air setup. So, I feel 100% confident that it’s not to progressive. And to my surprise, my air setup had three purple tokens in it. I’ve included a picture of that. I did feel some bob under hard, out of the saddle mashing. So, I’m going to slow the rebound one click and run the compression knob to 1:00 instead of fully open, which is about 10:00. With the air setup, I used to run that at 3:00. I noticed with the coil kit, the compression adjuster has a lot more adjustability. Full closed is almost locked out now. With the air setup it wouldn't come close to locked out. My guy did a complete service when he put the coil kit in. So, I don’t know if it’s because of that or if the coil kit causes that. While writing this I was thinking that, I usually get one or two tire pings on my ride. I didn’t get any today. I just went out and checked and both tires were 5 psi higher than what I usually run. I topped them off at the shop. But, their dial gauge must be way off. So, I think on tomorrow’s ride, it’ll feel even better. So, I have to say that the Marzocchi coil kit and the X2 shock is a very good combination. Both ends are just like melted butter now. Even my installation guy commented that both ends just feel very balanced. I’m very happy with this setup. The only drawback is now more than ever, I’m up to the 20 mph where the motor cuts out and I feel like I can go faster if I had the motor working. That’s not that bad of a negative though. I can live with that.
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nsmb.com
www.worldwidecyclery.com
Look what Fox delivered today. Two boxes of smooth! With the X2 in the back and the Marzocchi coil kit in the Fox 36 up front, my Trek EXe will be as smooth as Barry White, Yo!
www.sprocketscycles.com
