Opinions on old vs new suspension forks?

[forteh]

I have a bit of a dilemma with my intense 5.5 evp.

I currently have '01 Z3QR20 forks, they're 5" travel (perfectly suited to the frame) nice and plush but a little heavy and the rebound damping is a little rudimentary using pumping rods rather than cartridges. The machined arch also isn't particularly stiff - with the axle and crown off each leg can be twisted in opposite directions quite easily.

I have a bunch of spare bomber parts from that era which means I will effectively be able to build up a set of 5" forks with the damping cartridges from the original Z1 BAMs but using a set of later lowers with the integrated M-Arch which is significantly stiffer than the machined brace. I also have one of the easton alloy steerers that will help shed some weight. I'm hoping to get them to about 1850g which whilst isn't super light compared to some modern forks it is about 400g lighter than the Z3s.

Basically aside from the lack of slow speed compression circuit on the Z1s, would I notice significant improvement in the forks performance between the 5" Z1 hybrid or a modern pair of air forks?

Has anyone got experience of riding both types of forks and able to offer advice as to whether the outlay for new forks would outweigh the benefit to riding?

For information I really only ride round cannock chase at the moment so nothing taxing or fast, I'm not a racer and to be honest I'm not all that fussed by the lack of low speed compression damping so far as the forks don't bob all that much with my climbing style.

[bing]

Not really helping much, but z1 bams are widely considered to be the best fork ever made. Those internals with newer legs would be awesome

[dezmtber]

I would say e mail. Tim at tf tuned

[forteh]

Dez, hadn't thought about that, will look into contacting him

[Muel]

They're over 10 years old mate, even if they were the shittest hottest forks of their day, they can't be any good compared to modern forks?

Might be worth giving my brother a shout. He's only 17 so a bit dim, but he doesn't half spaff over rebound adjustment and stuff these days. He knows most of the current models and stuff.

[forteh]

I think for my usage the z1s will probably just as good as a modern fork, increasing cost vs diminishing returns. If I was racing/competing/not an owd fart then it might be another matter. The forks are almost as old as your brother! Ideally I wanted advice from someone who had ridden both

Dez, phoned tf tuned and they gave me a bit more of an insight into the bombers vs modern forks. Bonus is that they had a spare z1 cartridge that they would strip the preload adjuster off to replace the broken one I have, 8 quid to save getting one machined from scratch.

I might try to modify one out the spare pumping rods I have to make it a compression damper, could also try running air in that side with a different to cap

Edited April 29, 2013 by forteh

[dezmtber]

Good to hear Tf sorted your issue.

The diiference for anyone intrested.

Old forks are more tuneable as in shims ect...

Newer forks are lighter and have blow off spring lockout valves ect... But are nit as relable

[forteh]

I am now contemplating making my own low compression damper to go in one leg. I have a bunch of wave spring samples that I hope to use as a rudimentary shim stack to start with, just having a plate over an orifice held down by the spring with the preload adjusted as necessary. I will mount the compression assembly onto the top of a modified spare marzocchi damping rod and with any luck might be able to get something to work; then its just a case of figuring out some sort external adjustment mechanism.

If I can't get the wave spring orifice piston to work correctly then I shall have to pick up some shims and have a play with building a conventional shim stack

I'm not wrong in thinking that a lot of forks are rebound damping in one leg and compression in the other am I?

Please tell me I'm mental

[TrialsRob]

More importantly your old marzocchis have soul.