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Oh, how nice it was in the nineties! Totally Corona-free, we rode through the undergrowth without Strava monitoring and selfie cam. Mountain bikes still had uniformly small wheels - and Marzocchi was the top dog when it came to freeride forks. There was nothing better than a Bomber Z1 for smashing off man-high edges into the flat! In glitter orange, please! It's been a long time. At some point, suspension forks had to be light and have air springs. Be lowerable. Still respond well. The Italians couldn't really keep up and were mercilessly ousted by Fox and Rockshox. And went bankrupt. And were bought up. By Fox.
And now the Americans are launching the bomber Z1 with a Fox interior, and we don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because it's kind of sad what the Italian cult brand of yesteryear has become: the low-cost rail of a US transport giant. A symbol of turbo capitalism, so to speak. That's how it goes if you're not careful. You'll go under the wheels. Speaking of bikes, I'm supposed to be writing a test report here, not a retro whinge.
So we bolted the red thing to the 29er enduro bike. And started testing: Tuning is easy with the 170 mm steel suspension fork. Fox sent it with a slightly harder spring than actually specified for my weight. Because they know me; the Schlekinator life test bench. I still like to plummet off edges. Overestimate myself here and there. That's not good for people or material. So: a little harder for the reserves. There's not much you can do about the grip cartridge: there's little damping when it's open. Too much when closed. In the centre it fits quite well. The rebound stage is still rather fast, because we want a lot of ground contact. And into the rumble! But nothing rumbles. Because the Marzocchi is a real cream slice - I haven't ridden anything this comfortable for a long time! A real bomber feeling. In combination with the linear steel spring, the Grip cartridge works effectively even in the middle stroke and still remains sensitive. Mega, the Z1 works better than a Fox 36 with the same cartridge. And it's cheaper too! But also heavier. Just like in the old days.
Weight: 2480 gram
Price949 Euro >> e.g. available from Maciag Offroad
Info: foxracingshox.com
STRENGTHSSensitivity, dynamics, stability
WEAKNESSESa little heavy
Conclusion: a super fork for parking applications and comfort-seeking root shredders!
