Marzocchi Bomber Z1 Coil Service Set: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

One of the coolest features of many MTB forks these days is the ability to convert them from air to coil. Products like the Marzocchi Coil service kit allow you to take your existing air Bomber Z1 fork and convert it to coil. At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you prefer.In this review, our customer had his mind set on going coil. Check out his thoughts on the Marzocchi Bomber Z1 coil kit!

Overview

The COIL IS BACK!!! Yeah, that’s right that is the term I used when I wrote a review on Z1 coil. And I had to order these Marzocchi Z1 conversion kits a lot… 4 conversion kits and 4 spring kits since all of my riding fellas want to have them installed on their bikes. They couldn’t resist those buttery smooth feelings of coil springs. Buttery smooth!!! Yep, that’s right, that’s the proper word to describe this coil conversion kits.

Performance

Performance-wise it is just simply so amazing, especially initial bump compliance is superb, It is simple math, less seal, less friction, more smooth feeling…It is a little bit tricky to fine-tune, actually find the right spring rate for your weight and riding style. Especially for those who haven’t used coil spring before because they do not understand or maybe not familiar with coil spring’s linear reaction. They nodded their heads for initial smoothness but were curious about its mid-stroke support or bottom-out resistance.

It took some time to let them understand the different nature of those two springs, air, and coils. But once they understand, they begin to realize all the lovely features of coils.  And there are no more complaints about mid-stroke support of blah blah…I weigh about 82kg now and found stock blue spring is very plush for me on 170mm setting but somewhat ok for 180mm setting for easy trail rides, and I swap it out to green spring for a bike park ride.

I know Marzocchi designed the coil spring unit to have built-in bottom-out resistance thanks to the air and oil that's trapped in the lower leg. And this design should help give the fork a slightly less linear curve as it nears the end of its travel. That’s how they explain. But I hardly feel it really works. Maybe an actual air valve with a bit more pressure in that canister would help, but again that’s just my humble opinion. Other than the above-mentioned thing, what I found and curious about the feature is preload dial. I do understand preload adjustment is not for changing spring rate but adjust bike’s ride height…

But I do not think it really works as it is supposed to be. However when you compare it with other aftermarket coil conversion kits, price wise it is about 50% less, and much easier to install, and don’t have to worry about factory warranty.
So my overall score for these kits is 9.5 out of 10. I wish I have just a little more bottom-out resistance with stock blue spring…but it is just my personal opinion.

Final Thoughts

Other than this small complaint, performance-wise this Z1 coil conversion is a killer tuning kits. I like it so much and as always thanks for Worldwide Cyclery for providing quality components at a reasonable price. And It also works perfectly on New 2021 Fox 38 with a little bit of modification.