Marzocchi Bomber Z1 Suspension Fork [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. 

Marzocchi has been making a serious comeback lately, and it shows with the awesome new crop of suspension products they have released in the last couple of years. One of them being the Z1 Bomber suspension fork. Our friend Garrett recently got one for his enduro bike and loves it. Read on for more!

Overview

I bought the Marzocchi Z1 based on reviews that I had read online. I am not at all dissatisfied with this purchase. I love it. It's action is so smooth and it feels very solid and stable. I would highly recommend this for anybody looking for a long travel single crown Fork.

It feels somewhat similar to My Fox 40 Kashima Fork. This wasn't a surprise to me as I had read that Fox had bought Marzocchi a few years ago. It feels like all of the internals are possibly Fox so it seems to me like I'm getting a fox 36 fork or $200 to $300 less.

The only other Fork that I can compare this to is my 160 mm RockShox Pike. It's on my Enduro bike and when I go back to it it feels quite flimsy and unstable compared to this Z1 Fork.

What I love about the Z1 Fork is that it has very few adjustments available. If you are a super techie tinkerer, you won't like the lack of adjustment for this fork. I like the fact that it's more of a fork to set and forget. You can pretty much leave it alone. I adjusted it a few times at first and haven't touched it for about 10 or so rides.

I'd say I've taken it on maybe 15 or so difficult, challenging rides. I've dropped 1k feet into our canyon at least 10 times. This drop has super technical drops, rock gardens, built up berms, braking bumps, and small jumps.

This fork is in my opinion the perfect balance of stiffness and buttery smooth action.

It feels almost as if I have a low (20 psi) front tire, but I run my tires at 40 psi to avoid any squish off jumps and through berms. I feel I'm getting the traction of a low psi tire, but the stability of a 40 psi tire. 

I ran into no problems during installation. I was able to cut the tube and move the headset over to the new fork with not issues. Installing the front brake line went very smoothly - locked right in to the available tab on the fork.

Final Thoughts

This week has included tons of mud and sand and it has performed perfectly. It washes up well and looks just about the same as it did when it was brand new. The paint seems to be good quality and looks like it will last for many years. Worldwide Cyclery has been wonderful to work with. I've had a few questions and they responded quickly and knowledgeably.