I'm looking for a pair of 1199 Marzocchi front forks if anyone has a spare pair for sale. They will be then going off to Maxton to get new internals, so I don't mind if the internal bladders are split and there is no rebound. In fact any problems with the rebound or compression is fine as I really only want the outers. The inners will be binned. I'm not having the Marzocchi's on my bike altered as they are still working fine and as I will be having a new Maxton shock, I wanted to end up with a complete set of spare suspension in case of track day damage. Thanks!
Grab some BPFs (and a decent top yoke & clip ons ) https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/233538787559 Think about resale, if you’re going to invest in Maxton internals these will fit 899/959/1199/1299/v2. Will move them on quite easily and see a decent return!
Swap the 57mm top yoke & clips ons from the 1199/1299 base for the 43mm variants from the base 899/959/v2 or ohlins 1199/1299 variants. BPFs straight swap.
You are right what you say about the re-sale of the Showa's. I'm still leaning towards keeping the Marzocchi's just because I like the look of them. Richard at Maxton would need to do machining work on the Showa's so it does add another £100 + vat to the total cost. Currently Showa and Marzocchi forks are going for a similar price on the Bay of E, so the extra cost of top yoke and clips, plus the extra machining is adding at least another few hundred quid to the total. The down side is the Showa's for sale appear to be in better condition, as the only Marzocchi's I have seen available look to have crash damage on the bottom axle clamp castings from the bike they've come off being dropped. I don't mind the odd scuff, but one set has a big chunk out of one casting which I wouldn't want to take the chance on.
I don’t disagree, the Marzocchi’s do look good. They’re also lighter, 3.35kg vs 3.9kg each (weighed them myself). The downsides though, as you’ve found almost all second hand ones are in poor shape and decent ones tend to be expensive. Standard BPFs are fairly plentiful, which is good if you end up needing to source replacement one / both should the worse happen! Some further considerations with the Marzocchi’s are the black coating on the stanchions is easily chipped and can wear over time. Also, mechanically there’s about 13mm of unusable travel in the Marzocchi’s as there’s internal stops in the bottoms which can’t be removed. On the resale point, in addition to the BPFs fitting a wider pool of Pani’s, don’t forget you’d probably see a decent return on the top yoke & clip ons. They’re like hens teeth! Are you wedded to the Maxton’s? There’s a fair few alternatives out there and deals to be had. If you haven’t already, have a look at the Mupo range. Dave Croft (UK Importer) often has good deals if you contact him directly and his back up and after sales Support is second to none. He’s also owned and tracked a fair few Pani’s so knows his onions.
I'm certainly open to other brands of suspension. I haven't had anything done by Maxton in the past but as they have done plenty of work on Trioptions cup machines I thought they were worth speaking to. Richard has replied to a few emails of mine and has always been helpful with my questions.I was also aware of their TT history as well, supplying fork internals and shocks. I have seen the Mupo brand mentioned in different posts on here before although don't know anything about them really. That doesn't mean I wouldn't use them though. I have also looked at the cost of Ohlins FGRT 203's which are the direct replacement for the Marzocchi equipped Panigale's. They are around £2k per set so I need to be sure how much I am going to spend getting cartridge kite fitted to a second set of forks, other wise I could bite the bullet and go for Ohlins. Go on, tempt me with price of your top yolk and clip ons. PM me if you want?
