Pre-'03 Marzocchi Fork damping modification

[motoguzznix]

Ma complaints about the fork of my KR were pretty much the same like Toms: Poor damping and suddenly the fork gets stiff. I couldn't really enjoy the ride. Additionnally my forks were not sensitive in eliminating very small bumps from the road surface. The front was always "bumpy" and therefore forces were induced into the frame that normally wouldn't. That led to an unstable driving behavior from approx. 150 km/h upwards.

Some years ago I played with the forks: set the ride height, tried out fork oils from SAE 5 to 15 and eventually backed off the holes in the damping tube. All of that was not a real success.

 

I stopped my activities with that fork when I could get a set of Öhlins forks and rear shock absorber to a very reasonable price. Basically the Öhlins fork spring is too soft (had to adjust max possible preload for my 75 kg), but the fork is sensitive! The chassis is now stable at any speed!

 

A friend of mine has a 2003 V11 with almost the same Marzcchi forks - is is black anodised and slightly taller - which always worked fine. I suppose the fork is different inside.