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Fox Buys Part of Marzocchi, Aims to Expand Suspension Line Up?

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Recently, there has been a lot of talk and speculation surrounding Marzocchi. First it was announced that they were shutting down the moto side of their business, which later came to include the mountain bike operations as well. Then it was announced the company was up for sale which was followed by new products on display at Eurobike. The rumor was that they were in negotiations with at least one company who might be able to salvage the brand and that more information would be provided at Interbike only to say there was nothing new to report when in Las Vegas.

Now, it would seem that Fox Factory is the suitor and will be purchasing at least some of the Marzocchi brand. Just what Fox plans to do with the assets and what it means for the brand remains to be seen, but it at least sounds like a great deal for current Marzocchi owners…

Based on the press release from the Marzocchi website, the two brands have reached an agreement that involves the sale of “certain assets” of the Marzocchi mountain bike business. Perhaps more important, at least in the interim, is that announcement that Fox will be servicing Marzocchi Suspension products. This is excellent news for anyone with a red M on their bike right now and for the product that is currently in the pipeline for sale.

From Marzocchi:

Tenneco Marzocchi has signed a definitive agreement with Fox Factory, Inc. (FOX) for the sale of certain assets of its Marzocchi mountain bike business.

Under this agreement, FOX will take over the Marzocchi brand for bicycles and the sales and servicing of Marzocchi mountain bike products.

We are delighted that FOX has chosen to continue the Marzocchi brand for bicycles.

FOX  has the attributes necessary to help ensure the future of the Marzocchi brand within its bicycle portfolio and we wish them continued success. We expect to complete the sale to FOX by early November.

In another story from Yahoo Finance, FOX’s CEO, Larry Enterline mentions the potential ability to extend their suspension presence across more price points. As you probably know, Fox suspension isn’t exactly cheap so to us this reads as using the Marzocchi brand or technology to at least produce more affordable suspension products across the board. Whether they will stay branded as Marzocchi or be absorbed into the Fox line up remains to be seen, but it is certainly an interesting move for a company that also recently purchased RaceFace and Easton Components.

 

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Alex @ Hermes Sport
8 years ago

Do I smell a Super Monster comeback for MY2017?

mortimer
mortimer
8 years ago

Alex, if Fox see the big M as a way to enter the lower end of the market you might find that Super Monster coming back real soon – with elastomers and on low end bikes.

Andy
Andy
8 years ago

Oh hell no. This has happened before. Brand X buys fabled brand, then proceeds to destroy every last shred of dignity it ever had by selling it at supermarket bike price points.

Tim
Tim
8 years ago

I agree with Andy and mortimer- it seems like Fox is buying Marzocchi before someone else does it first. And then Fox will likely use the Marzocchi brand as a way to get into a market they otherwise wouldn’t taint themselves with: lower end stuff. It need not be as low as hypermarket level cheap, the new Marzocchi could become an RST competitor- although names like “Bomber” and “Monster” could sell well to people who buy bikes for 200USD.

Rubén
Rubén
8 years ago

And what about M’s patents? I think that’s a great reason to buy it, not only to get the renown of a brand.

Tim
Tim
8 years ago

@Ruben- true, they might integrate some of the best Marzocchi tech into their own Fox-brand forks. This is one possible positive outcome of the buy, and one that does not exclude the more negative one in which the Marzocchi name becomes a low (hypermarket bikes) or mid-price (RST) brand.

Jan
Jan
8 years ago

Just changed oil the other day on my 1998 Bomber Z1, still works perfect

JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago

If Marzocchi mountain bike products have demand, there is absolutely no reason to not maintain Marzocchi as a high end separate brand. Marzocchi should be helped with better production streamlining and OEM fitments.

There are lots of parent owned companies that are still operated as defacto separate companies. The buyer just realized the co. was cheap to get and may just need some capital to clean house and re-establish.

Or they could be like GM/GE and completely ruin it.

hellbelly
hellbelly
8 years ago

Who knows? The last routinely decent stuff from Marzocchi was nearly ten years ago. At the same time another big company scooped up a floundering suspension line and turned them into the industry benchmark. Pre-SRAM Rock Shox stunk on a good day and was flat out dangerous after that. Psylo? Duke? Yikes!!! Let’s hope Fox does something creative with the might M to return it to it’s former glory.

Andy
Andy
8 years ago

I find that hard to believe! Since why would fox strategically position marzocchi on par with Fox products to cannibalize sales? It will be interesting how this turns out.

ginsu
ginsu
8 years ago

Unfortunately, this probably isn’t going to be good for consumers. I see crappy Marzocchi products at lower price points, maybe just to make the ‘high-end’ FOX products look better.

I just can’t see why FOX would buy Marz unless they just wanted to cannibalize it.

ginsu
ginsu
8 years ago

@Andy – hehe, we must have headhunters on our mind….cannibals!

Tom D
Tom D
8 years ago

Bring back the Z1!

MattBrown
MattBrown
8 years ago

I’ve been riding Marzocchi since the mid 90’s when they were making air oil, and Rockshox were selling over priced rubber bumpers. Fox will most likely take the top end tech and brand it Fox, and take the entry level stuff and make it compete with RST, Suntour, more likely the Suntour XC-R air oil, and entry level Rockshox. The Rockshox XC30’s is most likely what it will go head to head with as you don’t see Fox shox on bikes in the $800-$2k range, and that leaves a lot of room, and a lot of bikes. I doubt they will be on $150 Wallygoose, as those have no name brand forks, and Fox isn’t dumb enough to waste the brand on that. I could see a lot of Marzocchi on entry level gravity and enduro bikes.

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