Marzocchi’s new dropper post has been spotted on rare occasions over the past couple months, but now it’s springing forth with real details.
The EPD, or Espresso Push Dropper, will be available in standard and stealth versions, and in 31.6 and 30.9 diameters. Travel is 125mm at launch, and later this year they’ll have a 150mm version, too.
The name comes in part from their slick Espresso coating on the stanchion, which help it stay smooth through all manner of conditions. Inside the post there are three roller key guides to keep it sliding straight up and down and prevent rotation, which seemed to work pretty well…
They had one test sample with a claimed 100 hours of riding on hand, so I grabbed the top and base and twisted to check rotational wear. There was a bit of movement, about as much as expected for any well used dropper post and inline with expectations for a quality model. Of course, we’ll wanna get one in for ourselves to see how it holds up on our own terms.
On the stealth version, the cable pulls a lever that depresses the valve from the bottom of the post, which releases the mechanism and drops the post or raises it. The button doubles as the valve cap to the air chamber, which lets you adjust air pressure to change the rate at which it returns.
On the standard version with external cable routing, the valve and button are at the top, under the saddle’s rail cradle.
The cable feeds into the stealth version’s lever and rests in a slot. To remove the post from the bike, you can simply pull the post out, slide the cable off to the side of the slot and release it completely, all without affecting the settings.
The top of the seat clamp is black and production models will be CNC’d to reveal a silver “M” logo. Saddle offset is 15mm, claimed weight is 530g including cable and cable actuated remote. They will be available by mid-June. Retail will be €339 for the external and €379 for internal. USD pricing should be very similar given the currently favorable exchange rate.
New Enduro and XC rear shocks were spotted in rapid prototype form last year at Sea Otter and now they’re finally ready to be seen for real. The 053 is the enduro shock with a piggy back reservoir and gets a three position mode switch with an integrated “Gate Adjust” to control the lockout force when it’s in lockout mode. Force can be set anywhere from 100% locked out to about 60%.
In the Open and Middle positions, you have full low and high speed compression adjustment using the orange (hi) and gold (low) knobs on the bottom. Rebound adjustments are on the top with a standard red knob.
An external remote can be added to it, but it gives up the middle position. Retail is €529, available at the end of April. Weight is 285g for a 200mm size shock. Sizes will range from 190mm to 222mm.
The 023 is a more XC/Trail oriented shock.
It keeps the three position adjustment and Gate Adjust with the same lockout range.
It only has a low speed compression adjustment, and the usual rebound adjustment knob. It’ll also work with the remote lever. Weight is 185g, sizes from 165mm to 200mm. Retail is €399.
Both shocks use their Espresso stanchion coating.
On the forks, they’ve made a few small improvements to the damping cartridges, but the big news is that they’re taking the 350 fork all the way to 170mm of travel. The other big news? Literally, it’s that they’re making a bigger 27.5+ model to be shown at Sea Otter. It’ll have a bit shorter travel and get at least 5mm wider per side (10mm added width between stanchions minimum). The controls and features will all be the same as the standard 350 forks.
