As we walked by the Marzocchi booth, we noticed something a bit odd. Here was a company that was supposedly in the midst of shutting down, and yet they had new prototypes on display. After sending a letter announcing their intentions of shutting down their moto and mountain bike businesses to their dealers, it appears that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel after all. In the letter itself it said that they were in discussions with potential buyers and from what we’ve seen at Eurobike things are looking good for the legendary M.
We were told to expect an announcement at Interbike which means we may see that Marzocchi dropper in production after all…
Coated in bright orange, these prototypes were hard to miss. Shown in a 350 RC3 EVO V2 AER and a 380 RC3 EVO V2, Marzocchi was calling both of these forks prototypes yet both are already on their web site. The 350 AER is a 150-170mm travel air fork that uses their 35mm chassis and RC3 EVO V2 damping system. Built with a 15mm thru axle, the 27.5″ fork has a claimed weight of 2100g (4.63lb). On the 380 side, the dual crown fork utilizes 38mm stanchions to create a 200mm coil fork that would weigh in at 3180g (7.01lbs). If the 380 V2 made it to production it would be available in 26 and 27.5″ versions.
Marzocchi had their potential EPD INT dropper post on display as well. Not much has changed since we saw it last, with the post using a hydraulic cartridge operated by a cable remote. Potentially to be available in 30.9 and 31.6, the dropper provides 125mm of travel with a 15mm setback head.
Along with the forks Marzocchi also showed the possible continuation of the Moto Coil shock range with the Moto R and Moto CR models. As more affordable versions of the Moto C2R that was released a while ago, the shocks would offer Rebound or Compression and Rebound adjustments respectively.
Of course, none of this matters if the company folds. But based on what we’ve seen and heard, that’s looking less and less likely as we quickly approach Interbike. Details as soon as we have them.
