Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Showa vs marzocchi

[steeevvvooo]

If there's a thread covering this, please point me in the right direction as I couldn't find anything and have lots of newbie questions floating around my head

I need to do something with my forks. I was going to have a go at replacing springs and oil myself as I'm not sure I can justify a proper set up from a guru at the moment.

Before I start, what's so much better about Showa? I'll have to spend ££ on refreshing any forks I buy anyway so my question I suppose is...

1) Are the Showa worth the extra money? What is it that makes them such a popular upgrade?

2) Is the spring and oil refresh enough? Should I look at any other bits as part of a refresh (or maybe use a professional service?) or are the Marzocchi not worth spending much money on?

[bradders]

have asked similar several times.... consensus seems to be the adjustable non superbike forks aren't worth the extra, the std showa or marzo's are better when correctly sprung, valved and set up etc

of course thats the culmination of lots of opinions and I'm sure lots more will come

[dunlop0_1]

Your not allowed adjustable forks on a class B bike.

[Chaz]

Originally Posted by dunlop0_1

Your not allowed adjustable forks on a class B bike.

And how stupid is that! different tracks,riders who weigh 7 to 20 stone & you can't adjust the forks FFS.

It's not in the theme of cheap racing but you can fit a £1200 TTX & spend £500 with Maxton/K-Tech ect but you can't fit a £200 set of adustable superbike forks

[steeevvvooo]

yup, knew adjustables were not allowed (I know something at least )

Suppose my question was more is it worth reworking the internals of the ones I have or upgrading to Showa, but I don't understand why they are better? Are Showa worth upgrading to if I'm going to have new springs and oil in either set anyway?

Going to start taking bits off the bike today, but the suspension refresh if 1st on my list...

[skidlids]

I should think the majority of Class B are using Marzocchi forks, both the early 40mm caliper mount ones and the later 65mm mount ones
If paying for a professional suspension setup my understanding is that the Showas give them more to work with, but if you doing a DIY spring and oil job there probably isn't to much to choose.
It wouldn't suprise me if a couple of Class A riders are still using the Non-adjustable Marzocchis just with a few internal mods

[steeevvvooo]

exactly what I was looking for (and my wallet was hoping to hear!)

Think I'll do the fluid and springs and take things from there

[skidlids]

On my original DD bike races as a 583 in 2005 and as a Class B bike in 2006 I had the early Marzochi forks fitted with Ohlins 0.85kg/mm springs which were ment for a Honda Firestorm. The Preload spacers I made were if I recall correctly were about 20mm long, then just played with the airgap using 10W oil