Marzocchi Forks

Pretty Kin said:

Took the bike to the dealer exactly 2 weeks ago... Was told they would replace my forks, Still have not heard a word on exact date service will be preformed? I'm kinda annoyed... Should I go and raise hell? what's been the time table for some of you guys who have been through this?

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Depends on where the new forks are, my bike was 3 hours away from Bologna so there is no excuse, but we ship a lot from the states into Europe, small items by DHL are next day delivery, bigger stuff is normally 7 days, and if I order bike stuff its around 7 days.
Mine took just over a week. You need to ask how, when and why for the fork delivery.

My dealer always turned me around within the week. When ordered on Monday, the parts would come in by Thursday morning. 2 hours to fit and off I went.

The only time it can take longer is in August when Italy is shut down for vacation.

Ok ...just read all 6 pages and now I'm freaking out...I don't know .... about suspension so what will I test for...? I'd also like to soften it up as it is stiff from the previous owner who was a 90kg racer and I'm a 80kg cruiser. Do I go + or - on the dials (front and rear).....It's going to the dealer next week for some free heat shielding in the rear as I'm cooking when riding so i'll ask them to check it I guess.....
Thanks to all on here ......I think
Anything else you want to mention while we're here discussing life threatening recalls...?

pil said:

Ok ...just read all 6 pages and now I'm freaking out...I don't know .... about suspension so what will I test for...? I'd also like to soften it up as it is stiff from the previous owner who was a 90kg racer and I'm a 80kg cruiser. Do I go + or - on the dials (front and rear).....It's going to the dealer next week for some free heat shielding in the rear as I'm cooking when riding so i'll ask them to check it I guess.....
Thanks to all on here ......I think
Anything else you want to mention while we're here discussing life threatening recalls...?

Click to expand...

Turning an adjuster "-" makes the damping softer and going "+" makes the damping harder. Same with preload, except that adjusts the spring. Your manual is a good guide.

As was mentioned previously, dial the rebound damping (the hex adjuster on top of your forks) all the way down "-". Bounce on the forks a few times and get a feel for the speed at which the forks bounce back (rebound). Now turn the rebound damping all the way up "+", careful not to force the adjustment screw past the point it stops clicking. Bounce on the forks again. If you don't notice a significant and obvious slower rate of the forks coming back up, then you have the known issue.

The only other potentially life threatening issue I've seen on the 1199 is oil leaking from the heads or other area of the engine. If the lead is significant enough, it could catch fire, which has been noted here but is much less common the Marzocchi forks going bad. Just take off your fairings every now and then to inspect them and the motor for any oil leaks. If the oil lead flows on the headers, that's a potential problem.

JeffD said:

The only other potentially life threatening issue I've seen on the 1199 is oil leaking from the heads or other area of the engine. If the lead is significant enough, it could catch fire, which has been noted here but is much less common the Marzocchi forks going bad. Just take off your fairings every now and then to inspect them and the motor for any oil leaks. If the oil lead flows on the headers, that's a potential problem.

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It's actually the valve cover on the vertical cylinder that might leak. No biggie, there's never enough oil coming out of that to cause a fire.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the dealership buying tires and I told the service manger that my fork felt like pogo sticks (truth). He checked with the Ducati and my forks will be replaced without any further discussion.
There was half a chance that Ducati wouldn't require the return of the defective forks. If so they (dealer) said that they'd use the warranty to put in Ohlins cartrages. But no love. Ducati wants the old forks. Oh well. The stock forks felt just fine to me, when they worked.

Still, would have been epic to get $1800 cartrages for free though.

pil said:

Ok ...just read all 6 pages and now I'm freaking out...I don't know .... about suspension so what will I test for...? I'd also like to soften it up as it is stiff from the previous owner who was a 90kg racer and I'm a 80kg cruiser. Do I go + or - on the dials (front and rear).....It's going to the dealer next week for some free heat shielding in the rear as I'm cooking when riding so i'll ask them to check it I guess.....
Thanks to all on here ......I think
Anything else you want to mention while we're here discussing life threatening recalls...?

Click to expand...

Top of the forks there is an adjuster nut, unscrew anti-clockwise full so the forks go down easy, (less spring pressure).

Bottom of each fork, red nut inside allen screw undo fully anti clockwise so no damping on compression.

Inside the top adjuster nut is the rebound allen screw, screw down fully ( not too hard full rebound damping) then get the fat guy down the road to push the bike, bang the front brake on, forks go down then note how the come back up the should be some upward resistance, also just from a standing position pull up on the bars to feel a resistance, then unscrew the allen screws fully and do it all again this time you feel no upward resistance, compare time after time, if there is no difference and it comes up fast ether way then damping does not work. Also can play with the bottom adjuster in the same way to feel when you brake hard how much downward fork speed there is or isn't depending on how far in or out the allen screw is adjusted. I found trying to do this when riding and and braking hard didn't show me the differences so well, but if you ride hard around a corner and crash be sure the damping is at fault!
I found that the damping on the Marzzcohi forks are not so variable as on the Showa fork on my 749

Sorry I'm late with this but I wrote this morning and forgot to post! And also the cost of the forks, I didn't pay of course was 2419.19 euro and the run switch wiring job was 19.00 euro.

Thanks to all again
I love this place

Been out today and went to set up the new forks and there is no difference between max setting rebound and min setting rebound, I thought is was me as these are brand new fitted, but I compared to my 749 with showa's on and you can tell nearly click by click on those the difference!
I just mailed the dealer and told them the good news.

To ask anyone. can you notice the difference on Marrzocchi's, like I do with my Showa's ?
I tried these ways to test,
Riding feels no difference when adjusted just come back up like a train.
Running and hotting the brake
Holding the bike down hill reverse and hit the front brake
And just lifting, All the same on mine!

arise dead thread!!!

Just went to help a friend with a 1199 set his suspension. He was complaining that it wasn't feeling great on track so I offered to check his suspension settings. After a quick check his base model forks are not damping in rebound or compression and after reading all this thread I'm guessing his are blown. Is there anything that can be done other than replacement? He has no warranty left and was bought used.

I just got my forks replaced on my 2012 std abs.. My bike was out of warranty in Aug of 14. My dealer has a fantastic relationship with their rep. If he's lucky and knows anyone at the local dealer they might be able to do something for him...

I got my marzocchis replaced last year because of the well know dumping failure, I got a set with the new part # (3450242D), which is the same as in the 1199 2014 (mine is a 2012, base model). My assumption was that the new ones wouldnt fail but they just started doing it.
-Anyone out there with a base 2014 or a base1299 that has had this problem? or anyone
that got a replacement with the new part number having the problem again?

-is there a new part number number for the marzocchis in the base 1299?

I checked, they are the same part# or so says the 1299 SPC

I had mine replaced with the new part number, twice both time ...., fitted Ohlins at my cost because Ducati didn't believe me, even thought the dealer in Trieste agreed with me that they did not have any rebound damping!

i'm going tomorrow to the dealer for my fork with no rebound 12000km

Ohlins cartridges are the only viable solution. I'm shopping for a 1299 base and am keeping my 2012 forks with cartridges. They followed me on my '13 and will make the 1299.

Marzocchi went bust... their forks blow all the time.... hard to beat ohlins with the right springs.... but on the pani, geometry is more than 70% of handling...

fork are gonna be replaced, dealer will received it in a week

Has the fork issue been fixed with the 14 model panigale abs?

The only resolution is to get a different brand forks or cartridges. Don't waste your time with getting the oem crap fixed. Maybe you can get the dealer to give you cost on cartridges.