Marzocchi 350 NCR – First Look
We check out the Marzocchi 350 NCR fork up front on our Santa Cruz Bronson to see just how she works.
We first rode the 350 range back in April when we hooked up with Pedro and the Marzocchi truck for a day of demoing new stuff and getting Ant Jones’ team bike running extra sweet. Both me and our enduro racer Joel Chidley were blown away with the out of the box performance of the 350 CRs that we got to ride for the day. It’s fair to say there were some sad faces in the truck when we gave them back, so I was delighted when Windwave said they could sort a set for my new bike.
The 350 range is a 160mm travel fork designed around the 275 wheelsize, 35mm stantions and a 15mm axle. Its available in 4 spec options, the silvery anodised CR and R forks and the espresso coated stantions of the NCR and NCR Titanium. The espresso coating is so called because, like an Italian coffee it’s both strong and smooth. The R and NCR Ti forks both feature a coil spring in steel or (you guessed it!) titanium. All four of them mix open and closed systems with the Dynamic Bleed Cartridge system, the same cartridge design that is found in the 380 DH forks allowing the fork to cope with pressure build up without losing sensitivity. The higher end NCR and NCR Ti both come with the buttery smooth SKF race seals.
The forks on my bike is the 350 NCR, so feature an AER air spring, low speed compression and rebound damping and the option to run a bar mounted lockout to pile on the compression damping for climbs. The high speed compression can be adjusted by tuning the shim stack inside. While this is beyond most recreational users, the option is there for top end tweaking. Set up is easy, get the right amount of air into the preload leg, give the low speed and rebound a tweak to suit your personal taste and you are away. The manual gives suggested pressures which were pretty much on the money.
The first few rides have been given over to getting everything dialed in just right, and making the most of the buttery smooth small bump sensitivity from the slick seals and espresso coated stantions. We can’t wait to put some more miles on them and get involved in some rowdy descending to see just how good they are!
Marzocchi 350 NCR:
RRP £799.95
Weight 1920 g
