|   X Fly 80 or Maers Elite? | NRSRACR
Jun 7, 2002 6:22 AM | | I have narrowed my fork choices down to two forks. Please help me decide between the two. I weigh 175 and ride and race xc and I have disc brakes on my NRS-2. I am looking at a 01 Mars Elite and a Marz. X-fly 80. The prices are $149 for the Mars and $269 for the X-fly. Please leave your opinion on which fork would work the best and why. Also if you know of a better price please let me know. Thanks in advance for the help! |
| Get the X-fly, Marzocchi's are always better nm | acm2002
Jun 7, 2002 9:52 AM | | |
| Here's the deal with those two forks... | AZ-X
Jun 8, 2002 7:41 AM | | I own an '01 Mars Elite and I find it perfect for me at my weight of 145-150lbs. It is a more active and lighter fork than the X-Fly by almost half a pound in reality. I've tried SEVERAl X-Flys and I find the torsional stiffness is only VERY slightly more than the '01 Mars (that's something to think about considering that the Marzocchi is nearly half a pound heavier and has 30mm stantions compared to the 28.6mm on the Manitou), so close between the '01 Mars and the X-Fly that you really barely notice it. The fore/aft stiffness of the Mars is actually significantly higher. Most people notice the torsional stiffness (side to side twisting) more readily though, and it may be more important to most... The Marathon is torsionally stiffer than both of these forks.
At your weight, what you will notice is that the Mars is probably too soft for you. You will want to get the heavy spring kit from Answer to make it worth your while. You would not need this with the X-Fly, but then the X-Fly costs over $100.00 more than the Mars.
The other real difference that I've noticed, as I'm trying to be as objective as possible, is that the X-Fly actually gets slightly more travel than the Mars does if tuned properly. The Mars realy gets about 76-78mm while the X-Fly gets just over 80mm of full travel. That ALONE has been enough to push some people to the Marzocchi. Once they tried to address some of the initial problems with this fork, it turned out to not be so bad at all...
Another thing to think about is that the Mars is MUCH more externally adjustable ror rebound AND compression (unless you get the lockout, then it's an internal adjustment) and the adjustments are VERY noticeable when you have the right spring for your weight installed. Probably the best adjustments on any air fork I've used (my Manitou Black Super Air was the same) and only my old Marzocchi XC-500 came close to this. My SID may as well have had no external adjustments at all. You can also add a lockout to this fork as an aftermarket item.
If you're thinking of spending $269 on an X-Fly 80, you may want to also look at spending only $30.00 more and go with a black 2002 Mars Super with lockout from Supergo for only $300.00. These have excellent ratings and MANY pro teams are using them now instead of the carbon SIDs and the Marathon.
Best thing is to try and get a ride on both an X-Fly (that the owner or shop thinks has been tuned properly!) and a Mars (the '02 Mars Elite/Super rides basically identically to the '01 Mars Elite/Super).
Good luck!
(whew! was that just way too much info? :o) ) |
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