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Marzocchi Roco Air R

This shock was sent to me by a friend in Hobart, Tasmania.
It quit on him. It would not hold air and sent it to me for me to keep. Thanks, buddy!! You rule!

The Roco Air turns out to be a very, very nicely made shock with problems for lubrication. It's user serviceable, but rather tricky. Not for the inexperienced at any rate. Much less without instructions as Marzocchi want us to work on them.

It's chunky and substantial in weight. Not for the XC crowd obviously.

It looks like a very plain shock. Preload, rebound and that's it. But in reality, it has an adjustable negative chamber and the provided inflation port for the IFP make it very adjustable. Oil weights, shim stack, evrything can be reached at home with the only special tool needed being the Marzocchi Air Valve Adapter, that is common with their air forks.

The negative air chamber adjustment is dead simple. A collar loosens leaving open the lowest portion of the canister. Then you set the main piston at any desired position and close the collar. Voila! You just set your negative air chamber. This adjustment is claimed to provide more plushness in the early travel and more bottom out protection. I think this is due to the reduction in the positive chamber caused by the bigger air volume in the negative. I'm in the process of getting the seals from Marzocchi, so I have not ridden it.

This is the shock...

The leak was very obvious just inflating it...

Then I proceeded to open it. This is tricky, you have to deflate the IFP chamber. Just remove the pentagon cover with a small screwdriver and insert the air valve adapter not connected to the pump. That will do it.

Then remove the rebound adjuster assembly with a wrench on the flats. You don't even need to remove the dial, but if you do, catch two small detent balls that will fly through the air.
Remove also the main inflation valve. Remove the valve core with a valve core remover from any tyre or automotive shop and take out the valve body with a 3mm allen wrench.
Now hold the eyelet in a vice or wrench and undo the canister turning it CLOCKWISE!! It will leave the shock by the head, instead of the bottom eyelet as usual. This is the reason to remove the main inflation valve AND the rebound adjuster assembly.

This was its condition as I opened it.

The air canister. Notice it's a big volume one with an outer sleeve.

Bottom out bumper (o-ring) was toast.

Notice the conditions of the seals and "lube" used...

The black seal in the middle of the two turquoise rings, is the main seal. Due to lack or deficient lubrication, it just galled against the canister's walls and rolled over.

The negative chamber seal was toast too... badly.

Opening the damper from there is pretty straightforwards.... Take a wrench to the flats on the main piston and hold the bottom eyelet with a wrench.
It has quality internals...

Notice the sintered material glide band and shims in the compression side...

The rebound... with separate High and Low speed rebound circuits... No common bleed... That means it lands like a big cat and any adjustment to rebound, will not affect the compression.

Marzocchi Roco Air R Rebuild Instructions

Remove shock from Bicycle; remove mounting hardware off shock’s eyelets.
Depressurize main chamber.
Remove Bottom out collar.
With a flat blade screwdriver, remove pentagonal cover over IFP inflation port
Using Marzocchi Air Valve Adapter, depressurize IFP chamber.
This step is not necessary... You can skip directly to next step, no probs. Remove the rebound adjuster by pulling it off carefully, catch the detent balls and springs and keep them in a safe place.
Remove rebound adjuster assembly with a spanner
With a Schrader valve core remover, remove the main chamber valve core.
Insert a 3mm allen wrench into main chamber valve stem and remove the stem off the shock. Avoid using a ball end wrench as it will just spin off.
Hold the rebound adjuster side eyelet with a wrench or a vice, and undo the air canister by turning it CLOCKWISE. Eventually, the canister will leave over the rebound side eyelet.
With a pick, carefully remove the main quad seal. Then, hold the damper side eyelet and with a wrench or a piece of tube wrapped around the seal head, simply undo the seal head off the damper’s body. Now take the main shaft and piston out of the damper body.
To remove the IFP piston, put on the air valve adapter, wrap a rag or towel over the open end of the damper body and simply inflate with a shock pump. The IFP will pop out loudly and probably it will shoot off the damper body.
Replace all necessary seals with the help of a sharp pick.
Put the Air valve adapter over the IFP inflation port. Lube IFP with shock oil and insert it down to 64mm inside the damper body with the flat end facing the bottom of the damper body. Measure from the end of the damper body to the rim of the raised edge of the IFP. Remove Air Valve adapter. Failure to correctly set IFP depth will result in hydrolocking (if too deep) or the main piston hitting the IFP (if too shallow).
Hold the damper vertically. Fill the damper with oil to the very top. Make sure there are not bubbles and break any bubbles you may find out.
With the shaft in the full extended position over the seal head SLOWLY, with a rocking motion insert the damper piston just enough for the bleed port on the shaft goes inside the oil. Refill to the very top.
SLOWLY, push down the main seal head and thread it in place. Oil will come out of the bleed ports on it, use eye protection!!!
With the help of the Air Valve adapter, inflate the IFP to 100psi. Pressure is not important at this point, but make it high.
Start the air canister over the rebound side of the shock. Stop before you have the main seal inside. Pour 2cc's-3cc’s of fork oil in the canister.
With a slow, rotating, threading-like motion finish installing the air canister. Failure to do so may result in a rolled over seal and hence an air leak.
Depressurize IFP chamber.
Push rebound shaft (you’ll see it through the opening in the shock’s head right where you took the rebound adjuster off) and reassemble the rebound adjuster completely.
Repressurize IFP to 200psi.
Reassemble Air Valve.
Pour 3cc’s of oil to open side of air canister and replace the bottom out collar.
Inflate back, check for action of adjusters and leaks.

I used Motul 5wt Expert Grade (their economy suspension fluid). Marzocchi Canada uses Motul 2.5-20wt Shock oil.
Most people have reported issues trying to bottom out the shock. Most use around 35mm out of 50mm of travel available. I think the problem resides on the air canister, but it's pure speculation on my part.

By warp2003, shot with DSC-W30 at 2008-01-19

By warp2003, shot with DSC-W30 at 2008-01-19

First ride impressions...

This thing rocks, but needs some more work. It pedaled both plush and firm. Not much bob but only at high cadences (high as in pedaling a gear you shouldn't).

It felt harsh at high speeds and I couldn't get more than 35mm's out of 50mm of travel... mind you that I didn't tried to bottom it out.

I'm amazed at how plush yet firm it felt. I still need to do some more work on it, but so far I like it.

By warp2003, shot with DSC-W30 at 2008-01-20

By warp2003, shot with DSC-W30 at 2008-01-20

I swapped the last two stages of the compression shim stack in hopes to make the thing to provide less high speed damping close to bottom out.

Progressive 5th Element Air

My Switchblade originally came with this shock. The version sporting it was aimed to trailriding, helped by the firm platform of the 5th Element Air shock and a travel fixed at 5" (127mm - real, measured).

The 5th Element is a shock that you may love or hate. The CV/t valving (SPV, Curnutt) creates a strong threshold in compression, that limits oil flow through the piston, helped by a pneumatically preloaded valve. Once the oil pressure raises enough to overcome the valve preload, oil flows freely.

By the end of the travel, the oil pressure raise closes the valve again against the piston, creating a bottom out resistance.

All this simply set by the air pressure in the IFP.

The rebound has separate circuits for High and Low speed rebound damping. There's not a common bleed port. Adjustments made to the compression damping, do not affect the rebound and vice versa.

The shock is very light. Record breaking for 2004 when it was released. Now it would be just average weight.

It has spherical joints at the eyelets. This is good for the shock as flexural forces on the frame are not borne by the shock. However, you rather have a stiff frame to begin with or weakness of the frame will be evidenced by the spherical joints.

I own one of the first versions of the shock. Less evolved than later versions. The main seal is just an o-ring, but works pretty well.

There were many quality control issues with this shock and that was its doom. Assembly related problems, parts failing and also a lot of misunderstanding on how a shock works from users.

One of the most common complains was that sometimes "chambers wouldn't hold air in" or "I can't pump up my shock". Both problems easily solved with a tyre valve core removal tool or filing down the pump head. I will not get guilt off from Progressive, shocks should work just like any other offer on the market did... But there was some on the user's side. At any rate, it's history now.

Progressive will still service and warranty these shocks for a period of time. But good luck trying to find parts!! They will not sell them directly to you.

Another common failure and what happened to my shock was that in order to make the shock more compliant over small bumps, you had to run the minimum pressure on the IFP... around 50psi (the shock says 75psi, but Progressive gave green light to 50psi).

However, this causes a that the damper get some air in and eventually needs a bleed. Progressive also discouraged users to service their shocks. Huge mistake. They could still be on the market with good success would have they allowed users to service their shocks. They argued some special tools are needed... Not true. Maybe those would make life easier, but they are not 100% necessary.

For disassembly and service, just follow Manitou's instructions for the Swinger 3-Way Air. Same thing, differences are there but not a lot.

Here's the shock with the air canister removed....

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By warp2003 at 2007-02-28

Note the Foam negative spring. Also present on the Swinger.

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By warp2003 at 2007-02-28

Main piston and it seal... It changed a year later to a quad seal and a glyde band that made the shock to work better and increased reliability.

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By warp2003 at 2007-02-28

Different from the Swinger, the 5th has not flats to open the shock. You need a pin spanner to break it open or file flats for a wrench. Due to lack of patience and plain barbarism, I opted for the second.

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By warp2003 at 2007-03-01