Marzocchi’s short-travel Corsa SL is light for its travel and price but the quick-release-only chassis lacks stiffness and suspension action, and takes a while to find its stride.
As the name suggests, Corsa is Marzocchi’s dedicated race/cross-country family and this fork comes complete with warnings not to jump or ride off drops “of any height”. The extended dropout tips mean there’s a lot of steering twist, particularly if you run the full 120mm of travel (you can reduce travel to 100 or 80mm using internal spacers).
There’s no screw-through axle or tapered steerer option to increase stiffness, except on the 29er version. However, if you don’t mind a bit of braking twang and vague tracking, the fork is very light for the price and travel.
Adjustment is limited to hard lockout via a crown top-out lever and rebound adjust via a slightly soft feeling plastic flag knob behind the dropout. The ported cartridge gives reasonable control and consistent ride height once you’ve ridden it enough to reduce initial stiction and found the pressure sweet spot. Recent Marzocchi reliability has been excellent, restoring their fit-and-forget reputation.
This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
