Sintesi Bromont/ Kona EFS

[Dr-Zocchi]

like!

 

[Buzzsaw]

I’ve finally had the courage plus the time to accumulate the necessary/correct tools ( thanks to fellow Retrobike member here also known alias Dr Marzocchi!) to change the leaking oil seals on the Marzocchi DH3 forks over the long Easter weekend. Not really knowledgeable about dealing with suspension repairs so somewhat intimidated about taking it to bits. Managed to download instructions online and gave it a go. The recommended air valve remover makes the job easy to get into the stanchion internals to fill/drain the oil plus also access to the 6mm hex that bolts the stanchions to the lower sliders. A extra long 300mm T handle hex key is essential to access the bolt and it’s a utter bugger to remove initially as its torqued to the max!!
Strange that Marzocchi XC700 forks uses a different technique to remove the stanchions by clamping it in a vice and tugging the sliders by brute force to remove them!??!
Once I managed to remove the main parts it wasn’t so complicated to figure out how it all works. Cleaned all the parts with isopropyl alcohol and then blew them dry with pressurised air and reassembled using fresh oil and new seals and O rings which I had bought some seal rebuild kits years ago which I knew I would make use of one day! Very rare and very expensive to come by like most things retro currently.
Once reassembled I pumped some air (around 3bar) into them and they seemed to go bouncy and go up and down without deflating and splaying fork oil everywhere!
Pretty chuffed about my first fork rebuild and will be taking them for a proper test ride in the next few days!

 

[Dr-Zocchi]

Congrats! Happy to see another DH3 being alive!

 

[GrahameDixon]

Re:

I tried tracking down neither the anodised blue or bronze swing arm versions but the frames are getting very rare on the market nowadays. I remember DH legend Steve Peat use to race a bronze swing arm Kona version in the early days and later campaigned under the Saracen team banner using the same frame alongside Rob Warner.

Because of odd headset and seatpost size fittings I ended up using reducer shims to change the headset from 1 1/4 to a more available headset 1 1/8 sizing and the seatpost from 29.4mm to 27.2 size.

Specs:

Shimano XTR M900 48/34 chainrings
Shimano XTR M900 rear derailleur
Shimano Tiagra front derailleur
Magura HS33 brakes front & rear
Shimano BB
Shimano Deore thumbshifters
Ritchey clip pedals
Tranz X handlebars
ITM lite stem
Mavic 221 rims
Shimano LX rear/ Coda front hubs
Selle Italia Flite saddle
Marzocchi DH3 forks/ Marzocchi A033 rear shock
DMR grips
Generic headset & 27.2mm seatpost