Andreani upgrades for V11 OEM Marzocchi forks

[al_roethlisberger]

As I mentioned in the "Ohlins service recommendation?" topic, I had reached out to Andreani USA to see if they had any upgrades, parts, or service for the OEM Guzzi V11 Marzocchi forks for the Sport/Lemans.  

 

 

 

 

I have Ohlins forks, so this wouldn't apply to me, however I have seen several posts here over time where some were wondering if Andreani provided that service.  So since I was already corresponding with them about shock service, I thought I'd ask.

 

Below is my inquiry and their response, which as usual so far has been very speedy and friendly:

 

Quote

Luciano and David,

A different but related question for your team from when I was last inquiring into service for the Ohlins rear shock on my 2002 Moto Guzzi V11 Lemans:  Do you have or plan to have any Andreani cartridges or other performance modifications for the OEM Marzocchi forks that came stock on the 1999-2005 Moto Guzzi V11 Sport/Lemans/Naked/etc?  

The stock Marzocchi forks had compression adjustment in one leg, and rebound adjustment in another, and most owners found the general OEM setup to be harsh with few options for improvement other than changing the springs and perhaps oil viscosity and volume.

Over the years several owners on the http://www.v11lemans.com forum have wondered if Andreani made, or can make, an upgraded cartridge or other parts or service for these Marzocchi forks that would improve the comfort and performance, but no one was certain if that was available.

So with your new USA offices just opening, and our recent conversations about servicing my Ohlins rear shock, I thought I'd also ask you about any current or future options for improving the Marzocchi forks for the V11 Sport models.

I currently have Ohlins front forks, but most V11 Sport/Lemans owners still have the Marzocchi forks and would like to keep the stock look but improve performance, plus not spend $1500 or more on new forks.  So if you were to make a service or parts available for those Marzocchi forks, I think there would be significant interest.

Thank you,
Al Roethlisberger
 

 

******************************************

Good morning Al
If we could get a fork to check maybe it’s possible. But unfortunately to do that we would need a set of legs over here to open and see necessary measures and fittings. 
If I’m not wrong the previous California EV was mounting a Marzocchi 40… If the fork you are talking about is the same then we might have parts available to assemble and test a prototype.

Best Regards,

    
Luciano Ubaldini | President
Andreani USA Inc.
US Mobile +1 (828) 582-0791 • IT Mobile (+39) 347 4648 458
Email L.ubaldini@andreaniusa.com
Address 137 E Central St. , Hendersonville, NC, 28792, United States
Website www.andreaniusa.com

 

So, as you can see from Luciano's response, if someone interested in pursuing this perhaps had a set of take-off Marzocchi V11 Sport/Lemans forks to loan to Andreani, they may be able to see what they can do or develop.

 

I let him know that I'd share this with the community to see if someone had a set of forks and were interested.

 

 

[LaGrasta]

Am I understanding this correct? I ship them my forks for measuring and such, thus helping them make a template for shop. In return I receive a free set of upgraded fork internals? If so, I'm game!

[al_roethlisberger]

22 minutes ago, LaGrasta said:

Am I understanding this correct? I ship them my forks for measuring and such, thus helping them make a template for shop. In return I receive a free set of upgraded fork internals? If so, I'm game!

 

I'm not sure I read Luciano's response to say they would provide anything for free, but you certainly could ask them and discuss a possible quid-pro-quo situation I suppose 

 

[Paul Minnaert]

There are two or 3 types v11 Marzocchi forks, Andreani has cartridges for one type, I think the black ones with 40mm legs. But they sell them as for all years what is wrong. Lucky Phil has put a lot of time in this. I'm sure he documented some here. 

[nobleswood]

I’m a bit late to the party here, but has anyone taken Andreani up on the offer ?

My bike has the later Marzocchi forks with preload & rebound adjustment on each leg, no compression adjustment that I am aware of.

[LaGrasta]

Bueller?

[LaGrasta]

After researching and testing, I'm believe my cartridges is what's wrong with these OEM Marzocchi forks. I had thought it was merely needing an adjustment, or spring replacement, but now I don't think so. Admittedly, I'm not understanding everything 100%, but this is where I've landed. I read the thread of welding up the holes on the OEM cartridges and it influenced my current stance.

Having an AK20 kit on my V7, I'm a huge fan, but they are over $1200. At half the price, Andreani seems to be offering the same style kit. I've reached out to them, in hopes of being able to move forward. I'll report back when I learn more. Thanks to @al_roethlisberger for letting me know about this brand, with their new branch in America. 

[Lucky Phil]

1 hour ago, LaGrasta said:

After researching and testing, I'm believe my cartridges is what's wrong with these OEM Marzocchi forks. I had thought it was merely needing an adjustment, or spring replacement, but now I don't think so. Admittedly, I'm not understanding everything 100%, but this is where I've landed. I read the thread of welding up the holes on the OEM cartridges and it influenced my current stance.

Having an AK20 kit on my V7, I'm a huge fan, but they are over $1200. At half the price, Andreani seems to be offering the same style kit. I've reached out to them, in hopes of being able to move forward. I'll report back when I learn more. Thanks to @al_roethlisberger for letting me know about this brand, with their new branch in America. 

I have bad experiences with Andreani cartridges. I ordered a set for my later v11 Sport/Le Mans 43mm forks as the carts were listed by Andreani as fitting 2001-2006 bikes but when I received them the fork caps were the wrong dia and thread pitch. I emailed Andreani and their after sales support was non existent. Zero interest in helping me. Never again will I deal with them. The cartridges themselves look nothing special and were 20mm as opposed to the std Marzocchi 25mm dia. Six months after I told them their model listings for the V11 Sport/Le Mans series was WRONG the Andreani site listings were still the same! Took me 6 months to get a refund on my money and I lost 100 dollars in the process.

Do these cap threads look like they are the same thread pitch and dia? As usual you find out the true quality of a product/business when things go wrong. In Andreanis case they failed that test miserably. 

[DucatiGuzziIndian]

Good to know Phil

would love to have some quality Ohlins front and rear on my Greenie but I cant find anything online apart from using later V11 models' stuff...... and even then, how to know what fits and what doesn't???

 

I had been considering Andreani but not an option now.

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, DucatiGuzziIndian said:

Good to know Phil

would love to have some quality Ohlins front and rear on my Greenie but I cant find anything online apart from using later V11 models' stuff...... and even then, how to know what fits and what doesn't???

 

I had been considering Andreani but not an option now.

The later 43mm forks with the 25mm axle fit the early bikes but you need to convert the front wheel to 25mm ID bearings and the later bearing spacer. More rigid, bigger dia cartridges with Rebound only adjustment and a much lighter front axle. A set of these with Maxton cartridges would be perfect and superior to Ohlins forks.  

There's a company in the US that will fit their own cartridges to your std forks. Can't remember their name now. Talked to them about it 10 years ago.

Phil

[LaGrasta]

Sheesh, just when I though I had found some hope. I guess this only leaves AK from Traxxion, but that price!

[GuzziMoto]

18 minutes ago, LaGrasta said:

Sheesh, just when I though I had found some hope. I guess this only leaves AK from Traxxion, but that price!

As has been mentioned, there are at least two different versions of Marzocchi forks on V11 Sports. I think there are 3 versions. They don't seem to understand this, and while they do make a cartridge kit that fits one of the versions they advertise it as fitting all versions. If you have the version of Marzocchi forks that their kit fits, I think it is the black forks with 40mm tubes (but don't quote me on that), you are good to go. But if you don't have that version of Marzocchi forks you will end up like Lucky Phil. SOL.

Also, do you have the early forks that have the two bypass holes in the cartridge tube? If so, you need to block at least one of those two holes off to get any meaningful dampening from the forks for compression.

[LaGrasta]

Thanks @GuzziMoto My bike is an early 2003. It's been some time since I rebuilt my forks, I can't remember if they had the holes or not. I sort of think they weren't supposed to be on my year, but can't really remember.

The Marzocchi cartridges that are currently sold on Andreani, I don't believe are the same as mine.

I'm not opposed to breaking my forks back down, and welding up the hole, but I hate having to break them down, just to confirm if I have the holes at all. I guess I've got another project.

 

[guzzler]

If it's the early version with the bypass holes, then try doing as Guzzimoto says and blocking them!

I did and it makes quite a difference.

Cheers 

[GuzziMoto]

58 minutes ago, LaGrasta said:

Thanks @GuzziMoto My bike is an early 2003. It's been some time since I rebuilt my forks, I can't remember if they had the holes or not. I sort of think they weren't supposed to be on my year, but can't really remember.

The Marzocchi cartridges that are currently sold on Andreani, I don't believe are the same as mine.

I'm not opposed to breaking my forks back down, and welding up the hole, but I hate having to break them down, just to confirm if I have the holes at all. I guess I've got another project.

 

Are the upper tubes black? Or silver? The silver ones are the ones that have the two bleed holes. Others may have two bleed holes, I don't know. But the first gen silver Marzocchis have two bleed holes that prevent the piston in the cartridge from doing anything until the piston is past them.

If they are black, and the lowers 40mm, they may be the version that the Andreani cartridges fit. If they are black but the lowers are 43mm, I don't think the Andreani cartridges will fit.