As promised and as I stated earyier , I would post up pics of the 011 gg zoke 45's showing proof that the forks are of marginal if not downright poor quality and have no business being on a modern bike. I tried making this point on the gg riders club website but the webmaster flatly rejected my observations as bs stating that these p o s are every bit as good as ohlins forks and pretty much calling me a liar which led to a strong response on my part and then a series of subsequent pm's in which I ended up being banned from that site for good, one can only guess what his real motivation was for killing off my critism. Any how you be the judge. This is how they look after forty hours total running time and ten hours on a fresh oil change. Notice the wear on the damper rod and alum oxide sludge in the pics. Shiny stuff on the paper is alum particals suspended in the oil.

Anyhow I've harped on more than enough about this subject I've ground my axe, so here goes--



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Hmmm..I remember the thread on the other site.

I didn't have any sludge in my oil when I changed mine out last. I don't remember my damper rod looking worn, I'll have to inspect closely next time.

Have you found this to be in issue with all zokes or just recent zokes?

rxbandit said:

My 08 beta has the same problem as well as two other 011 and one 010 gassers that I personaly know of. All of those forks are going out to get a type 3 anodizing in the next couple of weeks, a program that been putting together for some time now . I would prefer kashima but the trouble and cost make the prospect much more demanding and stiction isnt the major concern here but more a debris and related wear problem causing the shim stacks performance to be compromised.

widebear said:

So its not just a GasGas problem, i'd direct it more as an possible issue with the suspension components that they happen to choose not the bike company themselves. If they heard these complaints they may look into it, bashing a company on an open forum because of a possible problem with what they use is just irritateing. Maybe direct it towards suspension companies that work on them and see what they say? If they've ever seen/dealt with this before

I'm really surprised that Jeff (owner of the GG forum) would ban you over this. Was there more to it? I know Jeff personally he is very good people. I also know that Les from LTR suspension (GREAT guy) has had some dealings with these issues and also a Sachs shock piston issue and is aware of these problems. He is also good friends with Jeff and both pretty honest and good people as far as my dealings with them.

Having owned MANY huskys with Zokes and getting tons of work done on them and knowing piles of people with them I would say there can and are some issues with these forks. About 10% maybe seem to have some issues like you are seeing. I have never liked the 45mm zokes. They do not seem all the well built, the base valve does not flow enough and needs replaced for these to not have the nasty mid range harshness. On line forums are tricky. Post your facts and info and try not to get emotionally involved and things work out better. I know all to well how EZ it is to get wrapped up in a nastly pissing match and get in trouble. The info you provided here seems reasonable and you have proof of your problem. Nothing wrong with that and leaving it there would be the best option IMHO. There are all levels or riders and needs and a lot of people with never experience the issues you have so they are also right in saying they do not have a problem.

You have made your case, provided proof and have an obvious issue. Getting in internet arguments at this point does not serve the end goal. We thank you for the info and now we can keep an eye on our personal stuff to see if we have an issue. I look forward to your solutions and progress.

That said I would contact Richard at House of horsepower as he has extensive research on these forks and does crazy coatings as well. He will talk your ear off and give you great info on getting these back to 100%. He did this set of 50mm Zokes with hard ano and DCL coatings and some crazy shock mods, he knows this stuff...

I heard they sent all the questionable forks to BC. All they ride up there is smooth flowing trails, why send them the good stuff.

Which is exactly what I'm gonna be doing this afternoon wiseguy, you starting to rust yet?

Widebear your post is legitimate and it is a Marzocchi quality problem not a GASGAS problem. I have had 4 motorcycles with Zokes. '95 KTM 300MXC with 45mm's (junk) '97 KTM 250SX 50mm's (junk that I replaced with 50mm WP that were awesome) (2) 2008 Betas 45mm's (junk, I have replaced with 48MM KYB's.) I believe Beta switched to Sachs forks this year to address the quality issues. I think Marzocchi can make some quality products but the OEM stuff I've seen is poor and outdated IMO.

Hey Rick, how are you?

I've been through this. Take the fork completely down and check the internal anodizing on the uppers for wear in the lower clamp area. The walls are a bit thin and the fork is prone to flex and distortion, especially if the lower clamp is torqued too tight. Mine were worn through at 100hrs. but the base metal was still dimensionally OK (via bore mic). I had them re coated T3 inside and out, as well as the damper rods (after polishing). All is well for now, oil comes out clean the last couple of changes. I have since gone even lighter on the lower clamp torque, 9Nm on the center bolt and just snug the upper and lower. No slippage problems at all. I do not expect this to be a permanent fix, and in time the coating will wear again, but they work well and with care should be OK for awhile. I have a '12 250 Race on the way with the 48mm CC Zokes. Hopefully they wil be better, the few reports so far have been positive. This is why I waited for a '12, so I could get away from the 45s.

looks just like the oil that comes out of my KTM forks

I love my 45mm zokes on my gasgas, best forks I've ever rode on, just the right amount of flex for me, they were revalved by a local tuner who's also one of the fastest in virginia and rides gasgas

Hey MegaDeth,

Who did your forks? I've had my 45's done by a shop in the Norheast that didn't do much for them. I've contemplating swapping them out if possible.

Thanks
Alan

Randall ellison

GP, on 09 January 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

Glen. Your correct. My top tubes are done and in need of recoating @ 150 hrs and will be recoated this week. As a point of interest, out of five sets of gasgas forks, four 2011's and one 2010 250f ,only the 2010, 250f has coating on the damper rods!

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Rick,

Good luck. Just make sure that the coating is dimensionally correct. Its tough to do an ID like that, most metal finishers can't do it. The Husky Zokes I've worked on had a nice coating on the damper rods, but they still wore the uppers. The GG Zokes have a thinner wall in the lower clamp area than the Husky Zokes. I never measured a Beta Zoke. Perhaps it doesn't matter if they all wear the coating off.

widebear, on 16 January 2012 - 05:00 PM, said:

gofasters said the fork tubes are now clear coated, so it wont have a different coloring

this was mentioned on the gasgas forum

MegaDeTH, on 17 January 2012 - 03:05 PM, said:

Refer to the picture of the damper rod ,first post in thread. See how its shiny exept for the last half inch at the very bottom.Every one of the natural aluminum coloured ones is exibiting the same accelerated wear and started out looking like the bottom half inch, One pair only has about twenty hours on them and has gone shiny, indicating coating worn off, not the case with the darker coloured one. It is a different coating material alltogether either of a higher grade or due to better quality control and applied with addition of dye.

These are off my 2011 Gas Gas 250 6 days. (last post got deleted)

Youll have to pull your damper rod out of that cartridge to see where the wear is.If I'm not mistaken, your picture only shows above the positive stop. The part your showing is covered by the spring guide and does not travel through the cartridge bushing, that shiny high grade and hard alum piece, which is why the problem, soft alum, poorly treated damper rod travels through hard alum spring seat , bushing combo. Most of the wear is down near the piston. the part of the stroke that alot of us spend most of our time in. Did you not mention in the deleted post that these pics are after cleaning?

The pics are after cleaning. There really was not much sludge on the valving.

I wonder why your valve block looks different then mine?

I've been told by a very knowledgeable tuner that there are several grades of Zoke forks depending on how the oem specs them out. If you have the uncoated models they need constant oil changes. It seems the oem's only spec out the coated models as a works option through their hard parts catalogs.