Marzocchi Bomber

The Marzocchi Bomber line

“Bomber” is the name Marzocchi gave its mountain-bike forks from model year 1997. A 1996 advert announced the Bomber Z2 before that year’s Eurobike, and the first Bomber parts lists in our archive are the 1997 Z1 Bomber, Z2 Bomber and Z3 Bomber — all with 30 mm stanchions and open-bath damping. Before that, Marzocchi’s mountain-bike forks carried names like XC 500, XC 700 or XCR.

At first the name sat on the Z-series. Later Marzocchi used it across the range: the owner’s manuals in our archive from 2003 to 2010 are titled “Marzocchi Bomber”, and the 2008 one covers TXC, Marathon Corsa, XC, MX, MZ, 55, 4X, Dirt Jumper, 66 and 888. From 2018 the Bomber name returned on new Fox-era forks such as the Bomber Z1 and Z2; those are different forks and are not covered here.

Which Bomber do I have?

The name on the lower legs or the crown is the model. Find it in the table, then go to its page for the year-by-year models, the seal kit per year, the exploded drawing and the parts list.

Family	Years	Stanchion	Travel	Page
Z1 (Bomber, BAM, Drop-Off, Free Ride, Wedge, Light, Sport…)	1997–2007 (chart to 2010)	30 mm to 2002, 32 mm from 2003	100–160 mm	Bomber Z1
Z2 (Bomber, BAM, Alloy, Atom Bomb, X-Fly, Atom Race)	1997–2002	30 mm	65–100 mm	Bomber Z2
Z3, Z5	1997–2001	30 mm	–	–
MX Comp / MX Pro	2003–2008	30 mm	85–120 mm	MX
Marathon	2002–2008, later R / LR	30 mm, 32 mm from 2008	80–120 mm	Marathon
All Mountain (AM 1, 2, 3, SL)	2005–2007	32 mm	110–160 mm	All Mountain
55	2008–2016	35 mm	120–170 mm	55

Years and stanchion sizes come from the Marzocchi parts lists; where our archive has no parts list (after 2007) they come from Marzocchi range posters and the seal chart.

Model names often carry an axle code — QR, QR20, TA, T-Axle. These are axle options (quick release or through axle), not separate models; a “Z1 Free Ride QR20” is a Z1 Free Ride with a 20 mm axle.

Seal kits for classic Bombers

Bomber seals go by stanchion size and, for 30 and 32 mm, by seal type (classic or m-arch). The model page tells you which one your year needs. Our kits:

• Seal Kit – 30mm classic (DZ-SK-30C) — e.g. 1997–1999 Z1 and Z2
• Seal Kit – 30mm m-arch (DZ-SK-30M) — e.g. 2002 Z1 / Z2 Atom Race, MX, Marathon to 2006
• Seal Kit – 32mm classic (DZ-SK-32C) — e.g. Z1 from 2003, All Mountain
• Seal Kit – 32mm m-arch (DZ-SK-32M) — e.g. Marathon from 2008
• Seal Kit - 35mm (DZ-SK-35) — 55

Oil

Marzocchi’s 1994–2004 technical manual: “All Bomber forks use SAE 7.5 weight oil stock”, free of detergent or seal-swell additives. The amount per leg differs by model and year — often a different amount left and right — so take it from the technical document of your exact model, linked on each model page and in the fork documentation library.

Drawing and parts list

The exploded drawing and the parts list below are for the very first Bomber, the 1997 Z1 Bomber.