I nearly missed this last week, the news that Marzocchi have sold out to Tenneco, the US based owner of Monroe shock absorbers.

Now, I’m not a financial or industry expert, so couldn’t begin to hazard what this means beyond noting that Marzocchi have been the weak corner of the bike industry suspension triumverate (Fox, Rock Shox and Marzocchi) for some time. Successive models have been overweight, (anedotally) unreliable and have missed what the market has been demanding.

So what impact will this have?

• Better models – performance, reliability and features?
• Cheaper prices?
• A concerted effort the break the Fox air shock stranglehold?
• Another buying decision for Dave?

We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s an important event all the same. I reckon there’s few people out there who haven’t ridden a bike with a Marzocchi fork on it at some stage in their riding career.