This has been a long time coming. The rise of Marzocchi happened alongside the rise of 26-inch dirt jumping. Actually, “alongside” doesn’t even do that relationship justice. Marzocchi means what it means today, in part because of the rise of 26-inch dirt jumping. Late-90s and early-2000s dirt jumpers were possibly the first subcategories of mountain bikers who demanded high performance first and light weight second, but also were not racing the clock like the DH or DS crowd. The Marzocchi DJ series of forks marked an era of measured recklessness that is too often forgotten because of shiny objects like Brandon Semenuk or Nicholi Rogratkin. These forks represent a corner of mountain biking that has a blue collar but a refined taste. And it’s about damn time that we see one again.