Rock Shox Totem, queries

[lobstar]

hey every.. firstly i did search to make sure there wasn't already a thread about this, yes there was, but it didn't answer many questions

Ok, so i've been looking into totems for a long time now, scouring review sites to see what people think, again cant find too much. even from some people i have asked have major mixed review. i am looking for the solo airs, because they seem like they have the least amount of issues. Also if people could answer who have first hand experience, rather then people who may be on the bandwagon.

1) are they are high maintenance as every says? especially incomparision to boxxers.

2) have the problems with the seals from 2007 been fixed on the 2008 models.

3) what is mission control like v.s. motion control

[willmc92]

hey every.. firstly i did search to make sure there wasn't already a thread about this, yes there was, but it didn't answer many questions

Ok, so i've been looking into totems for a long time now, scouring review sites to see what people think, again cant find too much. even from some people i have asked have major mixed review. i am looking for the solo airs, because they seem like they have the least amount of issues. Also if people could answer who have first hand experience, rather then people who may be on the bandwagon.

1) are they are high maintenance as every says? especially incomparision to boxxers.

2) have the problems with the seals from 2007 been fixed on the 2008 models.

3) what is mission control like v.s. motion control

I dont mind totems, ill tell you what i know. From the various forks ive tried, they are only high maintenance if you want to use their utmost potential. Seriously, set them up right, check your settings on different tracks and find out what works for you, clean them when you feel necessary, in comparison to boxxer wc's, my cousin has some, he has set them, hasnt touched them in months and they've wokred brilliantly. It all depends on how badly you want to get every little bit out of them. Just set them up right, and i mean right, dont just twist a few knobs, bounce on them for a sec and say they are sweet. They shouldnt be that much maintenance. Good luck with whatever happens, hope they are good fun riding. Happy riding.

Cheers, Will.

[lobstar]

thanks, anyone else? must be more then one person running them

[mr636]

had em, sold em.
solo airs.
i could never EVER find a compromise between small bump compliance, and not blasting through the mid stroke. they seemed to have a non existant mid stroke. it was like it had pedal platform, then bottom out resistance.

in saying that, i set them up stiff and just dealt with less small bump comp.
they were sweet for 90% of the DH i did. it was only when i rode tracks that were rocky as, and had nasty rock gardens, that i didnt like them.
on a plus, made teh front end of the glory low as hell, and light too! 2.8kgs.
they felt stiffer than a box WC.
for smoother free ride stuff, sick!
dh racing in aus, rocky crud, rubbish.
be sick on a lightweight 7" free ride bike.

[lobstar]

sweet thanks.
yeh i should have stated it earlier, im thinking of running them on an orange 223. so definently a 100% dh bike, not really into big jumps etc.

[Labby]

I had the 2-step variety, but had them converted to solo airs because of the issues with the 2-step mechanism. Since the conversion I actually think they ride better. I have not found rock gardens to be that much of issue for them, just point and shoot, but they do tend to blow through the travel a bit. Again, as stated above, get them set right and you'll love them, but riding them unadjusted will not impress you. I've tended to run slightly less than recommended air pressures for the feel I like, that might be why they blow through the travel.

[S.]

Most air spring systems have a characteristic that means they're actually falling rate for the initial part of the stroke, then fairly linear through the mid stroke before ramping up for the end stroke. What this equates to on the trail (compared to a completely linear rate) is a spring that doesn't run much sag and feels stiff early in the stroke, but due to the early falling rate is proportionally softer in the mid stroke, which leads to them feeling like they're blowing through travel.

What you can try to combat this is increasing your low speed compression damping somewhat and trying to reduce high speed compression damping. This will help prevent the fork using more travel than is necessary, but without feeling harsh due to excessive high speed damping. I believe Totems also have the ability to adjust the threshold between low and high speed as well as the high speed curve itself, so if you play with those methodically you should be able to find a good setup. Process I'd suggest:
1. Increase low speed comp until the fork stops diving/blowing through travel too much
2. Adjust the blowoff threshold as low as possible before the LSC seems to become ineffective, don't go below here or there won't be any point running the LSC in the first place.
3. Adjust the HSC as low as it will go, and increase only if you feel like the bike is blowing through travel on hard fast hits (square edges etc, not drops/jumps).

I think that most spring related issues you might have should be able to be fixed with the proper damping setup.

[lobstar]

anyone else?

[jr cove]

hey buddy
ive had my 2008 solo airs for about 4 months now
i have had no problems with any thing let alone seals
and as far as mantinence goes i really havnt done any thing at all


my 2cents