new totem

[dryfly]

has anyone ridden the new rs totem? looks like a nice fork w / the 40 mill stanchions very nice lookin fork.

[Nick]

Mike at Pedalshop has one on his Kona. I've ridden it, very impressed, very deep feeling, plush through all the travel.

I mis-timed a little drop (sandals, no helmet, riding like a dummy) and it saved me from the embarassment of pancaking on my face in front of everyone.

Very nice fork, though the price is :eek:

[redneckp3ngu1n]

Ive talked to people who owned them and they like them alot. One who owned a soloair model said that it would loose travel (ie not get all 180mm of travel) after hard hits so he sent it into stram and they got it all fixed up for him.

[jabberwocky]

I test rode a few freeride/downhill bikes at the Fruita fat tire festival. One was a Cannondale with the totem coil, while another was a (titus?) with a fox 40. From my amazing unscientific parking lot bash-up-ledges-and-curbs ride, I liked the totem better. Reeeeeeaaally plush, very stiff feeling.

It looks pretty badass too, with the gigantic stantions. It looks like someone hit a regular fork with an enlarging ray and made it 1.5 times as big.

[CountZero]

I have a Lyrik Solo Air, with the same damper as is present in the Totem.

Keeping in mind that I've only ridden it a couple of times:

The fork is quite stiff torsionally, but not so fore-aft. Kind of a bummer. My guess is that the Totem's better, but that it still won't compare to a Boxxer.

The damper works just great in slow-speed technical riding, and when landing jumps.

But, it's chattery over baby-heads (square-edged-hits) at high speed. I'm giving it a few more rides with the high-piston-speed circuit running wide open, but I was not super happy running it down Bear Wallow over the weekend. My hands were killing me at the end of the ride.

[CountZero]

Just found this Mission Control Tuning Guide:
http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/en/rockshox/MissionControl_Guide.pdf

Interesting.

[jabberwocky]

What bike do you have the Totem on? The one I rode was silly-plush, but it was the coil version.

I'm thinking about building up a Highline, and the Totem is on my short list of forks to look at. Since most of my riding is gonna be at the shed, I want something I can pedal if I need to, but I also want something burly enough that I'll break myself before the fork.

[BikerMiker]

Setup is totally key on those forks. There is so much to do that it is easy to screw up.

Whenever I set up a fork from Rock Shox the first time, I call their support people (actually, I have 'a guy') and have them walk me through getting it dialed. There aren't any secret lubes or anything like that, it's just plain and simple, usually. I rode the Totem on a Demo 7 multiple times in Tahoe on the lifts and it was great. Back the air pressure off to the low side or a few pounds under as well.

One thing that comes to mind on big-ass forks like that is to make sure to run PLENTY of tire. It's SOOO easy to oversteer your tire when the fork is that freakin' stiff. I notice it on a lot of the larger diameter stanchion, thru-axle forks. Also, the 1.5" forks are WAY stiffer in deflection than the 1 1/8" stuff. I didn't notice a big difference in steering (torsion) between 'em.

I have found that the dampers in the Totem and Lyric take some fussing with to get 'em dialed. They like slack HT angles as well (personal observation). Run half low-speed compression, less than half high-speed, a little rebound damping to give the fork some manners and go easy on the gate stuff... until you are climbing...

I have a bunch of time on the Lyric and I like it a lot. It took me three runs down near-vert Rattlesnake in Santa Cruz to get 'er dialed, but it turned out really nice. Great aggro xc fork fo sho.

mike

[CountZero]

Mike - You are correct, setup is/will be key.

Jab - I have the Lyrik on the ML8. Curiosity got the better of me. I bought it for the Shed, Snowshoe, and Whistler.

I'm heavily biased, but my gut feeling is that the Maverick DUC is still better for hard cross country riding. It's lighter, stiffer fore-aft, and has good hydraulic bottom-out control without requiring a lot of damping. The Lyrik, however, is stiffer torsionally and has wide on-the-fly adjustability.

My ideal fork would be a 6" to 7" travel, 4.5 to 5.0 lb inverted double-crown with coil spring and air boost, and a gas pressurized monotube cartridge damper with a bottoming cone and adjustable low and high -speed compression circuits that have a mellow cross-over.

Dang it, I think I just came within a hair of describing the new Specialized fork. I think I need to take a shower. :)

[jabberwocky]

I wonder how much going to a 1.5 headtube would help the fore-aft stiffness. I thought the one I rode felt really stiff, so I'm a bit surprised you think its flexier than the DUC.

Going from a DUC to the totem has gotta slacken the hell out of that bike! The totem has an axle to crown thats not far off a 200mm boxxer! :eek: Bet its fun going down, though. :)

[dryfly]

i heard the new nomad has a 1 1/2 " ht. i was going to wait to get that one but didn't think it make much diff. was also going to get the totem but that thing is wicked heavy. opted for the float rc2 in stead.

[jabberwocky]

In my opinion, the Fox 36 series of forks aren't really in the same catagory as the totems. The 36s are really more "burly all mountain" forks that borderline on freeride but aren't quite there, while the Totem is meant to be a direct replacement for the double crown forks that typically come specced on freeride/downhill bikes.

Look at it this way: the Totem has an axle to crown measurement of 565mm, while the 36 has an axle to crown of 535mm (difference of 30mm or 1.25"). For reference, the Boxxer world cup (200mm of travel) has an axle to crown of 568mm, or only 3mm longer than the totem.

Really, the only other single crown fork I know of that is comparable to the Totem is the Marz 66. Otherwise you should probably be looking at double crown forks like the Fox 40 or Rockshox Boxxer. If you got a 36, you shouldn't have been considering a Totem anyway. :)

[dryfly]

In my opinion, the Fox 36 series of forks aren't really in the same catagory as the totems. The 36s are really more "burly all mountain" forks that borderline on freeride but aren't quite there, while the Totem is meant to be a direct replacement for the double crown forks that typically come specced on freeride/downhill bikes.

Look at it this way: the Totem has an axle to crown measurement of 565mm, while the 36 has an axle to crown of 535mm (difference of 30mm or 1.25"). For reference, the Boxxer world cup (200mm of travel) has an axle to crown of 568mm, or only 3mm longer than the totem.

Really, the only other single crown fork I know of that is comparable to the Totem is the Marz 66. Otherwise you should probably be looking at double crown forks like the Fox 40 or Rockshox Boxxer. If you got a 36, you shouldn't have been considering a Totem anyway. :)

very good point. i didn't do a ton of research when i bought the nomad. i kinda stuck with the tried and trusted setups-hence the 36. was the totem designed to save weight over the duel crown with comparable performance? I'm asking because the nomad is fine for local stuff like lewis and clark and other freeride'ish stuff, but my freinds and i would like to hit snowshoe alot this summer. and i like the ironhorse 7 point but would like to weigh my options on forks-suggestions?

[jabberwocky]

No problem, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time, just pointing out they are different classes of forks.

I believe the 7 point 7 comes specced with the totem 2 step this year, so obviously Iron Horse thinks its a good match for the bike. For a snowshoe bike, I think any gigantic long travel fork (single or double crown) would probably work fine. Just get something plush and burly and go to town.

I'm looking at the 7 point too. Sweet looking bike, and they can be had really cheap online if you look.

[pirate]

While we're talking about forks...

Can someone point me in the direction of ANY fork with a 1.5" steer tube, that doesn't cost $1000? Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough, but I haven't been able to find one.

[BikerMiker]

Yeah, good luck on that one...

Actually, I think the Stance Flow forks from Manitou come in 1.5 for WAY less than $1k. Manitou left Answer and is now a park of HB Performance (Hayes Brakes) so who knows what'll happen in the future.

RS Domain 381is comes in a 1.5 for around $550 or so...

mike

[pirate]

Yeah, good luck on that one...

Actually, I think the Stance Flow forks from Manitou come in 1.5 for WAY less than $1k. Manitou left Answer and is now a park of HB Performance (Hayes Brakes) so who knows what'll happen in the future.

RS Domain 381is comes in a 1.5 for around $550 or so...

mike

Damn, dude... How the heck did you find those?! I looked for a long time and couldn't find anything under $900. I DID notice that the only place I could find either of those forks, was on UK sites. That always seems to be my luck. I'm not sure I would buy either of them anyway, though.
What I would LIKE is a Marzocchi Z1 with the 1.5'' steer tube. I doubt I'll ever be able to afford that when it comes out, though. It seems like that extra little bit of metal it takes to make a bigger steer tube, is REAALLY expensive. :rolleyes:

That 1.5 inch "standard" is really some kinda standard, eh? :confused: