11/22/2008

The birth of a new fork
RockShox introduced the Totem late in 2006 to fill the gap that existed between its 145mm Pike and 200mm Boxxer forks, after teasing people with a prototype at Interbike 2005 and unveiling the production model to bike journos in June 2006.

The Totem is a departure from every other long-travel single crown (SC) fork on the market first and foremost because of its massive 40mm stanchions. This size stanchion was available on dual-crown forks, but to offer this in a SC fork was unprecedented. What was going on? Well, RockShox was taking a very serious swipe at the idea that riders could only get a truly stiff fork with a double-crown. So, did they succeed in blowing the crap out of that theory? Let's have a close look at the Totem and find out.

The 2007 RockShox Totem Solo Air, mounted on a Specialized SX Trail. Definitely a match made in heaven.

The technical specs
I received a Totem Solo Air with a 1 1/8" steerer to test, and have been beating on it for the last several months. The Solo Air is one of three Totem models to choose from, each of which are different because of the spring type. The Solo Air is an air sprung fork with 180mm of travel, while the 2Step is an air sprung fork that has 135-180mm of adjustable travel and the coil version gives you 180mm or 7" of squish full time.

Each of the Totems share the same basic characteristics: 40mm stanchions made from taper-wall 7000-series aluminum, a forged AL 66-TV crown, 203mm disc brake post mounts, the choice of 1 1/8" or OnePointFive steerers, RockShox's patented Maxle quick release thru-axle system, Mission Control damping, and the Speed Lube system for changing the casting lube oil. All adjustment knobs on the Totem are machined aluminum. Colour choices include galvanized silver, diffusion (matte) black, and gloss black. Axle-to-crown height for the Totems is 565mm +/- 5mm at 180mm.

Damping on the Totems is made possible through the Mission Control damping system, which is located on the top of the right fork leg. Mission Control allows for external adjustment of both high- and low-speed compression damping, with the larger blue outer knob controlling high-speed compression and the smaller silver knob that sits on top of the blue knob regulating low-speed compression. There are detented clicks in the compression adjustments, and both high- and low-speed damping are always active.

The inset dial on the top of the low-speed knob, and the low-speed knob itself, make up the Floodgate switch. Floodgate is a platform damping system that enables riders to adjust the amount of force necessary to activate the fork from a locked-out position. The Floodgate is activated by pushing down on the low-speed compression knob and turning 90° counterclockwise. The low-speed knob pops up and the fork is effectively locked out.

Blue high-speed compression adjustment and silver low-speed adjustments;
Floodgate is off on the left and on on the right.

The amount of force necessary to trigger the blow-off and make the fork active again is adjusted via the 2.5mm Allen bolt in the centre of the dial. There's quite a large range of adjustment in the Floodgate, so the fork can be set up to be quite resistant to impacts or fully active with just a minor bump. Compression settings don't change, regardless of the Floodgate position.

The red rebound knob and SpeedLube port. How do you like your fork - quick like a bunny?

Rebound adjustment is located on the bottom of the right fork leg, and there's a helpful diagram to show you which way to turn for fast or slow rebound. The red rebound knob can be removed from the fork and the incorporated 2.5mm Allen key can be used to adjust either the Floodgate setting or reach on Avid brakes. Located behind the reach adjustment on the bottom of the fork leg (as well as on the bottom of the left fork leg) is the SpeedLube port. Unscrew the necessary bolts, connect the Speed Lube syringe with 15cc of 15wt fork oil, flush the system, and you're good to go again.

The left leg of the Totems contain the fork's spring. The Solo Air spring is as simple as it sounds: a single air chamber that cushions bike and rider. Remove the top cap, thread on your shock pump, and pump it up to the recommended pressure setting that's conveniently listed on the left leg of the fork. These numbers are only a starting point, so be sure to adjust pressure to achieve the optimal sag for your weight.

Unscrew the cap to adjust air pressure. Notice the forging on the crown, which reduces weight without affecting strength.

Lots of room for your rubber under that meaty arch. Air pressure settings are listed on the left leg.

The lowers on the Totem are cast magnesium, and have a couple of nifty features. The first is the Power Bulge, a noticeable increase in the diameter of the legs that gives more support to the bushings and adds to the fork's overall stiffness. The fork arch is relieved on the back to reduce weight without compromising strength. Maximum recommended tire width is 2.7"; I'm running a Bontrager Big Earl 2.6" tire, and there's plenty of clearance. There's also a zip tie guide on the left side of the arch for your front brake hose. Apparently, RockShox looked for a more elegant solution to the problem of attaching a brake hose to a fork but decided that zip ties worked just fine. The guide does prevent slippage, though, and tidies up things.

The last major feature of the Totem is the Maxle 360, RockShox's proprietary tool-free 20mm quick-release thru axle system. Drop your front wheel into the handy notches at the bottom of the fork legs, slide the axle through and thread it until it's tight, install and tighten the end cap on the skewer, and close the quick release lever. It's pretty damn simple, and it's a great invention. New for the Maxle is the 360 designation, which allows users to close the lever in any position their little hearts desire.

A drive-side close-up of the Maxle 360 and the innovative graphics on the Totem.

The non-drive side of the Maxle - a pretty simple solution. Notice the forging on the lower leg, to increase stiffness without adding weight.

RockShox's listed weight for the Solo Air model is 5.9lbs. The official nsmb digital scale spit out a reading of 2760g - 6.08 lbs. with the crown race and star-fangled nut, but minus about 30mm of steerer. That's close enough for me to call it a draw. Now that we've hammered out the specs, let's get down to business.

Riding the Totem
This test ended up being a bit longer than intended, due to the crap weather here on the Shore from early December to late February. Testing a fork on trails that were better suited to snowshoeing wasn't on, so I've been going fairly hard since then and have logged many miles on the Totem since the snows receded. Over the four months that I actually got to ride this fork, I put in laps on Cypress, Fromme, and Seymour, did a little XCing in Squamish, and even got in some time in the Whistler Bike Park.

Out of the box, the Totem is an impressive fork. Aesthetically, it's striking. The graphics are innovative, the lines of the fork are both clean and elegant, machining on the adjustment knobs is excellent, writing on them is clear and easily legible, the galvanized colour has a real depth to it, and the casting on the lower legs is industrial in appearance without being clumsy.

Looking more closely, the Totem has burly written all over it. The stanchions are massive compared to every other SC fork out there, and the Power Bulge makes the legs seem swollen, like some body builder on the juice. I mounted the Totem to my Specialized SX Trail, and the fork actually made some of the tubing on the bike seem skinny by comparison. The Totem exudes strength and stiffness, and there is no mistaking its intended purpose: going fast, going big, hitting rough lines and big drops without complaining, and coming back for more.

Setting up the Totem can be bit intimidating if you're not used to a fork like this. There are five separate adjustments to make before hitting the trails (high-speed compression, low-speed compression, Floodgate, rebound, and air pressure), but they're manageable if you take them one at a time.

RockShox has put out a wallet-sized field tuning guide, which recommends starting with four clicks of high-speed compression, four clicks of low-speed compression, and one full turn of rebound from the full-open position. Unfortunately, I didn't have the card when I got the fork, so it took me a few runs to find my personal sweet spot.

That happened to be four or five clicks of high-speed and between four and six of low-speed, depending on the trail. Rebound was set a little further in that one turn, but not much. Recommended air pressure setting for my weight was 75psi, but I found that a bit firm for my taste and after a few rides dropped it to 65psi.

It took about 15-20 hours of riding for the fork to break in, but once it did, it was obvious what a good fork the Totem really is. There are two key areas where it stands out: stiffness and adjustments.

The Totem doing one of things it shines at: holding a line down some seriously rough trails. || Photo: Cam McRae

Stiffness is a big thing for me when it comes to forks, and it's something I don't always see, likely because I'm not your average bike tester. At 6'4" and about 240-250lbs. all geared up for the Shore, I tend to be hard on equipment. I bend things that other people wouldn't bend, and I find parts that are normally 'stiff enough' to be noodly. I like going quite fast, hitting the skinnies and steeps, doing reasonable-sized drops, clearing the big tables at Whistler, and generally enjoying my ride. I am not a hucker by any means, but in the very kind words of Cam McRae, I am "pretty smooth" on the trail.

I've spent a fair bit of time over the last few years on long-travel SC forks. Most of the forks I rode were all right, but left something to be desired as far as I was concerned, especially on really chundery lines. The front end seemed somewhat imprecise, meaning that I didn't have as much control as I would have liked. I even wondered if I'd have to switch to a double-crown fork to get the precision I was looking for. Then I installed the Totem.

The Totem is decidedly stiffer than any other long-travel single crown fork I've ever ridden. Noticeably. Markedly. Considerably. A lot. This impressive stiffness made it possible for me to roll up to the top of a chute, pull a track stand while I sighted my line, release the brakes, and fly down without any flex or deflection in the front end. Rolling down some of the steep and chundery lines on the Shore (think the opening sequence on Espresso) had been a slightly sketchy proposition in the past with certain forks, but I had complete control with the Totem.

I was able to ride quickly, pick the line I wanted, and feel like I was in charge. In fact, I was regularly able to ride familiar lines more quickly and with more control than in the past. Lines, stunts, even skinnies that had been a challenge before were almost a non-issue, and my confidence level jumped.

I don't like throwing around terms like 'revolutionary' but the Totem really has given me a new perspective on stiffness. Instead of being along for the ride, I'm able to choose a line and stick with it or make subtle adjustments to that line - even at speed. My bike, which I've been riding for over a year and was quite familiar with, handled more precisely than it ever had before. More control also means that I'm also able to ride faster than before. And faster is good.

The most telling thing for me is that I no longer feel like I need to run double-crown fork to get a stiff front end. The Totem does the job just fine for my 240lb. carcass, thanks. And if the 1 1/8" version was plenty stiff, I can only imagine what the OnePointFive version would be like. (RockShox says it's 18% stiffer. We'll just have to take their word for that.) That isn't to say that I won't run a DC fork, especially to balance out the front and rear ends on an 8" or 9" bike, but it certainly isn't necessary with bikes that have less travel.

The author, coming down a fun line at the Whistler Bike Park. || Photo: Kim Beck

As I noted above, there are lots of adjustments on the Totem. Air pressure is pretty easy to figure out. Rebound is almost as easy. I ended up setting a very low threshold on the Floodgate, so that the fork becomes active when I hit a relatively small rock or root on a climb. The truth, however, is that I've spent a fair bit of time on a road bike over the years and I'm a relatively smooth (albeit slow) climber, so I don't have a lot of use for the Floodgate. Some riders will undoubtedly love the Floodgate, but it wasn't a big selling feature for me and the overall performance of the Totem wouldn't suffer if it disappeared.

That leaves you with high- and low-speed compression. The fact that both of these adjustments are external and located on the top of the fork leg makes it pretty simple to find your happy place. Subtle adjustments of even one click in either compression setting also make a noticeable difference in ride quality, and RockShox deserves praise for that. How often have you sat there spinning an adjustment knob wondering what you're accomplishing? "Four full turns of damping and the fork still feels the same? What the hell??!?"

Adjustments to high-speed compression (the speed at which the fork compresses, not the speed you're travelling) are useful when the trail goes from fast and flowy singletrack, where you want the fork to move through its travel quickly, to highly technical terrain with small to medium-sized drops or stunts, where you want the fork to move through its travel more predictably to save you from going over the bars. The fact that it's easy to feel each detent in the high-speed compression makes the process of adding or removing a measured amount damping simple. It's also easy to put the fork back to where you had it before, assuming you can remember how many clicks were dialled in in the first place.

Low-speed compression is used for dialling out (or in) rider input on the fork, and this was the adjustment I found had the most direct impact on fork performance. Forks can dive as you head into a corner if you're not running enough compression, and your tire will wash out. You can also end up with front-end flop or when you're out of the saddle and pedalling slowly to get onto a skinny. Adding one or two clicks of slow-speed compression eliminates any inclination for the fork to dive or compress excessively under your own weight.

Over the top, down the ramp, and around the corner, all in complete control. And no, this wasn't shot
in January - it's May. || Photo: Cam McRae

Once I had the fork set for Shore riding, I didn't change it much from one mountain to the next - maybe a click more or less depending on the trail and how fast I was travelling. Changing from Shore riding to Whistler took a couple of runs to find the Totem's happy place. The beauty of the fork, though, is that I could just reach down and add or remove a click of damping, ride for a few minutes, and then readjust if necessary.

When it came to suspension performance, the Totem felt very much like you'd expect from an air fork, albeit slightly more refined. The Mission Control damping system made it possible to set the fork so that it absorbed small bumps and chatter on the trail without being spongy, and was still able to take big hits without ever feeling as though it was being pushed to its limits.

Air forks are by nature progressive, and the Totem behaved as it should. Travel ramped up gradually as the fork moved through its stroke, avoiding the harshness at the end of the stroke that you find in some forks. Over the four-month test period, I don't recall the fork ever feeling as though it bottomed out, even though I was getting full travel. A couple of nose-heavy landings didn't even have an adversely negative feel to them, and in one instance, the Totem made it possible for me to ride out a particularly bad line choice on the Empress rock face without consequence.

The one thing that will never be possible with an air fork is the supremely buttery feeling that you get with a coil fork. The Solo Air comes close, but falls just short of achieving that suspension nirvana. If a buttery fork is your first priority, then look at the coil version of the Totem. Just don't complain about the extra half pound of weight. If you're looking at buying a Totem and can't decide whether to get the air or coil version, figure out if you're concerned about weight or feel before pulling out your credit card.

Durability was never an issue on the Solo Air. I rode it hard, lubed the seals every few rides, hosed it off after a muddy ride, and that was it. Nothing has come loose, broke, or failed during the test period. I'm sure the fork could do with some fresh oil, and I'll get to that soon. In the meantime, it continues to do what it does best without complaining.

Was it pure, unadulterated perfection?
The Totem is pretty darn good, especially for a first-year product. But it's not perfect and there were a few things I had issues or concerns with. The first were the detents on the low-speed compression and rebound knobs. They're not nearly as noticeable as on the high-speed compression. You really have to pay attention to the feeling in the knobs when you're turning them, because it's easy to miss a click.

Although I never ran into any issues with the Maxle, I wouldn't mind seeing just a few more threads on the non-drive side of both the axle and fork leg. Call me old fashioned, but a stronger hold on the leg that takes most of the braking forces can't be a bad thing.

Finally, there's the issue of price. It's come up in a number of places on the Interweb, with some people balking at the prospect of dropping a grand (or a grand and a half on this side of the border) for a RockShox fork. Yes, it's expensive. But are you getting your money's worth? I'd say so, in spades. Tuning features, stiffness, and performance are all very good to exceptional on this fork, and they're on par or better than you'd get from the other manufacturers of high-end suspension forks.

Those few minor issues aside, I'd have to work hard to come up with other complaints. This really is a very good fork.

The Power Bulge starts just above the graphics on the lowers.

Final thoughts In case it isn't blatantly obvious, I like the Totem Solo Air. A lot. The marked increase in stiffness over most other SC forks, thanks to a combination of the massive 40mm stanchions, the Power Bulge, an intricate casting process and the Maxle 360 is a huge plus for larger riders in particular, but smaller riders who go big will also appreciate it. It really has changed the way I ride, and lines that used to be a pain in the ass, that I had to hang on for, can now be ridden with confidence. I'm riding with more control, and I'm riding faster as well. Both of those are good things in my book. Mission Control damping is a like a big shiny present under the Christmas tree for people who like to constantly adjust their bikes. For those of you who are happy with a new pair of socks and a magazine subscription, it's worth the time and effort to get up to speed.

The wide range of adjustments make it possible for riders to get the most out of their riding experience, regardless of whether it's on the Shore, their own technical trails, at a bike park, or simply throwing down large. Offering that amount of tunability is commendable in and of itself.

The Totem may be a visually bulky fork, but that belies the actual heft of the fork. RockShox could have made a big, burly, heavy fork, but didn't. A lot of thought went into the design of the Totem, making it capable of handling just about anything riders can throw at it but still being conscious of weight. A 180mm fork that takes stiffness to new levels, offers a very broad range of adjustments, is able to take a beating and still only weigh 6lbs +/- is impressive by just about any standard.

RockShox has managed to package all of the things serious big-bike riders are looking for into the Totem: stiffness, adjustment, performance, ease of use, and durability in a lightweight package. It's expensive, especially when you look at the historical pricing for many RockShox products, but you really do get what you pay for with this fork.

A final note - there have been a few online user reports of problems with 2Step and coil versions of the Totem. I don't have any personal experience with any of these issues, and there were no problems with the Solo Air model during the test period. I do know that RockShox is committed to working with its customers to resolve things, so if you're having a problem with your Totem or any RockShox product, go to the shop where you bought it and they'll help you sort things out.

Pricing for the Totem Solo Air is US$1,060 / CDN$1,585 for either the 1 1/8" or OnePointFive steerer.

Performance: 4.5  Quality: 4.5 Design: 4.5  Price: 3.5  Overall: 4.5

Pros: Cons: - Hugely stiff - Tons of adjustment - Light - Maxle 360 - Did I mention stiff? - Detents hard to feel on some adjustments - Pricing is a little steep - Not quite as plush as a coil fork

Stuart Kernaghan

Want to talk about the Totem? Got your own SC experiences to share? Here's the place to do it.