Stuff We Use - Vorsprung Telum & Smashpot
Better late than never.
After running a Telum in my Madonna V3 for the season, I had vowed to put one in my Yalla! as soon as I could. I got to a good place with my Ohlins/Boxxer setup, but I felt they were curiously mismatched.
My experience with the Telum has been exceptional. It truly is the best of all brands in one package - Ohlins support, Rockshox durability and Fox sensitivity (Pinkbike seemed to agree with this in their review too). I’ve ridden a bunch of dampers, and this one is superb.
With 3 weeks of the 24/25 Skyline season left, I randomly sold my Ohlins shock and got straight on the phone to Cam at CJ Suspension, to acquire a 225x75mm Telum. Unexpectedly, when I picked it up CJ generously offered to try a Smashpot with it, too. Legend. Game on.
What’s the point?
I’ll preface this post with some setup background. The goal of suspension is simple - it’s there to isolate trail forces from the rider and give the ideal blend of support, grip and control for that rider’s needs. This simple premise is often missed and unwarranted phrases like ‘dark art’ and ‘wizardry’ get used to describe what is (mostly) simple concepts.
How does it feel to have a good set up?
Trust. Your bike becomes a natural extension of your body and you move together in harmonious matrimony. You understand each other - when your tyres will break traction, how it behaves under braking, confidence in corner initiation, etc. Nothing is forced.
Mental clarity - less cognitive load lets you focus on specifics like braking points and lines. Your timing and quality of execution improves, helping you anticipate more.
Calm eyes, stable head. A good test of how well those trail forces are being isolated from you.
Do the setup basics right and dedicate some intentional ride time to feel these sensations and you will be 90% of the way there.
We are always happy to help, too.
The Rock-Lins Setup
This is what I spent most time on during the 2024/25 season.
Fork:
145 PSI
2 Tokens
Custom Fluid Focus base valve, standard Rockshox 3.1 mid valve set up - rebound tune ‘heavy’. Motorex 2.5wt oil
HSC 2, LSC 7, LSR 10 (from closed)
Shock:
434lb spring (later moved to a Sprindex @ 440lb)
LSC 9, HSC “firm”, LSR 5.
Low progression (22%)/High BB shock mount
What I liked:
90% of the time, it was great. For an air spring, the fork had great sensitivity. I was happy with the damper feel having re-valved it twice.
I recorded some of the most balanced data in terms of travel use and wheel velocities with this set up.
It felt fast. When I was ‘on it’ and riding hard, it came alive.
Improvement opportunities:
The chassis see-sawed through chunky sections. My eyes shook in my head and the erratic changes in chassis pitch was physical. At times, I just didn’t have the strength for it.
For some tracks, I found the fork hard to balance ride height with travel usage. Comfort and support was a fine line at times.
The sensitivity in the shock wasn’t great - especially at slower speeds. It often lacked ‘life’.
I felt forced behind the bike - My riding style prefers to be on-top of the bars, not behind them. I like a very direct connection from my hands to the front wheel.
It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it was hard to hold onto. I searched for more chassis stability by matching progression rates (tokens, etc), but I never felt satisfied with the results.
Perhaps it was naive to think two brands would gel together perfectly. Hence the reason for the acquiring a Telum - I loved the pairing with a Zeb on the Madonna V3.
Physical demand is directly linked to cognitive demand. Fatigue makes you ride defensively. The classic defence is over-braking - because mentally, you tell yourself you don’t want the bike running away (ironically, bracing against braking forces is equally as physical, cheers brain).
I found a bit of this creeping in and I was keen to find more synergy in the system.
Vorsprung rescue package
For context, I tested the new bouncers at the end of the season. Conditions were good, if a little cold and damp. I was no doubt tired after a long season and 600+ laps in the Queenstown Bike Park.
Install was easy, and its nice knowing the spring isolators wont damage any fork sealing surfaces. Here is what I settled on:
Fork:
Smashpot with 55lb spring, ‘soft’ initial dual rate spring. I tried the firmer of the two springs first, but didn’t get on with it - the bars rode too high, upsetting my front wheel connection
HBO 5 (stock shim stack), WPL 5wt oil
Custom Fluid Focus base valve, standard Rockshox 3.1 mid valve set up - rebound tune ‘heavy’. Motorex 2.5wt oil
HSC 2, LSC 3, LSR 6
Shock:
440lb spring
LSC 11, HSC 6, LSR 12, HBO 4
Low progression (22%)/High BB shock mount
What I liked:
Insane grip. I’ve never had so much trust in the front tyre. I felt confident to position myself more on top of the bars and drive more centrally. I was back at home.
Predictable. The bike was like a newly trained dog, suddenly obedient to my inputs and intentions.
Calmly controlled. The bike was munching bumps so well I entered a new headspace on the bike. I could focus more, read the trail easier, time my braking better, plan ahead more. It was considerably comfier without being mushy.
Life! The bike had energy and agility across a broader range of speeds and terrain.
Improvement opportunities:
Travel usage in the fork. I began using a little more travel than I’d like through deep compressions. It never felt harsh at bottom out, however - that’s the HBO working.
More prone to front brake diving. Under very heavy braking on steep tracks, the bars would drop a little more than I’d like.
I didn’t have the time to attempt any remedies other than some extra damper clicks. I’d be keen to try a 60lb spring when Summer returns.
Fine tuning with coils is obviously harder than air, but that’s the trade-off.
In any case, I was honestly so rapt on the positives I didn’t care too much.
Are you sure?
Yes. Because I measured it. 😉
However, ONLY after I had spent a week dialing in things by feel - I like to test my own feedback and problem solving skills before acquiring data to confirm symptoms.
I had a bunch of baseline data on the Rock-Lins setup so I had a comparison on what I liked with the old setup. My test track was El-Gato - Gary’s - Grundy - Black Beard - Fantrail. It’s a good mix of what I enjoy riding most. As many variables are controlled as possible. The data showed:
Compression velocities in the fork had universally gone up.
Fork dynamic sag and max travel usage increased. This could be that I was just that much happier being more dominant over the front end and was confident to brake harder. I was also on the softer starting stroke spring - I much preferred this progressive feel though.
The shock data was similar. Having the same spring rate explains that. The Telum managed peak velocities better but showed faster AVG and 95th compression & rebound numbers (it was moving a little more actively). Dynamic sag and travel usage was similar.
The fork/shock balance remained pretty bang on for what I wanted to see.
Average and peak track speeds were faster on the Vorsprung kit. Nice to confirm that feeling faster was actually fast!
The data is only there to validate the feelings and guide further changes. The fork was clearly more active, which explains the improvement in traction and comfort.
The travel usage and dynamic sag numbers reflect the linearity compared to the air spring. As mentioned, the HBO must have been softening those deep stroke events effectively because they never felt harsh or like the bars were blowing out from under me. So I’m not sure its entirely a bad thing.
Bottom line
A fine experiment. I am looking forward to putting more time in on the kit and seeing how it rides through the rough and fast summer season.
Ending the season with this set up was a fantastic way to wrap up.
Every Vorsprung product I have ever used does exactly what it says on the tin. This kit is no exception - it serves it’s purpose exceptionally well. I love it when that happens.
As a MTB coach, my gear gets used. A lot. Over the years I have used a huge amount of gear from different brands and have put them through their paces. Some have triumphed, some have been been average, and many have failed. This blog series aims to give you an honest insight into the stuff we rate and trust to use in our daily work as mountain bike coaches in Queenstown. While we do get some support from brands, the majority of our gear is purchased through stores, just like any other customer. In the cases where we have pricing privileges, we’ll make it clear. Ultimately, we choose everything we use. This is not a review, it’s just some thoughts on my experiences as an MTB coach.
