Telum

Where do we start?! The Telum is like nothing else you've seen on mountain bikes before.

The solid main piston means that unlike conventional shocks, no oil flows through the moving piston of the shock.

This means that all damping duties, including lockout, can be handled in the reservoir bridge - where our exclusive and patent-pending Rapid Revalve system is housed.

This in turn means that the shock valving can be set after the shock is built.

The polymer spherical bearings also isolate the shock from side loads, whilst being lighter and not susceptible to corrosion or noise like conventional metal spherical bearings.

Of course, all the niceties like LSC/HSC/Reb and even HBO adjustments are included, so you can tinker to your heart's desire should you want to explore what the Telum can feel like.

Ultimately, because Rapid Revalve enables us, our dealer network, or even YOU, to put you on a better setup in under 5 minutes. Conventional shocks need to be disassembled, re-shimmed, reasssembled, rebled, recharged with gas, and cleaned in order to fundamentally change the gradient of the damping curve across all speeds without either introducing (or altering) preload to the valve mechanism, or introducing/altering free bleed. This is a time consuming and expensive process, and opens up many opportunities for human error.

Rapid Revalve circumvents this entirely, by allowing anybody who's followed the 15 minute online training videos to easily change the fundamental stiffness of the shim stack without the need to disassemble, rebleed, repressurize and clean the shock. Rapid Revalve is also tolerance-insensitive - there's no clearance or float issues that require expensive tools and full teardowns to adjust, nor the inconsistencies that arise from trying to maintain low/zero float with low/zero clamping force.

This innovation allows for true personalization of the shock at or after the point of sale with ease and consistency, rather than "custom" tunes being shipped from the factory into the void with the hopes that it happens to line up with the rider's needs. On a technical level, Rapid Revalve also automatically sets the range of the adjusters in proportion with the valve stiffness. Just because we could.

The majority of "custom" tunes out there, both OEM and aftermarket, are mostly or entirely based on your frame's kinematics, because they're usually generated with no knowledge of exactly who the end user is. They have to assume you're the average rider, of average strength, riding the average terrain, and that you're of average weight, with average preferences, or preferences that happen to align with the team who developed the tune, even if they have unusual preferences themselves.

By contrast, the Vorsprung Tuning Hub generates spring rate recommendations, as well as damper tune specifications and recommended settings for the Telum according to every single unique bike/rider combination. It takes into account the objective factors, such as rider/bike weight and leverage rate curve, as well as subjective factors - such as your terrain type, how hard you ride, how strong you are, whether you're hitting big jumps, and simply whether you prefer a softer or firmer setup.

We also encourage you to upload a short video (a 10 second Iphone clip is fine) as that helps us gauge your riding and terrain a lot better than text.

You can! As a Telum owner, you'll be able to use the Tuning Hub view your shock's tuning data including the tuning history of your shock, what frame and rider parameters it's tuned for, the recommended settings, and the damper curves that result from that.

If you'd like to make changes to your own shock's valving, all the necessary training is available on the Tuning Hub for you to use Rapid Revalve to tune your own shock.

No problem! We'll change it until you do like it. Or you can simply re-tune it yourself!

Our Tuning Hub can determine spring rates in a few different ways:

• You can rely on our recommendation, which will calculate the most appropriate spring rate for your bike in order for you to be able to use all your travel appropriately, and it'll calculate the sag for you from there.
• You can specify a preferred sag percentage (if you know exactly how much you want)
• Or, if you've already got a coil spring rate that you like on that bike, you can tell us what that is, and we can work with that.

On top of that, Sprindex springs allow you to adjust the spring rate by around 10-12% (eg from 450-500lbs/in) to maximize the chances of you getting exactly what you need.

However, mountain biking is a very personal thing when it comes to preferences, so if you find the spring we've recommended for you is too firm or too stiff, let us know - we can get you a sizeable discount on a replacement spring. We don't offer exchanges though, sorry.

We get this kind of request fairly often.

Firstly, which damper curve would you like to see? There's well over 1000 of them in the Tuning Hub.

Secondly, how do you determine from looking at a 2D force vs velocity curve which shock is "better" than another, without all the rest of the context required?

It's not possible to make that claim with any validity, so we don't.

A claim we CAN back up though, is that our tuning process is more thorough and more personalized towards your specific application than you'll find anywhere else.

First, check the Frame Compatibility tab above to see if we've already confirmed fitment.

The Telum was built to fit a wide range of mountain bike and e-MTB frames and mounting systems, however there are so many frames with unique clearance concerns and so many unique shock mounting systems on the market that we know some will not fit, however we have not yet checked every frame out there.

Please email us directly with any questions regarding frame fitment - if we don't already have an answer for you immediately, we'll work with you to find out.

It means you can easily custom tune suspension for your customers with no guesswork, less hassle, and less risk than ever before.

You'll need to set up a dealer account with us and an account on the Tuning Hub (the two are not linked) where you'll be run through the online training in order to get access to the tuning system, then you're good to go.

If you haven't already checked the fitment chart to see if we've already checked it, check out the 3D CAD models and Frame/Shock Interface Design Guide HERE.

The Telum is approved for e-MTBs as well as regular mountain bikes. The same compatibility limitations apply with respect to yoke length. For more information on frame compatibility, please check out this document HERE.

Whether you are a bike shop, suspension workshop or home mechanic, you'll be able to service the Telum if you meet the following criteria:

• You have access to a vacuum bleeder
• You have a nitrogen charging needle
• You have typical suspension servicing tools and supplies
• You can follow instructions and procedures to the letter
• You understand that 5N.m is not the same as 5ft.lbs and that neither of those is the same as 5in.lbs
• You have sufficient experience servicing complex shocks already

If this is you, then yes you can service the Telum - email us and we'll get you the information and parts required.

However, if you've never serviced a shock before, or don't have any of the tools above, the Telum is frankly not the place to start - it's a complex, highly advanced damper, and needs to be serviced by a competent and experienced technician.

Obviously, we cannot take responsibility for the outcome of work performed by others who we have not trained & authorized, meaning that if you attempt to service something at home and make mistakes that lead to damage, improper functioning or other failure, it will be your responsibility to fix it, at your own expense. This does not mean that we will refuse to provide information to help you, but if we have to repair a shock following a botched home service, it will be charged as a standard service plus any additional charges required for either additional parts or labour and will not be covered under warranty.

We are not yet publishing service information to the general public for this reason - not to obstruct people from working on their own bikes, but to ensure that nobody dives in without being fully aware of what they are getting themselves into.