Vorsprung release the Telum, a unique custom-tuned coil shock
Vorsprung is excited to (finally) announce the launch of the Telum, a unique, custom-tuned rear shock.
Over 3 years in development, the Telum brings true custom tuning to the masses.
Telum features:
– Twin tube architecture
– Solid piston, to provide full control over the oil flow
– Adjustable hydraulic bottom out controls the last 15mm of stroke
– Individually sized-to-fit PTFE glide rings for minimum friction
– Ultra-slippery microfinished chrome plated damper shaft
– All-new Vorsprung Tuning Hub online platform automatically generates personalized spring, valving and setup recommendations based on bike and rider inputs
– Patent-pending Rapid Revalve system allows trained technicians to revalve the shock in under 5 minutes with zero oil loss
– Metric sizes available from 250/225x75mmm eye to eye down to 210/185x50mm. (250mm = standard eyelet, 225mm = same shock but with trunnion mount instead)
– Spherical bearings where applicable, to isolate side loads from the shock. Cylindrical bearings also available.
– Vorsprung collab Sprindex adjustable-rate springs – faster and easier than air pressure adjustments
– Externally adjustable rebound, high-speed compression, low-speed compression and hydraulic bottom-out
– 2-position lockout lever
– Made in British Columbia
– $1200USD / $1600CAD
* What sets the Telum apart?
Where do we start?! 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 with the aid of the Vorsprung Tuning Hub, our online platform which calculates the optimum damper tune and adjuster settings for you.
The polymer spherical bearings also isolate the shock from side loads, whilst being lightweight, easy to replace and not susceptible to corrosion or noise like conventional metal spherical bearings.
* Why would it matter when/where the shock is tuned? Why would I care about Rapid Revalve?
Ultimately, because Rapid Revalve enables us, and/or our dealer network, to put you on a dialled 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 more opportunities for human error.
Rapid Revalve circumvents this entirely, by allowing any trained technician 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 valving float with low/zero clamping force.
This innovation allows for true personalization of the shock with ease and consistency, rather than “custom” tunes being shipped from the factory en masse with the hopes that it happens to line up with the rider’s needs. Should you ever want a re-tune for any reason (different bike, different preferences, overdosed on ice cream, overdosed on Ozempic, moved to BC, moved away from BC etc), that’s also extremely cost-effective to do.
On a technical level, Rapid Revalve also automatically sets the range of the adjusters in proportion with the valve stiffness. But now we’re just showing off.
* How does this differ from other custom tuned shocks out there? I thought my bike came with a shock that was custom tuned for my frame?
The majority of manufacturer-provided “custom” tunes out there, both OEM and aftermarket, are mostly or entirely based on your frame’s kinematics, because they’re usually generated well ahead of time without knowledge of exactly who the end user is. They have to make a large number of assumptions about who’s going to end up on that tune, not least of which is your weight.
By contrast, the Telum is built around tuning specific to each and every bike/rider combination. This is enabled by the Vorsprung Tuning Hub, which 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 10-20 second phone clip of yourself riding some of your typical terrain, so that the person doing the tuning can get a better gauge on your terrain and the way you ride than just a text description.
* Who can access the Vorsprung Tuning Hub?
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. Our trained partners have access to deeper features of the Tuning Hub to determine valving specifications too.
* What if for some reason I don’t like the valving tune I get?
We’ll change it until you do. It takes literally a couple of minutes.
* What’s the stock tune?
There isn’t one.
* What if for some reason I don’t like the spring rate you recommend?
Our Tuning Hub can determine spring rates in a few different ways:
1. You can rely solely on our recommendation, which will calculate the most appropriate spring rate for you in order for you to be able to use your travel appropriately, and it’ll calculate the necessary sag for you from there.
2. You can specify a preferred sag percentage (if you know exactly how much you want)
3. 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% (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 spring exchanges though, sorry.
* Can you show me a dyno curve that proves the Telum is better than all the competitors?
We’d love to… but there’s a catch.
Firstly, which damper curve would you like to see? There’s well over 1000 of them in the Tuning Hub. The real magic is in selecting the right one.
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 – one curve can be fantastically well suited for one rider on one bike, but provide a horrible ride in another application. (However, it’s much easier to compare graphs of spring curves, or fork damping curves, where there are far fewer variables).
* Will the Telum fit my frame?
The Telum was built to fit a wide range of 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. Check our website for a current list of confirmed fit/no-fit frames.
* I run a bike shop, workshop and/or suspension workshop, what does this mean for me?
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, buy one inexpensive tool and complete a 15 minute online training course that runs you through the process first, then you’re good to go. You don’t need to sink huge amounts of time or money into this to get started – it’s simple and cost-effective.
* I’m a frame manufacturer, how can I check whether the Telum fits our frames?
We can provide you with CAD of the shock to check on our Frame Manufacturer Resources page. You’ll also want to check out our guide to design best practices for the shock mounting interface.
* Seems expensive.
Yep.
* Why isn’t it [insert much lower price here]?
Simple: the goal here was to produce the best shock, not the cheapest one – plenty of decent low cost options already exist from the big manufacturers.
* Didn’t you first show this at Sea Otter and say it was going to be ready in June?
We did. The first preorders started shipping in June, and we intended to publicly launch in June, but continued to get inundated with more preorders than we could handle in a reasonable timeframe. We’re still operating with 3-4 weeks lead time to ship new orders. Quantities are limited and demand is not, relatively speaking, so if you’re keen on a Telum, don’t drag your feet.
