[ScarredOne]

(Figured The Shop might not get much traffic, so I'm posting here) I just took delivery of a new, uncut Totem Solo Air. Upon checking out the fork and turning the knobs, I found that the red rebound knob won't budge and I don't even see how to take it off the fork (in case I wanted to take the lowers off) without gouging aluminum.

This fork did have a previous owner, although it is "unused". Maybe they messed it up before offloading it? Perhaps it was damaged in shipping? There aren't any signs of damage on the fork that I can tell. I don't know what else to try besides pliers, which I'm sure will mess everything up. How have you dealt with this, Totem owners?

 

[HAB]

The knob just pulls off. You should be able to do it by hand. Just grab it and go.


As far as why it won't turn, it probably just got turned a little too hard and is jammed against the stop. Is the rebound set either really fast or really slow right now?

 

[ScarredOne]

Thanks so much for the input.

Even with my kung-fu grip, I can't pull the rebound knob off.

The fork rebounds on the slow side, but not slow enough to be all the way closed.

The previous owner said he didn't even touch the knobs.

 

[HAB]

Thaaaat's weird. The rebound knob is literally an allen wrench with a knob on it that slides into the bottom of the damper shaft and snaps in place. Operating off my slightly fuzzy memory of how the snap works (I'd go look if I still owned one), it's basically just a piece of wire bent into a circle that's in a groove on the inside of the knob, and that fits into a groove on the footnut. I'm guessing that's gotten bent and jammed somehow, and both preventing the knob from turning and coming off.

I don't have a great idea how to deal with that right now but I'll work on that.

 

[ScarredOne]

So I stopped caring about screwing up the damper, sacked up, and just wrenched on it. The indexing on the rebound end is really sticky on this fork for some reason. It was adjusted a few clicks out from all the way in.

Once I was able to open the damping adjustment all the way out, the rebound knob retention ring broke loose and allowed the rebound knob to come off. It seems to only want to pop off when the knob's set to a minimal rebound setting, though. Oh well.

Once again thanks for all the help and concern, it was much appreciated. Hopefully this works for anyone else with this embarrassing problem.