Submitted by
Tom Page
a Cross Country Rider
from York, Maine
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2006
Strengths: Simple, light upgrade, adjustable, cheaper than a new shock.
Weaknesses: Unscrewing caps to remove air shocks is difficult.
Bottom Line:
I replaced the old beatup elastomers in a Rock Shox Quadra 21R fork with these Total Air shocks, to keep my bike going a couple more years. Still only have 2-3 inches of travel, but air shock works much better and the fork is still almost as light as a top end XC racing fork. I used a little less pressure than recommended for my weight in the instructions to get the right setting. I found I need to take apart 2-3 times per year to clean and lube up with slick honey so everything works nicely, depending on how much riding I do and how much mud I've gone through. I have not had not had any problems losing air. These may not equal a modern suspension fork, but are a good value upgrade if your bike isn't worth a new fork.
Submitted by
Alan
a Cross Country Rider
from Houston, TX, USA
Date Reviewed: September 16, 2004
Strengths: Rebuild your fork to better-than-new specs, for minimal cost and labor. Smooth and quiet! ("CLINK" is caused by improper installation.)
Weaknesses: You'll have to buy a shock pump, which increases overall cost. Also, I wonder if they'll be discontinued for my older shock before I'm ready to retire it.
Bottom Line:
Overall, this was a great investment. It enabled me to clean out the greasy, slimy, obsolete elastomer-based guts and replace with a very clean pair of air cartridges. An air spring is so much better suited for its purpose than elastomer stacks were.
Installation seems a bit tedious, but simple in hindsight, and I could do it in 1/3 of the time if I had to do again. I actually enjoyed doing it as an evening project over a beer.
A rider complained below of a rebound "CLINK." I strongly suspect he set it up improperly. My first pass thru installation I also heard a clink, but quickly discovered a major install error, described as follows. There are 2 Eko air cartridges, each having an axially movable rod. The 1st cartridge is inserted into the first slider (lower, outer portion of fork leg), and the 2nd cartridge is inserted into the 2nd slider. The rod of the 1st cartridge is secured to the lower end of the 1st slider with a bolt passing thru a small hole in that slider. The OD of the rod is larger than the ID of the hole, so the rod cannot pass thru the first slider. However, the second slider has a much larger hole diameter -- large enough for the rod to pass through. You are supposed to thread a large nut onto the 2nd rod BEFORE you insert the 2nd cartridge into the 2nd slider. The nut has a larger OD than the hole ID, so the nut serves as a stopper to prevent the rod from poking out of the hole. Finally, a bolt and washer secure the rod to the second slider from the outside (the washer has a larger OD than the hole ID). PROBLEM: If you don't follow the directions exactly, it is tempting to incorrectly position the large nut on the *outside* of the 2nd slider. In that case, any time the fork compresses, the rod simply sticks out of the hole on the 2nd slider, and upon rebound, the large nut smacks into the slider, causing a "CLINK" sound. This is BAD - you are getting no spring action from the 2nd cartridge, because it is not fully secured to the 2nd slider. You must remove the cartridge from the slider, install the large nut onto the rod, and THEN insert the cartridge into the slider. Hope this clarifies things a bit!
Submitted by
Mike
a Weekend Warrior
from Largo, FL. USA
Date Reviewed: September 16, 2004
Strengths: Infinitly adjustable for all riders. Easily serviced. Simple yet strong design.
Weaknesses: I don't thin there are any.
Bottom Line:
An excellent way to breath life back into an old fork and the perfect way to set a fork up to meet YOUR needs. I have done everything from agressive street riding and stair decents to pavement to singletrack and and very rooty trails and the fork just soaks it up. 4 inches of very useable travel and the best part is you can fine tune your ride. If you want fast compression and slow rebound, you can do it. No more guessing which springs you should order and then not being happy with the performance. You have INFINITE ADJUSTABILITY! I put the bike up for a year and when I came back to it, I tore the front and rear shocks down and cleaned them and regreased them and they were like brand new. The little pump I bought with it is annoying cause the knob wants to unscrew but some glue will fix that. I would definitly recommend to anyone with an old spring internals fork that doesn't want to buy a new one. These cartridges rock!
Bike Setup: Trek Y3, RS Judy XL converted to air, Cane Creek AD-10
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Submitted by
Brian
a Cross Country Rider
from Elk River, Minnesota
Date Reviewed: August 14, 2004
Strengths: Holds air Easy to install Easy to maintain Light weight
Weaknesses: Inconvenient to adjust
Bottom Line:
These things work pretty darn good. I was a little skeptical after reading the last review, but I am pleased overall. My fork was very sloppy with the stock oil damping. After installing the Total Air system it really came to life. I don't have any top out noise what so ever. The top out springs are twice as long as the stock ones and they do a great job of controlling the stroke on the top end. I don't bottom unless I come down from something really hard, and when I do is is a relatively minor event. This fork feels much better that my stumpjumper with a manitou black elite, and that is a decent fork. I would recommend this upgrade to anyone whose fork is older than 2 years or so to bring it back up to date.
I really wanted to like this product, and initially I did. Replacing the guts of a '00 SID XC solved two problems with this particular fork - air leaks and lack of full travel. In its original form, the SID never got more than about 60mm of travel, even though it was set up in the 85mm mode. The Eko cartridges allowed for full travel, and the stroke was very smooth. The SID was also a real pain to pressure up - very difficult to get the proper psi due to inconsistent loss on pump disconnect. Again, the Total Air solved this problem.
Riding this rebuilt fork for a couple weeks was disappointing. With proper air pressure, the top-out was severely annoying. There doesn't seem to be any rebound damping at all, so you get this constant clunking resonating through the front end of the bike. Eko instructions say reduce the air pressure to solve the problem - sorry, that only reduces the severity, the top-out clunk is still there. As soon as the fork is unweighted, CLUNK... Also, reducing the pressure enough to significantly reduce top-out makes the spring rate too soft, and fork dives into the initial inch of travel too rapidly. There is no preload adjustment to compensate for this.
With good forks available for around $200, paying $110 for this product is stupid. I ended up retiring the SID and buying a new '03 Manitou Black Elite, which is what I should have done to begin with. The ONLY reason to use Eko Total Air is to keep an obsolete fork alive, if you have no alternative. Otherwise, invest your money in a new fork.
Submitted by
Ken Anderson
a Cross Country Rider
from Tahoe Vista, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: April 27, 2004
Bottom Line:
This is a follow up to an earlier review - as suspected a few miles of riding has apparently worked all the excess grease out of the air valves. Now there's not a hint of stiction, just smooth supple travel. This is an upgrade that's starting to grow on me - I think I may postpone my Marzocchi purchase for a few months and just pounce on these guys for a while. I'd still like to see a little less negative (top out) spring in mine - the TA spring seems a bit longer than my OEM. May actually try running stock spring on one side and TA on the other (ala Marzocchi MX) just to see how it goes. Four burnin turds and a solid recommendation for TA.
Strengths: Light, fairly straight-forward installation, fairly easy to adjust. Turned my tired old Judy C into a great handling fork! I love it! Much cheaper than buying a new fork!
Weaknesses: You have to remove the cartridges to adjust compression damping. Instructions left a little to be desired- I ended up using the top-out rod and springs from my existing 2002 Judy C and combined them with the total air cartridge- removing one Judy spacer to get 100mm of travel. It took a little fiddling, but I figured it out.
Bike Setup: 2002 Trek 4900 (whats left of it), Rhynolites, Shimano 959s, Avid mech discs, Total Air Judy C, titec stem, bars, Koobi Au Enduro saddle, SRAM/Shimano drivetrain, blah, blah, blah...
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Submitted by
Ken Anderson
a Cross Country Rider
from Tahoe Vista, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: April 18, 2004
Strengths: Light, inexpensive.
Weaknesses: Fragile bits and pieces, stiction.
Bottom Line:
Where to start. . .the instructions leave a bit to be desired. The installation process is such that if you get into trouble (no fault of TA), you'll likely need a bit of mechanical savey to get through. The control rod spacers in my kit didn’t fit into the tops of the stanchions without my chamfering (beveling) the corners and flat filing the outer diameter a bit. Had I tried to force them, they’d have cocked and bean a bear to get out. The diameter reducing ferrule that goes into the bottom of the sliders is tricky. It’s a press fit, so you have to get it down in there with the provided spoke without it being cocked in the hole, as the "press" part comes from the final assembly step. Be very careful screwing the cartridges into the tops of the stanchions. If the threads are dirty or you cross-thread they’re trash. Metal stanchion threads vs plastic cartridge threads – guess which loses. Give yourself a couple of hours and lots of space to splash hydraulic fluid around. Haven’t had much of a chance to ride them yet, but they’re very sticky on initial inspection. The stock internals were way smoother than the TA. Took the carts out and put about 20-30 lbs in each and worked them by hand to see if it was the cartridge or the fork internals. It appears to be the cartridges themselves, and I could hear them spitting grease through the damping valves with each large motion. Could be that this will clear itself with a bit of break-in. Once you’ve inspected the parts of the kit, you’ll understand why they’re “affordable”. Might be nice to see an upscale version without as much plastic. Bottom line – good bang for the buck in terms of adjustability, but I’d upgrade the whole fork if I had it to do over again. Marzocchi, here I come. . .or maybe if I sell my truck I could afford a Fox F100X.
Similar Products Used: None-this is a one of a kind product unfortunately.
Bike Setup: Trek VRX; Race Face crank and BB, Shimano XT cass; Judy XC 100mm; Fox Float R, Panaracer Fire XC; misc bits and pieces
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Submitted by
Tallboy
a Cross Country Rider
from New Orleans
Date Reviewed: April 1, 2004
Strengths: Light, strong, easy to install, price
Weaknesses: none yet
Bottom Line:
Out of all the crappy components Trek put on the Fuel 80, the Rock Shox Judy C was the worst. I did not have the dough to put in to a new shock so this was the logical answer. It took me 3 hours to rebuild the shock. I went from 80mm to 100mm of travel. I have not serviced the shock at all since installation. Sounds lazy on my part but I have not had any problems with it. I do have to put air in it every so often, but that is every three months or so. Plush movement through the stroke and soaks up everything. I would recommend for those with the budget in mind.
Bike Setup: 2001 Fuel 80 replaced or rebuilt everything but the frame.
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Submitted by
Alex
a Weekend Warrior
from Downingtown, PA, USA
Date Reviewed: March 31, 2004
Bottom Line:
Put these in a Rock Shox Quadra 21R on my hardtail. The old elastimers were crumbling in there and wanted to extend the life of the bike. Used regularly for a year. And now that bike is my backup. Without this upgrade, the bike would be useless. Made the shock better than it was when it was new. Now it wasn't the best shock to start with, but if you want to get some more life out a an older shock, the Total Airs really do work. I did spend a little time fiddling and they seemed to work better after being broken in. A little stiction at first. A little messing to get the pressure where I wanted it. But for a low cost upgrade, it does do everything advertised.
Submitted by
Jon
a Cross Country Rider
from Providence, RI
Date Reviewed: August 28, 2003
Strengths: Adjustability, No Stiction, Smooth
Weaknesses: Topping out, durability
Bottom Line:
I bought this upgrade because my Judy had NO damping after a season's riding. Ordered online from EkoSport website, which needs to be fixed (call them on the phone if you want to order direct, saves time.) Installation was super easy, but make sure you check the condition of your dust seals and bushings. I used the recommended setup for a 170lb rider, i.e. #2, 5 turns out, 150 lbs of air, and it felt amazing. The difference between this setup and my old Judy springs was like night and day, now I can actually steer when I'm descending steep, gnarly sections. Sounds good, right? It is, for cross country riding. After three days of riding I had gained enough confidence in the fork to try some moderate drops. The FIRST one I hit, a little 2.5 footer, caused the fork to bottom out hard. I may occasionally not be the smoothest rider out there, but this wasn't much of a drop. I heard a crack, but the fork still worked and I rode for another hour. When I got home, I pulled the cartridges out to make some adjustments and I found that the little plastic cap on the bottom of the spring cartridge had turned into lots of little pieces and fallen into the bottom of the fork. What's worse, the cartridge on that side was leaking air pretty bad. I called EkoSport and they sent me a pair of new spring bodies and bottom caps for free (Under Warrantee). They were curt but helpful on the phone, and they sent the parts right away, but it still meant a week without riding while I waited. It seems like when the springs bottom, the cartridge body actually pushes the bottom cap off of the slider when the cap hangs up on the O-rings in the cartridge. I don't want this to happen again, so now I run the #2 dampers at 3 1/2 turns out with 155 lbs of air. It tops out with a clunk now, nothing bad, but I'm going to increase the rebound damping to try to fix this. The bottom line is this: If you ride XC and need a relatively low cost fork upgrade, this is a great way to go. If you're a freerider who likes to wing off of jumps and ledges and such, save your allowance money and buy a beefier fork.
Bike Setup: '01 GT Avalanche 1.0, Judy XC, Avid Mech. Disks, XT drivetrain, Sun Ringle wheelset
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Submitted by
Walter Guan
a
from Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date Reviewed: April 30, 2003
Strengths: Super smooth! Super light! Cheap! Adjustable...
Weaknesses: I did not get robound damper adjustments(It came built into a judy race). The black thingie inside which wears out fast.
Bottom Line:
Woot! I have a 3 pound Judy! That has got to be something! No rebound adjustmens but med was just right so its ok. This gotta be one of the smoothest riding fork. It is way adjustable and a gr8 upgrade.
Submitted by
berryboy
a Weekend Warrior
from Aptos
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2003
Strengths: transformed a Judy XC, weight reduction, cheap compaired to a new air fork
Weaknesses: noisy and harsh topout (returned to LBS), customer service
Bottom Line:
Transformed the handling and had to adjust to the much lighter front end when climbing. I really wanted to like this upgrade, but returned to the LBS because I couldn't live with the top out clanking. My frame rang like a bell during climbs. After LBS troubleshooting and two unanswered emails to Eko it was back to the store for credit (and a "I told you so" from the proprietor). Too bad.
Bike Setup: old Rockhopper A1FS, 00 Judy XC, Thudbuster, Mavic 517, XT, Wildgripper Comp S Lites
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Submitted by
Chad Winslow
a Cross Country Rider
from Sumner, Wa
Date Reviewed: December 11, 2002
Strengths: super smooth, adjustable damping
Weaknesses: i have to pump it up once every few weeks, but after four years, it's not a whole lot to complain about.
Bottom Line:
well, the bottom line is, i bought the '98 sid, thinking it would be cool, then i realized that it doesn't have adjustable damping, and you have to order a new damper from rock shox according to your weight. well since i weigh a bit more than 160 lbs, i decided to get the englund (Eko) kit. so now i have adjustable damping, and another 20mm of travel (80 instead of 63). overall the product was a snap to install, easy to set up, and all I have to do is pump it up once every other week or so. I've owned the product for about four years, and have not had a single problem.
Strengths: Very light weight, cost, and ease of installation. Smooth, plush travel.
Weaknesses: Requires routine checks, which should be done with any other shock any way.
Bottom Line:
I was looking to upgrade from a subpar product and did not want to spend outragous amounts of cash. Besides the great reviews the upgrade just made sense. Low cost and i could add 20mm to the 80mm my judy offered. Plus I could do all the work myself. If something goes wrong I know whats in the shock and don't have to spend time at the shop. As far as performance is concerned well I have never had something so smooth. I ride XC and have been known to kick it up with the bmxters around New Orleans. Weather its flying through the woods or dropping five feet of the loading docks in the wharehouse district the Eko system has performed.
