Hey folks, almost finished building up my 07 patriot, only thing holding the build up now is the forks… I intend use it for downhill and freeride and have found myself torn between the totem coil and the 36 van.

What should I do? Cheers for reading.

Very different forks. Totems are ace but lyrics are a better comparison to the 36.

If its for freeride / DH then Vanilla 36's are great…Totems coils are amazing.

Yeah big difference really not least because there is 20mm difference intravel between them. How about considering the new lyrik dh? It has 170mm travel and includes the new damping cartridge from the current boxxer. Weighs more or less the same as the lyrik but will perform more like a dh fork.

The new Lyriks do sound great but I am on a £500 budget really (09 totems + 36's around £500), I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons- leight weight and reliability of the fox v's burlyness and travel of the totem…

OK so then two questions should help you decide.

First, can the patriot handle the Totems in terms of travel and geometry? Second, if they can, are you fussed about the all in weight of the bike?

If the bike can handle a fork with A2C of 565mm and you're not worried about weight get the Totems. If not get the Fox 36s.

Totems for DH and freeride

more travel = more fun 🙂

I'd go for the Totem myself. Only ridden a Patriot with a Domain (180mm), but that was on a DH track and I wouldn't have wanted anyhing shorter.

Think the Totem is a smidge longer than the Domain actually, which would be even better.

Cheers for the advice!