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RockShox Tech Pills – Bottomless Tokens Tune the Progression of Your Pike

Written by Zach Overholt
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RockShox Tech Pills - Bottomless Tokens Tune the Progression of Your Pike RockShox Bottomless Tokens may sound like great news at an arcade, but they’re actually a pretty nifty form of adjustment for compatible forks. Introduced with the new Pike, Bottomless tokens are compatible with the Solo Air versions of the pike and allow you to custom tune the bottom out resistance of the fork. By reducing the air volume of the air spring, the progression of the air spring is increased which in turn increases the amount of force needed to bottom out the fork. This isn’t one of those suspension adjustments that takes a chest of specialized tools and a degree in suspension tuning though. One of the best features of the Bottomless Tokens is how easy they are to install – simply let the air out of the fork, unscrew the top cap, and install the tokens. No messing with oil, seals, crush washers, just a bit of grease and simple shop tools.

Bottomless tokens are just one of the feature of an incredible fork. The review is coming soon, for now, check out RockShox’s install video after the break.


Keep in mind that the Bottomless Tokens are for the  Solo Air version of the pike only. Dual Position Air models, like the one we have on review, have an air shaft connected to the DPA top cap the prevents the use of Bottomless Tokens.

Bottomless Tokens Factory chartFrom the factory, only the 29er forks come equipped with Bottomless Tokens and only in the 120-150mm travel versions. The chart above shows just how many tokens your fork is capable of running, with full user manuals available on SRAM’s website.

 
Zach Overholt
5,727 articles

Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.

Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.

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GreenG
GreenG
10 years ago

I have a Pike on my Trance, and have to say that not only is the fork -amazing- , the token concept works really well for me. At 6’5″, 200 Lbs, the tokes allow me to set up the fork to be more fluid over the small stuff, yet still resist bottoming out over the bigger hits.

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patrik
patrik
10 years ago

It’s so easy to do that if you have to watch a video to do it, you shouldn’t do it.

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Charles
Charles
10 years ago

Shouldn’t the compression damping circuits stop bottoming? Are they dressing up a remedy for a problem that shouldn’t exist as some sort of innovative new technology?

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Greeng
Greeng
10 years ago

Hmm.. Charles, in my mind, while damping will keep the shock from bottoming out some times that’s just a side affect of the reduction of the force velocity (the damping slows the force, resulting in less travel), but doesn’t do anything to mitigate the amplitude of the force. In the new world of low and high speed damping, this is an over simplification but I think the principal valid. All that said, I can tell you my pike rides super high in the travel and I’m – pretty sure – thats because of magic.

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sim
sim
10 years ago

WOW! love the old Devinci Bing Bang in the back, bring back a lots of memories…

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simon
simon
10 years ago

I love the old Bing Bang in the back…. bring back some memories

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Charles
Charles
10 years ago

Greeng, SRAM Rockshox haven’t been building real suspension forks for very long. In my opinion they’ve only recently caught up, implementing proven suspension technology that’s been around for decades. I remember the stuff they were selling just 10 years ago and it was a joke. The real fix would be totally redesigned compression damping circuits. Of course, some diehard SRAM fan is going to bash me for this. Last I checked, Fox, Marzocchi, Kayaba, Showa, and Ohlins weren’t handing out “bottomless token” devices to stop their mountain bike, motocross, and road racing forks and shocks from bottoming out.

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ShopMechanic
ShopMechanic
10 years ago

Check again Charles. Fox has been offering air volume adjustment options for their rear shocks for a long time. Marzocchi featured air spring volume adjust on their 888, 55, and 44 forks.

While the Rock Shox bottomless token system works great, I’m sad to see the dual air system go away, which offered this same functionality but with infinite tuning and without the added weight of the token.

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DaleC
DaleC
10 years ago

Charles – I weigh 240, have been riding motorcycles for 38 years and was on mountain bikes before suspension was even remotely common. When I was racing MTB’s around the southeast, I weighed in at 205, the lightest I had been since 10th grade. I have never seen a motorcycle or bike suspension that I couldn’t easily bottom out, including the Marzocchi, Ohlins, Fox, Koni and Kayabas that I have owned.

If these things actually prevent bottoming, without screwing up the other functions,
they are a real innovation.

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dan0
dan0
9 years ago

so what do you lose when using a bottomless token? there must be a trade off or they would just install them at the factory opr make the air chamber permanently smaller

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