Titus Rockstar Carbon 29er

As for suspension, the Rockstar comes with the standard with the Rock Shox Recon Gold fork to take care of suspension duties up front along with the Monarch RT3 rear shock to take care of the rear. The Recon Gold did a good job of soaking things up in the front. Possibly a little stiff at times, the lockout was solid and you could really feel the difference with different PSI settings.

Titus uses a Rock Shox Recon Gold fork up front

The Monarch RT3 rear shock and I, however, weren’t quite so fond of each other. It was easy enough to set the sag and individual platform settings worked great. The return rate setting dial, however, was a bit finicky. If you look at the RT3, you will find that the platform toggle is nested on top of the return rate setting. No biggy for flipping between ‘Open’ and ‘Pedal’, but once you involve the lockout of the shock, I found that the return rate dial wanted to move around me. Thinking maybe this was a ‘clumsy grab issue’, I put the bike in the stand and moved the dials around. Turns out it wasn’t just a ‘clumsy grab issue’ – the return rate would sometimes move with a change in the platform settings. Outside of this issue, the shock performed well… but as you will read later, this moving dial could potentially cause a larger issue.

Rockstar’s Monarch RT3 rear shock

The tires are On-One’s Smorgasborg Trail tires. These are a great tire with lots of bite and a good amount of roll in them. I didn’t get a chance to give them a full wet, mud rundown, but they did great in everything from soft dirt to gravel and, while a bit buzzy on pavement on the way to the trail, they didn’t feel like it was a fight to roll.

On-One’s Smorgasborg Trail tires