Full sus or hardtail or rigid

[Geoff]

Hardtail for me. A little bit of help dealing with bad lines ( ) but still direct pedalling and knees work fine for rear suspension.

That said my experience of full sus is extremely limited. The only bike I've spent a decent amount of time on was Karen Pepper's Orange 222 (or possibly Patriot, it was too long ago) with Pace RC150 Monster forks- not exactly the tool of choice for XC! Good fun for messing about on, shame I don't have the skills to take advantage of the bike's abilities though!

 

[letmetalktomark]

Recently there seems to be a big return of the hardtail – okay with 100mm+ front travel.

I think, in part, it may be confidence based though.

On my Caldera I know my limitations and hence choose lines accordingly – The idea being that the lines are generally smoother and faster.

Riding full suspension IMHO give a “gun ho” approach to certainly downhill and do inspire confidence to try “trickier” lines. However this seems to have to opposite effect on the speed i.e. slower.

Then I guess you introduce skill…….

I’m a more skilful hardtail rider than I am full sus – hence I’m quicker on hardtail.

Don’t know where I’m going with this waffle waffle………

Hope you get the idea!

Hardtails rule!!!!!

 

[messiah]

All of the above.

I would not like to be limited to any particular type, they all have a place in my heart.

I love riding bikes.

 

[Tommylurve]

RIGID ALL THE WAY! (even though your fillings are all loose at by the time you get to the bottom of the hill)





Oh and full sus is WHACK
Sorry for being childish

 

[Beaker]

Rigid

Went rigid on a ride with Jango, smiled all the way round, well most of the way!!. It's my cheapest rattiest bike too.

Mental down hill.

You can feel what the bikes doing.

"This month I will mostly be riding RIGID".

 

[Croydian]

Had a full susser for a year but couldn't stand the extra weight so ditched it for a Norco all-mountain hardtail, not much better but I do appreciate the Hopes do stop me flying off the trail sometimes!

My favourite bike over the last five years is my Cannondale rigid bike, it's set up for a three day Sustrans tour in a fortnight but after that ride the knobblies are going on and all the panniers/rack etc are coming off and I'm heading for Alwinton on the border to relive my childhood whre a good day ride was measured by the pain in the arms from juddering descents!

 

[FairfaxPat]

I love my full sus. Fisher Cake. it's like riding a mattress and gives me much more confidence in the high speed rough stuff. I have my 1991 Funk hardtail set up with slicks and use it for the road only these days. That being said-One Eyed Jim, don't bother waiting any longer, the suspension technology has matured, been sorted, and works very well these days!

 

[ozpete]

I'm going to create a new catagory. Rigid forks on a RTS. All the steering precision of a rigid, with a little bit of travel behind to save the hurting back. Retro integrity (rigid), with the benefit of rear sus (comfort).
Sound like a plan? Now what to call it, softail?, hardfront? Stupidity?

 

[orange71]

Got to be rigid.

Overall, the feeling of being part of the bike & close to the terrain is what does it.

Uphill: stifness and accuracy win out.

Along the trail: perhaps at a disadvantage, but it's surprising how you can hover or semi sit down and let your body be the suspension over the trail bumps.

Downhill: obviously at a speed & comfort disadvantage, but the thrill you get from concentrating and knowing you have to be very exact about your line and when to hop from one line to the next is what it's all about. The fear conquered/adrenalin rush makes up for any loss of overall speed.

^^^^^^what he said

 

[scant]

Rigid all the way. I'd like to try suspension one day when the technology's had time to mature.

its already there.