The Purpose of Full Suspension?

[hookooekoo]

I rode mountain bikes a lot in the 1990s, and then for a long time I only cycled on road. Having not ridden off road for a long time, the emergence of full suspension bikes always puzzled me. I always thought ' Surely everyone already cycled all of these trails on fully rigid bikes, why do they need full suspension'. Last night I watched a bodycam video on YouTube of someone riding on the Helvellyn Sticks Pass trail, and for the first time I started to understand why some people think full suspension is where it's at.

There's no need to slow down, pick a line, or allow for the fact that your tyres might not be spending much time in contact with the ground. You just go full speed ahead, and come crashing straight through, sometimes not even following the trail at all, while leaving a small cloud of dust behind. It's the style of riding that on a fully rigid bike, the average rider probably couldn't sustain for more than a few seconds at a time.

Am I right? Or is it a minority of full suspension riders who ride like this?

 

[T'boo Ted]

full suspension certainly allows you to go faster, pretty mcuh everywhere and depending on the bike allows you to ride much more rugged terrain.I would say, NOW there is a lot of people who ride very fast/rugged terrain on FS bikes...many think they do anyway, and probably a lot do, more than in the 90's thats for sure.
Doesn't mean you cant have a gret time on a rigid or hard tail.
My local trails i can go OK on a HT, but definately can go much faster even on a short travel FS bike...and that is not doing anything crazy, its just the bike is more capable.

 

[yakboy]

3 years ago I visited Coed y Brenin with my full suss enduro, the last time I had been there was 20 years previously on my hard tail, canti braked Scott with my huge 45mm travel Pace RC35's. The way I could just point the FS down a Rock Garden and as long as I was loose and had the balls to stay off the brakes the bike would just sail through really astounded me. It's horses for courses really, a good full suss allows you to ride incredibly gnarly stuff at speed, whether it is more fun than on an old hard tail is debatable, it's just different

 

[drystonepaul]

Full suspension bikes are great skill compensators. Anyone can go pretty fast on a modern full susser, and you have to ride faster because it gets boring otherwise.
It's when the actual level of riding skills and the level of compensation don't match up that things tend to go wrong.

I see plenty of broken bikes from riders who smash straight through stuff instead of picking a line and riding with a bit of flow.
Unfortunately riders tend to be going faster when they get things badly wrong and the ground is pretty hard and spiky.

The most dangerous thing for most modern full sussers is the jet-wash though.

 

[Once A Hero]

2-3 years ago I started doing lunchtime bike rides with one of my colleagues, he was on an ali hardtail and I was on my carbon full sus XC bike. He couldn't believe how easily I could travel across the rutted fields we were crossing, so I let him have a go on my bike, and it was like a light bulb moment for him. He now rides a 29er full sus XC bike and I struggle to keep up with him on my ageing 26 inch full sus XC bike - maybe it's lightbulb time for me now...

 

[2manyoranges]

Crash through, baby. That's the deal these days.....at least that's what people say. And you can try that. And then one day it will turn into 'crash and burn, baby' … and in a big way. Nope, underneath the speed, there's line choice. Micro-routing. That's the way that the hyper fast and hyper smooth people run. Reece Wilson is sooooo smooth. So is Rachel A. Look at the video of her and Rob Warner. 'Follow me exactly...' she says. He doesn't. He wipes out.

And the best way to learn line choice is a hardtail, in my view. I have seen people do BIG features in bike parks on hard tails. Fast. Big air. Savage rock gardens. But their line choice is impeccable. And that's what you learn on a hardtail. I had some of the first suspension which really worked (including ProFlex) and I thought - no, this is a waste of money, it's no different. And then I found I was massively faster on all sections. But still needed to choose lines with huge anticipation and skill. And we still hone our skills here on jump bikes and hardtails. Then....you can be safe AND fast on FS in the Alps and in bike parks. My son's DH rig is hugely capable - WC boxxers up front and 200m of FOX at the rear. Yes, you can stuff it into things on which you would die on a 90's 26 inch hardtail. For sure. But even that bike has its limits. And Friday Fails shows just how wrong that can go. Point and shoot only works within the envelope of the bikes - and the envelope is huge, for sure - but the envelope has be adapted to the possible lines - those that will 'go' and those which will not. Watch Reece Wilson at Leogang 2020 - SO composed compared with anyone else - smooth as anything - watch the lack of involuntary upper body movement - and that's all about line choice and dynamics.

 

[jimo746]

Would you want to drive your can around without suspension?
Sure, you can do it, but it’s going to get pretty uncomfortable pretty quick.
Not to mention the car falling off the road at almost every corner.
You don’t have to ride like a man possessed to reap the benefits of a full suspension bike, even moderate speeds or all day rides will be easier.
Sometimes though it’s nice to have the direct feeling and response that a rigid bike gives, just don’t expect to be going as quick as a full suspension bike would.

 

[2manyoranges]

jimo - agreed - FS a clear and practical development - particularly when the weight is coming down in new models like the Canyon XC bikes (albeit punitively expensive). My old Proflex and AMP were around 25lbs, but the AMP was squirrely as hell. Now, we are beginning to get lowish weight (my Sentinel is 28lbs) with massive performance. And you are right....they are different, and give a very different experience, and develop different skills....

 

[greencat]

I've only ridden full suspension once so take with appropriate pinch of salt.

Full suspension is a great confidence builder. It also gets you out of (and potentially into) a lot of trouble. Braking is better. its kinder to old joints and spines. If you're a newbie and want to dominate with your trail weapon as per the MTB mag adverts then it's the only viable ride. Hardtails or fully rigid are far less forgiving. I'm the only one who rides a hardtail in my group, and even the newbies on full suspension get to the point they are overtaking me on the downhills in a few months.

 

[hookooekoo]

Thanks for all the interesting and informative replies.

Now I know why the handlebars have to be so wide. It's the only way to keep the bike going in the right direction after the rider failed to pick a good line. LOL!