|   What's the ticket for technical up & down XC? | Kittmer
Jun 12, 2003 3:58 PM | | I'm currently riding a hardtail with a 2 1/2" travel fork. Some of my rides are pretty rough, and i'm wondering if I could benefit from more suspension, if not full suspension. I wouldn't call my riding style "freeride" by any means, but i'm not interested in a noodly weight-oriented fork either.
Do FS rigs (like the Blur or the Truth or an NRS) hold an advantage over a hardtail on constantly rough trails? Traction and momentum are paramount to clean some sections and avoid frustration, and I've never riden an FS bike to know what it will feel like.
Thanks,
Kittmer |
| For Sure!!! A Full suspension bike | Trevor!
Jun 12, 2003 5:13 PM | | is going to offer you great advantadges over your hardtail with 2.5" of travel for rough technical or agressive riding.. You just cant beat a Rig that can soak up all the bumps, drops, hard hits, ruts, corrugations, nasty rocky terrain...
They offer the ability of making climbing easier and decending much faster as you are not going to get thrown about like you would on a hardtail - simple as that!
Even something with small amount of travel will help for sure.. Now onto bikes - The blur will feel better than the NRS on technical terrain but will not be as fast as the NRS on the flats as the NRS is more resistant to bobing...
I ride agressive XC - not always taking the easy lines (That wouldnt be fun) - Hitting stuff fast and mucking about - and ride a NRS but with the 4.5" aftermarket rockers... Makes riding smooth and fast over the tough stuff and great doing rocky climbs... Did a rocky ride the other night - lots of ups and downs, and I was able to climb through the middle of stuff (In ruts etc) with ease... Decended just as well too...
Get to your LBS or ask a friend if you can ride a FS rig and get a feel for it... Lots and lots of designs out there from Fully Active to non bobbing like the NRS to single pivot or even some of these Stable platform bikes or even something as weird as the Specialized epic with a brain...
So if you are racing you will probably want to stick around the 4" (3-3.5-3.75") mark for front and back and if you want more of a trail bike you can head in the +4" direction..... And if you are going for the whole DH rig well the skys the limit!!!!
I race a bit and the NRS suits but also suits the weekend warrior in me (Riding every day actually) but am looking for something different like a Ellsworth Truth!!!
Lots and lots of people will offer you different points of views/thoughts etc - But IMHO you just cant beat a FS!
Cheers
Trevor! |
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