I was working in the bike industry as suspension forks became normal for intro bicycles, and tried a lot of the full suspension designs at various interbike shows and product demos as they were developed and refined. Got sent home with some of those for long-term demos. During some travels, I've spent time on rental bikes, riding up chairlifts and enjoying the weird, hammocky ride down trails. My regular mtb had a front fork. At one point, I could disassemble, strip and clean and reassemble my Judy fork in about the time it took to replace a chain.
And that's what nudged me away from more complex designs. The need for regular maintenance. The best Full Suspension designs started out great, but bushing wear and linkage slop made them feel worse and worse over time. There was one friend I finally just couldn't ride with because of the chirps and squeaks from his FS bike. Anti-Beausage. But, that's also what nudged me to singlespeed drivetrains - replacing chainrings and cogsets which seemed to melt in the higher mileage winters of El Nino. So, there's clearly something kinda wrong in my brain. And there were a number of FS designs I got excited about, and I think they are much better understood now - cleaning in design and implementation. If I lived in Downieville, dealt with the kind of surface and transitions and trails there, things might be different. For me, here, now, I just don't want a frame with a hinge in it. I do also think there's a lot to be said for larger diameter tires and how they interact with trail topography. My 559/26" Bridgestone has a very different ride over the trails than do the QB or Hilsen. - Jim On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:49:49 PM UTC-8, Philip Williamson wrote: > > Amen to "you don't have to justify your bike." > I'm not surprised that we (the oft-posters) skew towards less technical > bikes. Are there lurking dual-suspension riders? > > Philip > www.biketinker.com > > > > On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 7:42:27 PM UTC-8, Jim M. wrote: >> >> On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 6:48:38 PM UTC-8, EricP wrote: >>> >>> Well, my "excuse" and it is only that, is moderate to severe carpal >>> tunnel syndrome for the past 30 years. Bad enough that my hands can go >>> numb riding a bike no handed. But granted, suspension is only a crutch. >>> >>> I'm sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel. That being said, you don't >> have to justify front suspension to this group or anyone else. If someone >> thinks it's overkill, well, that is just not their business. >> >> As for washboard, I've ridden it on rigid 2.4" wheels, on full >> suspension, and on a Pugsley. Bike suspension really isn't active enough to >> do much on a washboard. You still get plenty of jackhammering, softened a >> little bit. But you can also get some odd bounces that you don't get on >> rigid. If you want to mitigate washboard, you want a 3" tire at 20 lbs >> pressure or so. The soft tire will give quickly with each agitation and >> make things smoother than suspension. IMHE. >> >> jim m >> wc ca >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
