[spazzy]

My old commuter was getting thrashed, it needed one of everything kinda situation. I traded it to a work buddy for a 6 pack because he needed a bike and built up a new commuter. It was my old mountain bike, brand new 3x8 drivetrain with mechanical disks and a dart 2 suspension fork.

Man do I love the squishy front end, soaks up bad roads, even minor potholes. I am glad to trade the weight for more comfort, (I was having some hand/wrist pain with a solid front end from my old commuter)

Anyone else commute with a suspension fork?

Edit: My old commuter was an older Gary Fisher Tarpon (entry level mountain bike) with a super crappy rst fork that was completely locked up solid

 

[newfangled]

One of my commuters is a hardtail, but I usually ride with the lockout on. I tend to run biggish 2.4 tires below 25psi though, and they soak up a fair bit on their own.

 

[spazzy]

One of my commuters is a hardtail, but I usually ride with the lockout on. I tend to run biggish 2.4 tires below 25psi though, and they soak up a fair bit on their own.

Ahh good point, I am running some skinny 1.75s at 50psi. The fork is definitely doing the work

 

[Flamingtaco]

Hardtail here, as well. I don't set lockout, but run mostly firm with the dampening. 2.1's do a great job of removing harshness, even when pumped to 65, compared to road bike width tires. Can't beat a larger contact patch for smoothing out pitted surfaces.

 

[mtbxplorer]

I have been running the suspension fork, and really appreciated it this spring with the terrible road conditions. In winter and other bad weather I lock it out to reduce the amount of crud gumming up the works.

 

[WiTrailRunner]

I used to. Last year I rode 2000+ road miles on a mountain bike (mostly commuting miles.) Then this year I bought a road bike and have been commuting on that. I finally got back on the mountain bike for the first time the other week and whoa! That was like driving a big ol' Cadillac.

 

[Shayne]

Nope, I can't stand the vague wishy-washy front end.

I don't use suspension for riding the trails either.

 

[Straz85]

I don't like the lack of efficiency of commuting with a suspension fork. Whenever I ride my mountain bike on pavement, I don't like it at all. I'd much rather be on my commuter or road bike. I have a pretty rough commute as far as pot holes go since I live in New England, but I still wouldn't take suspension. I use 32mm tires and will probably go up to 35 or 38mm when I need new tires, but even riding something like Big Apples would make the ride plenty smooth IMO.

 

[jeffscott]

My old commuter was getting thrashed, it needed one of everything kinda situation. I traded it to a work buddy for a 6 pack because he needed a bike and built up a new commuter. It was my old mountain bike, brand new 3x8 drivetrain with mechanical disks and a dart 2 suspension fork.

Man do I love the squishy front end, soaks up bad roads, even minor potholes. I am glad to trade the weight for more comfort, (I was having some hand/wrist pain with a solid front end from my old commuter)

Anyone else commute with a suspension fork?

Edit: My old commuter was an older Gary Fisher Tarpon (entry level mountain bike) with a super crappy rst fork that was completely locked up solid

Yup since 2005...there is of course some lose with suspension. The lose can be mitigated with very smooth pedalling technique.

It also provides a smooth ride on the days that is what you really want.

Always fun to blow by a roadie with the full gear on knobbies and an FS.

BTW I ride 38mm front slick and a 32 mm rear slick for commutes.

 

[Kleebs]

I'm with Straz. I hate riding my mountain bike on pavement. It just feels so inefficient and slow compared to my commuter or road bike. But I use my commute time as my training rides since I don't have time to go out and ride when I get home. I average between 18 and 19.5 mph on my 14 mile commute each day. The knobbies and suspension of my mountain bike would drive me crazy, even with the potholes of Cleveland.

 

[jrm]

Nope. I rely on larger 700c wheels and 28c tires to smooth out the nasty bits. A lot of it has to do with how you ride the rough bits.

 

[Straz85]

Ahh good point, I am running some skinny 1.75s at 50psi. The fork is definitely doing the work

You're thinking too much from a mountain bike perspective. 1.75" (45mm) is very wide for pavement. A road bike typically comes with 23mm tires, which is .9" at 90-110PSI. We all have our own opinions about how smooth we want our ride, but you certainly aren't running skinny tires. I would consider the ride on a bike with 45mm tires to be luxurious! Even without suspension!

 

[NDD]

I like riding my mountain bike for commutes. It's the only one I've got, so I have to. I'm riding an rigid aluminum hardtail upgraded with a Krampus fork, though. The tires are a big difference. For me the 2.2 Mountain King and 2.0 Race King tires feel super inefficient on pavement, but they really smooth out the pot holes and bumps once I get into town for work. It takes lots of work, but I can do 18mph average or more if I really need. My 38mm "skinnies" are junk (they were probably ok 6 years ago) and make every bump feel awful. I'm sure I could get skinnier tires that feel better on the road.

Whatever you want to ride, get good tires. A good set of tires will make you love life. A bad set of tires will make you a miserable wretch. And really, whatever you ride, at least you're riding.

 

[Flamingtaco]

Whatever you want to ride, get good tires. A good set of tires will make you love life. A bad set of tires will make you a miserable wretch. And really, whatever you ride, at least you're riding.

Not only this, but also get the RIGHT tires for the conditions. Knobbies are not even for hard pack dirt, let alone streets. If you are going to commute on an XC frame, get smooth, low tread height tires. The right tires eliminate handling and vibrations issues. I feel more confident on my F5 than I ever did on my road race frame because these tires put a lot of rubber to the road in the curves, and the tiny pieces of loose tar that would send me sliding through a turn are hardly noticed. I can concentrate on enjoying the ride instead of hawking the road debris. I thought I'd ride my Nevegals until I picked up some tires for the road, and noped out of that in less than 1/8 mile.

 

[mtbxplorer]

You're thinking too much from a mountain bike perspective.

:crazy: MTBR sacrilege!

 

[Straz85]

:crazy: MTBR sacrilege!

Haha! I just mean thinking of the relative width of the tires. When the OP said "I am running some skinny 1.75s at 50psi. The fork is definitely doing the work" it gave me the impression he thought his tires were particularly skinny or high pressure.

 

[BrianMc]

I have the opposite problem, mountain bike challenged as I am.

 

[SimpleJon]

We have good fast roads here so I just use a Soma Double cross for the 13Km commute. 700x23c GP4000s at 100psi, 52/39 and 11/23 cassette I can do it in under half an hour, even with all the traffic lights, and pretty much travel at a similar speed to the cars at rush hours, it also gives the added advantage of a bit of drafting, free energy is always a good thing.

I have done it on knobblies before and it seemed like serious hard work. It is not in anyway more comfortable even on a full suspension bike; the vibration on road along with the relatively high rolling resistance makes for an altogether unpleasant and uncomfortable commute plus it takes almost double the time.

I agree with all who have said that tire choice makes more difference than suspension or not.

 

[Flamingtaco]

Here's my steed in full commute mode:



If you can't see in the image above, the following image reveals the complete lack of any knobs on the tires:



Super soft compound knobby tires will always be a bear on the street, can't stress enough that a decent street tire will transform any CX/XC bike into a very capable road bike. You won't win a the TDF (except maybe some of the cobblestone stages , but CX/XC bikes are far from sloppy, loose or soft, and FS are like the old softride frames (if no rear lockout). I'd draw the line at a long sus DH bike, because it's a LOT of extra weight and an expensive bike to commute on.

For efficiency close to a road bike, there are a number of thin carcass tires in 1.00-1.50 sizes that handle 75+ psi. Coupled with light tubes, they are efficient. Here's what I use for long street rides:



I keep up with my 200lb buds on centuries with these, at 350 Lbs. Can't say any part of the bike or components have any inefficiencies or sloppiness that makes a difference. At times I'll soften the preload and reduce dampening to work on smoothing out my stroke.

 

[spazzy]

Haha! I just mean thinking of the relative width of the tires. When the OP said "I am running some skinny 1.75s at 50psi. The fork is definitely doing the work" it gave me the impression he thought his tires were particularly skinny or high pressure.

For the width of the rim they are pretty skinny, the wheelset is from an older mountain bike build and the rim is probably more suited to the 2.4s I was riding on dirt and more than double the psi.

I am new to having a semi nice commuter to ride on, in college I had little money and rode whatever old knobbies I had laying round so having specialized road tires are new to me