Rigid: Reason #214

Padre said:
Padre said:...but since my White Brothers fork blew up a second time...
I (as well as Padre I bet) sure do wish they would make it in a 29er!peehead said:the fox terra-logic forks are the shizznit. the design is totally sweet on a singlespeed. that's just my $0.02.
not necessarily... i'm not "against" susp. and won't go in a holy war here but i see an issue of ridin style. you prefer susp adjusted ridin.. fine. but it's possible to ride anything, maybe not as fast (mtn biking is recreational, not against the clock for me), on rigid forks but then i use a very different geom. on such old ridin style: long stem absorbs front vibration. long chainstays as well. i can "float" over the bike and let it take the abuse for me. i have not ridden your trails though, mine are east coast style: slippery, steep, off camber rutted rocky dropped like. susp makes the front less precise... for ME.Padre said:So a few of the socalers went on a little ride today.
Donkey, Hugh, etc...
3 local parks...8am-2pm...approx. 30 miles.
Granted, I haven't ridden longer than 2 hours since the Vision Quest last March....
but since my White Brothers fork blew up a second time, I had to run rigid today.
Reason #214 for using suspension: You can ride longer, w/ less pain, enjoying the trail, not cursing it.
Every downhill was almost a curse! The rigid fork seems to fight against me. That is frustrating. The rigid fork breaks up the feel of flow on the trail. It feels like driving an unladen cement truck w/ it's "quick handling.."
Priority 1: find good suspension fork.
Seacrest, out.
colker1 said:not necessarily... i'm not "against" susp. and won't go in a holy war here but i see an issue of ridin style. you prefer susp adjusted ridin.. fine. but it's possible to ride anything, maybe not as fast (mtn biking is recreational, not against the clock for me), on rigid forks but then i use a very different geom. on such old ridin style: long stem absorbs front vibration. long chainstays as well. i can "float" over the bike and let it take the abuse for me. i have not ridden your trails though, mine are east coast style: slippery, steep, off camber rutted rocky dropped like. susp makes the front less precise... for ME.
We had the project manager and some of the design engineers for the new reba and pikes visit our shop for a clinic a couple weeks back. They explained several things they have done in the production of these forks to improve quality control over previous models. One example is they have re-engineered the tooling that cuts and press fits the stancions into crowns to make sure they are absolutely straight and parallell, apparently the old methods were good but sometimes less than perfect. When stancions were not quite parallel they would rub against one side of the bushings more than the other and cause premature wear. They had other examples- but the point is that I think they have thought out the construction of these forks under the new SRAM management to improve quality and become a suspension leader again.lanpope said:No Worries -
I have heard about the 29er REBA, but I also have my reservations about RS quality control.
LP
a rigid jihad?colker1 said:a holy war
rigihad?roadiegonebad said:a rigid jihad?
I feel just the opposite. When I ride rigid, which I do most of the time, I feel more in tune with the trail, kinda like whitewater canoeing, where you have to steer and pick the best line and not just go bashing over everything. As for the rigid fork fighting against you, I think you got it backwards, it's You fighting against the Trail that's the problem. Learn to flow and Ride Light and you'll find you can go around some stuff and right over what you can't. Instead of fighting, be One With The Bike, ride loose, let the bike move as it needs to underneath you, use your arms and legs, don't sit down hard on the saddle on rough stuff.Padre said:So a few of the socalers went on a little ride today.
Donkey, Hugh, etc...
3 local parks...8am-2pm...approx. 30 miles.
Granted, I haven't ridden longer than 2 hours since the Vision Quest last March....
but since my White Brothers fork blew up a second time, I had to run rigid today.
Reason #214 for using suspension: You can ride longer, w/ less pain, enjoying the trail, not cursing it.
Every downhill was almost a curse! The rigid fork seems to fight against me. That is frustrating. The rigid fork breaks up the feel of flow on the trail. It feels like driving an unladen cement truck w/ it's "quick handling.."
Priority 1: find good suspension fork.
Seacrest, out.
bulC said:I feel just the opposite. When I ride rigid, which I do most of the time, I feel more in tune with the trail, kinda like whitewater canoeing, where you have to steer and pick the best line and not just go bashing over everything. As for the rigid fork fighting against you, I think you got it backwards, it's You fighting against the Trail that's the problem. Learn to flow and Ride Light and you'll find you can go around some stuff and right over what you can't. Instead of fighting, be One With The Bike, ride loose, let the bike move as it needs to underneath you, use your arms and legs, don't sit down hard on the saddle on rough stuff.
Not sure what you need by the cement truck and quick handling. Cement trucks aren't known for quick handling. hardtails with rigid forks are, and that's a good thing, no? Again, back to the rider skills point. Are you saying the rider isn't up to the quick handling capabilities of the rigid bike? Maybe you're just so accustomed to riding suspension that your handling skills have deteriorated, or if you haven't ridden that much rigid, maybe you never developed the higher skill level required?
bulC said:I feel just the opposite. When I ride rigid, which I do most of the time, I feel more in tune with the trail, kinda like whitewater canoeing, where you have to steer and pick the best line and not just go bashing over everything. As for the rigid fork fighting against you, I think you got it backwards, it's You fighting against the Trail that's the problem. Learn to flow and Ride Light and you'll find you can go around some stuff and right over what you can't. Instead of fighting, be One With The Bike, ride loose, let the bike move as it needs to underneath you, use your arms and legs, don't sit down hard on the saddle on rough stuff.
Not sure what you need by the cement truck and quick handling. Cement trucks aren't known for quick handling. hardtails with rigid forks are, and that's a good thing, no? Again, back to the rider skills point. Are you saying the rider isn't up to the quick handling capabilities of the rigid bike? Maybe you're just so accustomed to riding suspension that your handling skills have deteriorated, or if you haven't ridden that much rigid, maybe you never developed the higher skill level required?
To me, riding with suspension reminds me of when I got to drive an M-60 tank in the Corps; while riding full rigid reminds me of driving my friend's Aston Martin on twisty PA roads.
ho ho hobulC said:by riding light, I mean using your body as a dynamic, vs static, connection to the bike, so that the bike is free to move and pivot over the terrain as needed. the larger the rider, the greater the difference between the sprung weight (the rider) and the unsprung weight (the bike) so it should actually be easier for the larger rider to let the relatively lighter bike do its thing. If you learn to sit on your bike like a jockey sits on a race horse, you're most of the way there.
Conversely, my 125 lb. ex could destroy any wheel in short order because she used to "ride heavy" by pretty much just sitting there and expecting good things to happen as the bike bashed its way down the trail. If she was still MTBing today, which she ain't because she porked up bigtime and now looks like a slightly younger version of her big fat mom, she'd be a good candidate for the mechanical crutch that is full suspension.
Trails are trails. Unless yours is paved with fist sized gold nuggets, ain't different from trails I've ridden.donkey said:.....seems like some pretty broad generalizations, especially when the trails that Padre is referring to are ones that you have never ridden. Just a thought. Being that I was on the ride, and walked many of the sections that he rode, I can attest to the fact that Padre is no slouch in the skills department.
You've obviously been riding for a while and have an in depth knowledge of the bicycle, how about sharing that experience in a positive light for a change.
bulC said:Trails are trails. Unless yours is paved with fist sized gold nuggets, ain't different from trails I've ridden.
Not here to be positive or negative, just stating facts as I see 'em. Not worried about hurting sensitive girlieman feelings, what I strive for is to be correct, not politically correct. Big difference.
sigh.I feel just the opposite. When I ride rigid, which I do most of the time, I feel more in tune with the trail, kinda like whitewater canoeing, where you have to steer and pick the best line and not just go bashing over everything. As for the rigid fork fighting against you, I think you got it backwards, it's You fighting against the Trail that's the problem. Learn to flow and Ride Light and you'll find you can go around some stuff and right over what you can't. Instead of fighting, be One With The Bike, ride loose, let the bike move as it needs to underneath you, use your arms and legs, don't sit down hard on the saddle on rough stuff.
Not sure what you need by the cement truck and quick handling. Cement trucks aren't known for quick handling. hardtails with rigid forks are, and that's a good thing, no? Again, back to the rider skills point. Are you saying the rider isn't up to the quick handling capabilities of the rigid bike? Maybe you're just so accustomed to riding suspension that your handling skills have deteriorated, or if you haven't ridden that much rigid, maybe you never developed the higher skill level required?
To me, riding with suspension reminds me of when I got to drive an M-60 tank in the Corps; while riding full rigid reminds me of driving my friend's Aston Martin on twisty PA roads.