What do you guys think? Suspension a must? Or not?

[Boromedic]

My friend and I were chatting about XC type riding (sorry to put it in a category, but we have no interest in doing crazy downhill drop offs or anything!) and we got to thinking about our bikes, suspension pro's and con's etc. and being a novice with all the latest kit that's around I thought I'd pick your brains a bit if thats ok?

Obviously I have the P7, and my mate is currently sorting himself out with a bike build, full suspension probably doesn't interest me but I was thinking once we start doing some serious riding (mainly stuff like red routes with the odd black route thrown in) am I going to need front suspension or even a new bike? Is the P7 the right bike to be adding suspension to?

I know BITD people didn't really worry about such things and just got on and rode, I certainly didn't feel I missed it back then. Even after my accident the other day I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the ride despite having a rigid fork. That said if it's an upgrade worth making to the P7 or even (heaven forbid!) getting a newer bike then maybe I should consider it. I just don't want to get into a discussion in shops because they would tend to be biased towards buying something from them, so I wondered what you guys thought about it?

Any advice would be great!

Cheers,

Al

 

[clockworkgazz]

Boing boing is good for all day comfort so i would say try it and see what you think. Saying that all my bikes are rigid at the mo.

 

[Boromedic]

Boing boing is good for all day comfort so i would say try it and see what you think. Saying that all my bikes are rigid at the mo.

Lol, nice phrasing there

Yeah I've ridden one once a while ago, seemed ok but not too much difference although I didn't ride for a huge distance on them. I suppose I'm stuck between having it and then either adding them to my P7 (is it worth the hassle, I've noticed 1" steerer sets ain't easy to acquire), or buying something else and leaving the P7 alone as it were? Hmmmmmmm

Cheers tho dude...

 

[mikee]

if your doing trail centers then full "boing" is probably best
tho i ride glentress and innerliethen on fully ridgid ,more to annoy folk more than anything
stick a set of judy xc's or similar on the P7 , it will take the edge off most stuff and probably give you more confidence ,and you wont tire so quickly

as for another bike ,most of us probably have a modern in the shed
but you could do a lot worse than try an LTS or similar ,good full suss makes a hell of a difference

do you need it ? NO
will you want it after you try it properly ? yes

 

[tintin40]

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No. Have i made my view clear?

 

[Boromedic]

if your doing trail centers then full "boing" is probably best
tho i ride glentress and innerliethen on fully ridgid ,more to annoy folk more than anything
stick a set of judy xc's or similar on the P7 , it will take the edge off most stuff and probably give you more confidence ,and you wont tire so quickly

as for another bike ,most of us probably have a modern in the shed
but you could do a lot worse than try an LTS or similar ,good full suss makes a hell of a difference

do you need it ? NO
will you want it after you try it properly ? yes

Lol, cheers dude, I've been looking at Judy XC's but 1" steerer versions are as rare as the proverbial rocking horse poo..... I'll keep searching though.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does LTS mean?!!

 

[Boromedic]

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No. Have i made my view clear?

Lol, I would say so, cheers dude!!

 

[Foxychick]

Removed

 

[Boromedic]

If you ride off road , when you add suspension , it takes away what riding off road is all about in my opinion.

Obviously with suspension you can ride faster , more comfortably and feel less tired than without it, but why not just buy a motor cross bike?

With suspension their is also additional maintenance/ servicing to consider .

A rigid mountain bike requires a far more skilled rider , than that of one on a suspension assisted bicycle.

Where's the fun if you can just switch on auto pilot and just plough over everything in your way?

Get some wider tyres and try that , keep it rigid , keep it simple and just ride.

Hi there, thanks for the advice I did think about the maintenance side of things and that kinda put me off somewhat. I also didn't feel like I needed it when I rode t'other day and the 2.1 tyres I had on seemed to have quite a bit of bounce.

I'm just indecisive and like to weigh all things up before I make my mind up! Appreciate all the input though, because my brain will um and arrr for ages otherwise!

Al

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

If you ride off road , when you add suspension , it takes away what riding off road is all about in my opinion.

This, I'm not quite of an age where I need it.