road buzz

chickendrumsticks
chickendrumsticks Posts: 4
edited October 2007 in MTB beginners
Hi
I have just started cycling again after a few months layoff due to elbow problems and hand numbness.
I ride mainly on the road and am at the moment using a mtb which gives me a nice upright postion taking some weight off my hands. The bike is fitted with a RockShox J1 fork and the tyres I use are Continental Travel Contact 26 x 1.75" touring tyres . My question is whether the suspension fork will help reduce road buzz or would I be as well fitting a cromo fork such as a Kona Project 2. I typically ride between 40-60 miles on reasonable road surfaces.

Comments

  • fabienno1
    fabienno1 Posts: 406
    If you never ride off road then a rigid would do the job although you may feel a bit more of a noticeable road buzz and it does tend to make road riding very harsh (as you might imagine) particularly on and off kerbs over speed bumps etc. It's weird but on semi slick tyres road buzz is also increased, when compared to knobbly off-road tyres this could be due to speeds being higher on average.
    <hr>

    Do what you fear, you won\'t regret it.

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  • Pagem
    Pagem Posts: 244
    try gel/silicone padded gloves with a road buzz abosrobing bar tape under wrap.
    Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
  • gary_fisher3
    gary_fisher3 Posts: 3,466
    A good steel fork might actually be better at reducing road buzz than your suspension fork.

    Suspension forks are deliberately made as stiff as possible; and well damped so they don't bounce around off-road. Unfortunately this can hamper their ability to absorb high frequency road vibration. Whereas a good steel fork is actually designed to flex absorbing as much vibration as possible!

    Saying this I don't think switching your fork will help.
    The best 'vibration absorbers' on the bike are the tyres. As mentioned above changing to a set of wide slicks will probably be the best thing you can do to help reduce the vibration. I've not used them but i've heard good things about Schwalbe Big Apple tyres.

    The other important thing to look at is your position on the bike. Would changing the stem/grips help reduce the weight your resting on your hands?

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