shafted by the full suspension bikes...

sefton

I went on a ride around Ullswater and over High street yesterday on my rocklobster xc bike.

it was a really difficult ride but once we reached the summit and rode across high street (through all the bogs back down to pooley bridge) the chaps on the full suspension bikes had left me for dead. after riding for 5hours my legs had simply gone and I struggled to stay out of my saddle (if I did sit I got battered by the saddle).

now having never ridden a full suspension bike...can you sit through the rough stuff (particularly downhill)?

or is it more down to confidence, skill, strength & a good all mountain bike?

nicklouse

you ride a fully very similarly to an HT except that you may sit down more on the climbs as standing and stomping does not work that well.

for the downs you still stand.

rockmonkeysc

I can probably ride downhils as fast on my hardtail as I can on my full sus bike, the big difference for me is that I can ride more comfortably for longer on the full sus.
As above you still need to stand for the downs to control the bike properly & keep your weight in the right place over the bike.
Confidence was the biggest thing for me & I now find that a bit of speed helps smooth out some of the bumps.

Dirtydog11

sefton wrote:

now having never ridden a full suspension bike can you sit through the rough stuff (particularly downhill)?

I think its compulsory!

I'm pretty sure you have to enter into a contractual agreement when you buy one.

shm_uk

Or maybe on this occasion it comes down to general fitness levels, especially on a long day in the saddle (?)

I've done the High Street route a couple of times on a FS, the last occasion was with a mate on his HT. He was generally able to keep pace with me.

The Northern Monkey

nicklouse wrote:

you ride a fully very similarly to an HT except that you may sit down more on the climbs as standing and stomping does not work that well.

for the downs you still stand.

Yup... I don't like sitting down to climb... sucks major balls.

getonyourbike

The Northern Monkey wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

you ride a fully very similarly to an HT except that you may sit down more on the climbs as standing and stomping does not work that well.

for the downs you still stand.

Yup... I don't like sitting down to climb... sucks major balls.

I'm the opposite and like to sit and grind it away in the saddle, only standing for very, very short climbs or to get over an obstacle.

sheepsteeth

i find i can stay seated for longer on a fs than on a ht, and therefore i find it is less exhausting.

i stand over rough stuff, a fs doesnt allow you to sit and do nothing, but over rubble type surfaces i find a ht to be uncomfortable if seated but the fs reduces loads of trail buzz.

as for descending, you need to be on your feet to be able to mov about the bike no matter what you are doing.

fs doesnt mean you can just crash along over everything either, you still need to select a line to get the best out of a trail but often the lines are different to those needed by the ht rider.

Anonymous

Standing up is necessary on both.
The suspension takes care of the small fast bumps, giving you increased traction, it's still your arms and legs that do the vast majority of you shock absorbtion.

Bar Shaker

Reducing much of the high frequency vibration will delay the on set of muscle fatigue.

There is no substitute for good fitness though and I suspect that this had much to play in the other bikes clearing off.

diy

I don't normally stand when climbing unless I am in the wrong gear. Even for very steep climbs I still have my bum on the nose of the seat.

I also agree with bar shaker, doing the big enduros last year, it was the vibration that killed us. The worse kind are tractor tyres in dry hard pack. There are a lot of these on the south downs way and they just pull the strength out of you over any distance.