So I just got back from 230km of Scottish bog snorkelling, rock dodging and pushing. It was excellent fun, but by god having a fully rigid bike was hard work. It was great on the road and on road climbs, but I found that the back end chattered on rough climbs (losing traction) and I really struggled on technical descents (much of which was an absence of skill). The drop from the top of the Devil's Staircase to Kinlochleven was absolutely horrific; whereas Jim on his full bouncer, just waltzed down it like an enthusiastic labrador puppy... a ginger one.

So, two questions:

1. How the hell do you lot manage without suspension?
2. Recommend me a lightweight full suspension bike for all duties, from trails to bikepacking (I'm no bike-park warrior, but I may end up there a couple of times a year too)

Cheers!

1. Practice.

2. Salsa Spearfish.

Catbaiter wrote:So I just got back from 230km of Scottish bog snorkelling, rock dodging and pushing. It was excellent fun, but by god having a fully rigid bike was hard work. It was great on the road and on road climbs, but I found that the back end chattered on rough climbs (losing traction) and I really struggled on technical descents (much of which was an absence of skill). The drop from the top of the Devil's Staircase to Kinlochleven was absolutely horrific; whereas Jim on his full bouncer, just waltzed down it like an enthusiastic labrador puppy... a ginger one.

So, two questions:

1. How the hell do you lot manage without suspension?
2. Recommend me a lightweight full suspension bike for all duties, from trails to bikepacking (I'm no bike-park warrior, but I may end up there a couple of times a year too)

Cheers!

1. Practice and the highest volume tyres (running at a low pressure) that you can fit. My bike's been fully rigid for about eighteen months now since the suspension forks died. Have done quite a few long distance rides in that time, the first couple were hard work.

2. Salsa Spearfish - but good luck in finding one! Other than that quite a few people just ride with what they've got. I'd probably avoid the pure DH type bikes though.

Edit: Greg beat me to both answers!

I believe now is an approprite time to play this card

My jumper has one of those stickers on it today. Which makes me think I've not washed it since last years BB200....

1. That's just about the expected level of support, thanks . I should add that in 25 years of mountain biking I have never owned a bike with full suspension before (and only briefly owned one with suspension forks). So while I would happily concede inexperience to many (most?) people here, I'm not a complete noob when it comes to rigid bikes. But your variant of Rule #5 is noted and probably a timely reminder, thanks! I guess I'm just getting old and lazy (or I suck).
2. Jim said the same thing on the drive home from Scotland. That's a lot of recommends for the Spearfish. What makes it so good?

There are descents where the lack of suspension is going to be a real hindrance, Coire Lair in Torridon comes to mind. Most of the Kinlochleven descent isn't too bad from memory but there were a couple of sections I walked where it just got too rough.

The Spearfish? It was designed and aimed at long distance XC riding rather than trail centre type riding.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I believe now is an approprite time to play this card

what he said ;-)

GregMay wrote:1. Practice.

2. Salsa Spearfish.

This

jam bo wrote:

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I believe now is an approprite time to play this card

what he said ;-)

I made it down everything didn't I?* I didn't cry much did I? I only walked the really rocky bits! What more do you people want?!

Anyway, this full sus thing was your idea you swine.

* notable exception being the coffin path down to Strontian, here "making it down" included unexpectedly leaving my bike upright in a bog and sliding down a wet hillside on my back.

Catbaiter wrote:
* notable exception being the coffin path down to Strontian, here "making it down" included unexpectedly leaving my bike upright in a bog and sliding down a wet hillside on my back.

I did tell you I'd only "ridden" it in the other direction

Catbaiter wrote: 1. How the hell do you lot manage without suspension?

Used to ride a Commencal Meta 5. I'm faster on my rigid on any gradient than I ever was on that and enjoy riding it more.

As the others said, practice and stop being soft.

ScotRoutes wrote:

Catbaiter wrote:
* notable exception being the coffin path down to Strontian, here "making it down" included unexpectedly leaving my bike upright in a bog and sliding down a wet hillside on my back.

I did tell you I'd only "ridden" it in the other direction

It was certainly educational!

ScotRoutes wrote:

Catbaiter wrote:
* notable exception being the coffin path down to Strontian, here "making it down" included unexpectedly leaving my bike upright in a bog and sliding down a wet hillside on my back.

I did tell you I'd only "ridden" it in the other direction

when you say ridden...

That's just about the expected level of support, thanks

Merely saving you from yourself

whitestone wrote:
2. Salsa Spearfish - but good luck in finding one! :

Based on this I had a google and it is a current bike on the Salsa website (the current split pivot model) and $4,999 for the carbon X01

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/spearfish/ ... carbon_xo1

Finding any for sale here is using up too much time I should be spending working See also 'the price of things' thread as I guess that $4,999 will be £6000+ in the uk?

I did a local event on my fully rigid singlespeed at the weekend, mainly muddy rather than rough, but, for all the beating I was taking I could take heart from the cost of the wear on my friends FS geared bikes. My hands are fine again today, their pivots and drivetrain will still be prematurely aged

It won't be for long.

Are they discontinuing it at the end of the year? I've not got one, but I do lust after one, but it's a want not a need.

+1 for the SF

I won't ride anything beyond gravel trails on a rigid without fat tyres - min 2.8 on the front. Bike components can be replaced when they wear out much easier than my already knackered skeleton.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:

That's just about the expected level of support, thanks

Merely saving you from yourself

That's my wife's job.

Truth be told, I've been biking for a long time (like most people here). I know how to ride a rigid bike up and down a hill, I've been doing it since the 80s. I used to race XC on rigid bikes. My do it all bike is rigid, my fat bike is rigid... you get the idea. I'm not brilliant by any means, but I think that probably qualifies as "practise", though you can never have too much of that.

But with a busted knee, a busted shoulder, a former broken back (with the accompanying 2 years of staggering painful physio) and half a lifetime of other assorted skiing, climbing and mountain biking injuries slowly coming home to roost, I just want to make my life a little easier. Soft? Yeah, very probably. But I'm not in denial about that!

To be fair, that's information after the fact From your initial post it seemed to all of us that replied that you'd just headed out on a rigid bike and got beat up.

whitestone wrote:To be fair, that's information after the fact From your initial post it seemed to all of us that replied that you'd just headed out on a rigid bike and got beat up.

I did.

did I mention the emotional pain of getting dropped on every fireroad and road section... ;-)

jam bo wrote:did I mention the emotional pain of getting dropped on every fireroad and road section... ;-)

You deserved that after several hundred km of listening to your f*cking freehub merrily clicking away behind me away as I ground my fatbike along the roads in Iceland.

1. How the hell do you lot manage without suspension?

Look at a rocky trail as a slow, technical challenge rather than a straight-line blast. smooth flow rather than all-out. On anything but a rocky trail I prefer rigid bikes, simpler and predictable and I just like the ride - assuming the bike is well designed for rigid riding, many aren't. Sus is fun though.