Ideal Suspension Travel for SoCal is.....?

Ideal travel is

  • travel? Completely rigid!

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • All you need is a hardtail and the right skills...

    Votes: 5 10.0%

  • 100-110mm

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 120-140mm

    Votes: 31 62.0%

  • 150-160mm

    Votes: 11 22.0%

  • Full enduro Brah, 170mm plus..

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Total voters
    50
HBkites said:
Not all HT are created equal.

I currently have 3 HT and one FS bike, and each one of the HT is different than the others.
My favorite HT has a Ti frame, plus tires, and 130mm fork. I'm not a very fast descender but most of my descending PR's are on that bike.
One day I might switch my current FS bike to a longer travel bike, but I don't see the need for it at this point.

I enjoy a good FS bike on the downs, but I hate the bobbing and the extra weight the rest of the ride.
My current FS bike (Scott Sparks RC) has a remotely lockout shock. This is a nice feature (as long as I don't forget to unlock it going downhill) that eliminate the bobbing.
At 24 lbs is it probably as light as an FS bike can get. That being said I ride it less then all the others.

Parractily you can design a HT that will go down fast, and you build an FS that climbs well. The amount of travel is not as important is the Geo.
Click to expand...
At one point I had a cross bike, a hardtail and an 100mm FS. I liked switching back and forth because the FS would blaze right through stuff I'd avoid on the cross bike, and then I'd get on the hardtail and blaze the FS line as well as ride a little more aggressively on the CX bike.

I like a full lockout on the shock as well, cuz it keeps my seat position in the best climbing place relative to the bottom bracket. For my So Cal riding, there's pavement and smooth fire road involved in most rides, and I want the suspension as rigid as possible (which is probably a holdover from my roadie days). I only switch to 'trail' when things get rough.
 
Sidewalk said:
My 100mm XC HT race bike has not held me back from riding any trail in SoCal yet. Only thing it holds me back on his hucking and big jumps. Even then, I have still done the Neverland Jumpline at Skypark on it.

I choose to ride an enduro bike so I can take the crazy lines and look for the chunky stuff, but I don't need it. And if I could only choose one, it would be my XC bike.
Click to expand...

This is the attitude ^^^ :thumbsup:

Although I've got a lot to learn, and am about the least technically skilled of the guys I frequently ride with, I'm going to choose to learn from the guys who can ride anything on any bike. There are several posters in this thread who are being pretty modest. They are faster and smoother in chunky stuff than most guys on enduro machines. They can ride just about anything... Maybe not as aggressively on a HT, but quite impressively.

On the flip side, we also have a frequent poster on here who was quite happy to do a 50 mile road ride on a 6 inch travel bike. Smiling the whole time. :p
 
dustyyoungblood said:
Final thoughts

Last trip to San Juan trail, not to far below cocktail rock, i was climbing up at the section of oddly positioned square edged collection of various sized granite rocks. Just then a group of 6-8 XC racers appeared descending on hardtails. Every single one stopped and unclicked and walked through the trail feature without any thought of riding through.

To me... well that don’t look fun.

The inside v line is an ankle bitter and full of sharp edge rim dinging rock. No thanks. The outside line is up and over a large Rock. Super easy, fairly safe, and comfortable on a FS bike. But on a HT it’s a different experience. Sort of to risky or to harsh to flow through on a HT. Impossible? No. But I would walk through there also on a HT.
Click to expand...

What you're describing is the rider's reluctance, not the bike...
 
DangerDirtyD said:
Hardtails don’t have rear suspension and therefore make them easier to climb. Hardtails don’t have rear suspension and therefore make them harder to descend. If riding a hardtail makes you a better rider because dropping the technical is more difficult on it, then riding a hardtail makes you a lousy climber because of the inherent benefits you exploit.
Click to expand...

Is this why the Wolfman blew past me going uphill on the way to Golden Eagle???
 
mike said:
My FS bike has made me re-think climbing. At a certain point of fitness and technical difficulty, I think FS is more capable for climbing. Similarly, I never found a fork lockout to help with climbing anything but smooth. Big hoops and some squish help keep the momentum.

I question if I could do this on any HT without a surge in fitness: http://www.ousleycreative.com/misc/3S12-18/3Sclimb.mp4
The rocky part just before the water bar is the business, but not easy getting there.
Click to expand...

Glad to see your making do with the poor riding out there... Way to suffer through it! :p

Nice climb, by the way. :thumbsup:
 
dustyyoungblood said:
This is really funny, 23 votes for 120-130cm, 8 votes for 150-160mm and 4 votes for hardtail, but he fight rages on.
Click to expand...

I was not one of the ones who voted hardtail.

My argument is with the "I ride with dudes who can't ride a trail on a hardtail; therefore, it's the hardtail that's the problem". By that logic you should kill every hardtail rider in this thread on things like San Juan, the Luge, etc... And that isn't the case.

Rider counts more than bike every day of the week.
 
Faust29 said:
I was not one of the ones who voted hardtail.

My argument is with the "I ride with dudes who can't ride a trail on a hardtail; therefore, it's the hardtail that's the problem". By that logic you should kill every hardtail rider in this thread on things like San Juan, the Luge, etc... And that isn't the case.

Rider counts more than bike every day of the week.
Click to expand...
100% agreed. I get smoked on my local spots by hardtail riders weekly. blows by mind.
 
I’ve ridden Telonics on my XC HT but would rather ride it on my FS. My FS only weighs a couple pounds more than my HT and is a lot nicer, that’s what drives my decision to just ride one MTB. Quiver killer, for ME. I also like to jump a lot and as mentioned before I take my RIP9 to the bike park, not a good place for a XC or even trail HT. Simple as that, ride what suits your needs... I need a bike I can pedal all day long or take laps at the park.

Oh, I ride clipless at the bike park too so maybe we should debate that for a bit.
 
DangerDirtyD said:
Hardtails don’t have rear suspension and therefore make them easier to climb. Hardtails don’t have rear suspension and therefore make them harder to descend. If riding a hardtail makes you a better rider because dropping the technical is more difficult on it, then riding a hardtail makes you a lousy climber because of the inherent benefits you exploit.
Click to expand...
Full sus bikes are easier to climb in the chunk than a hardtail.
 
da big hills said:
Look at your current bike and find the dust line from the last ride. Is it 90% of the travel? then you need more. Is it less than 60% of the travel? then you are not fast enough on the drops.;)
Happy drops on the rugged trails
Click to expand...
Well that's kind of an odd summation. Both of those speak more to how much air is in your fork than anything else. 90% of your travel? Probably perfect for where and how you are riding. But if 90% worries you, add air. 60% of your travel? You could use less air, or maybe you are riding really mild trails.

I am still perplexed by this thread. I see some elitism coming through from the proud riders of the least suspension and their uber skills, and I see a complete lack of understanding that there is a HUGE variety of trails in SoCal. A good rider could probably descend any of them on minimum travel, if that's what makes him/her satisfied.

If you like suspension, get the amount you like. If you don't, don't. Then ride the SoCal trails that suit your tastes.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top