Author Topic: Do I need discs and suspension?  (Read 2047 times)

ed_o_brain

Do I need discs and suspension?
« on: 13 August, 2009, 10:39:08 pm »
My mountain bike is gathering dust and I'm wondering, do I need it for riding off road?

I've nearly sold it before, not having time to ride it you see. And I realise I'm not going to get time in the near future. I've also got the fully rigid cannondale M500 which is currently confined to commuting duties, but will stripping off the mudguards and fitting off-road tyres make it anywhere near as good as my modern mountain bike?

The cannondale weighs in at about 10 kg, it's super stiff and very responsive. It has good quality vee brakes and shimano stx components.

My front bouncer weights 12-13kg, has SRAM x5/x7 components, a RockShox Reba SL air sprung front fork with 100 mm of travel, and juicy 3 hydraulic stoppers. Those brakes do give a lot of confidence in stopping and the whole setup of the bike seems very sure footed. That said, I've more experience towing trailers with it, than riding it off-road.

I have some friends to do lots of off-road riding and the plan was always to tag along with them some time. Am I going to find it easier to keep up with front suspension?

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: Do I need discs and suspension?
« Reply #1 on: 13 August, 2009, 10:57:50 pm »
Probably depends more on you relative fitness levels and skill.

The last time I went mountain biking was on my 20 year old steel frame rim brakes and no suspension and was as fast as my friend on his alu, suspension, disc equipped machine.

Re: Do I need discs and suspension?
« Reply #2 on: 13 August, 2009, 11:06:57 pm »
I have some friends to do lots of off-road riding and the plan was always to tag along with them some time. Am I going to find it easier to keep up with front suspension?

Maybe. You'll have an advantage on the climbs, with probably less weight to carry, even if your friends have lockout forks so discounting the effects of energy wasted that is put into bobbing suspension. On the flat and downhill, unless you're a very skilled technical rider who learned their trade and line selection on a fully rigid bike, you'll probably be a bit slower, all other things being equal.

Re: Do I need discs and suspension?
« Reply #3 on: 14 August, 2009, 07:58:15 am »
No.  Fitness and core strength are far more important than exotica.   It's a great buzz having 'kit' but, just like a poly swimsuit, you've still gotta be able to do it in the first place.   However...

All my bikes are well-specced, quality, expensive bikes.  I could afford them at the time.   Why not?  I earned it, after all.   Hell, my audax, recumbent and tandem were bought secondhand.  Good kit lasts you know  ;)

These days I'm lacking fitness and gaining weight for a combination of reasons.   :(     However, I love to ride any of my machines.   Having quality kit that just needs a bit of air in the tyres and lube on the chain rather than a major overhaul, helps massively with the smile factor   8)

Re: Do I need discs and suspension?
« Reply #4 on: 14 August, 2009, 08:36:08 am »
Rigid forks and rim brakes are fine. You'll have to back off earlier than with suspension, and some of the rockier descents in the Dark Peak will need to be picked down rather than blasted at warp factor 3, but so what? Going twice as fast just means you crash 4 times as hard when you get it wrong!  :demon:

Having said that, I did put bouncy forks back on my SS after running rigid for a few months. The wrists were taking a pounding and I crashed hard while chasing a friend on his FS machine. I was just about to shout something about not needing suspension when I hit a rock that bounced both hands off the bars... Oops!  :-[
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

Zoidburg

Re: Do I need discs and suspension?
« Reply #5 on: 15 August, 2009, 03:05:04 pm »
What the others said, it depends what you ride and how fast you want to go.

No front suspension then you start to loose control at about 30mph, discs let you attack some steeper descents with more control and with out the worry of brakes locking up, I find riding with Vs you tend to get all or nothing on the really big stuff.

Rigid and Vs is still a lot of fun but it has it's speed limits and you will get dropped by faster riders on the squirmy stuff, having said all that some MTB routes that are maintained on places like Cannock Chase are as dull as ditch water and could be ridden on a cross bike or tourer, the more hidden stuff is where it starts to get hairy.