There must be some fork bounciness, but it's hard to isolate the effects of forks, tires, wheels, weight distribution, and front-center dimensions when you're riding over bumps. Also, there's the tremendous but usually neglected in "technical discussions" effects of rider-joint-springs. It's been my experience (so, I believe) that the rider and the tire are the two most important shock absorbers. I believe that so much that it seems almost insulting to even state it. If yoiur position allows relaxed arms (not under compression from too-low bars), then they'll soak up tons. If the tires are fat enough and soft enough, they'll soak up lots more. If your wheels are more ahead and behind you than beneath you, the bumps won't affect you as much. But mostly, joints and tires. To look for cush in steel forks...it's like looking for protein in broccoli when there's fried cow right there next to it. A suspension fork can add an extra measure of shock soakup, but by its presence can also lead to less effective joint use, or harder tires, or worse technique. It may not, but it can. At some point it's useful to pan back and ask how heinous an enemy a bump is, and what kind of artillary's needed to tame it.In a race, the more stuff you have, the faster you'll go. Not in a race, you have the fantastic luxury of slowing down and navigating btw the bumps at a speed that allows them to be a fun but not threatening part. I don't have everything all figured out for the world, I just know what my preferences are, and I'm not dumb enough to think everybody's like me or should be...or like Rivendell. Plus, there's so much variety out there, and it's fun to try it. From a totally purely RBW business tactical approach--- which never kicks in entirely without being diluted by emotion and gut and laughs—all I can say is that it's unlikely we'll put shocks or disc brakes on single bikes. Imagine the fear it would trigger at Specialized, Trek, and Giant if we did! (That is a joke). The bike industry is suffering these years, and the biggies feel it most. Naturally they will grab any opportunity to grow or strengthen and not appear behind the times. If one of the three does something, the others will, too. Rivendell's not at that point. We have a few super fun things coming up in the next year or so, but they aren't conventional innovations or tech makeovers. (Our form of "innovation" is something like the welded-in lifter handle.) Last night, Mark, Roman, Will, and I talked for 20 minutes mostly after hours about moving things on the Cheviot 3mm on one size, four on another, to make a difference that nobody will ever notice except maybe Mark. We do tiny things!
On Friday, June 30, 2017 at 1:17:14 PM UTC-7, Jesse wrote: > > I've heard a handful of folks on either the iBOB or 650b groups say their > Riv forks are too stout for their liking. Makes me wonder how much > compliance a full blown low trail Jeff Lyon fork or somesuch has compared > to the average Riv. > > No experience w/ disc, but I'm guessing running fat tires tubeless @ low > PSI compensates a bit for the overbuilt nature of disc forks. > > I remember Matt Chester talking about why he preferred rim brakes.. > something to the effect of disc use stressing the frame. Pretty sure Grant > mentions this issue as well. Have always wondered if this is just a > convenient data point for folks in the rim brake camp, or if it's a serious > thing that would cause frame issues down the road. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
