I have been riding for over 20 years now, mostly off road and I keep reading about shock developments and advancements and it got me thinking. Part of why I liked riding off road is because its bumpy, do we need all this fancy shock technology to take out all the bumps, are we not just better riding on the roads on full sus if thats what we are all after?

Wait until you hear about what they’ve done to wheel sizes…

For me, what bigger or better suspension provides is the ability to hit those bumps harder, faster and with a huge grin. Doesn’t mean it’s a smooth as tarmac ride, just smoother, or more tolerable than on less suspension at the same speed.

But I also enjoy hard tailing it, on tamer trails, bit of xc, but also for fun on the real bumpy stuff. I just can’t go as fast when it gets very rough, or can’t withstand it for as long at a faster speed.

And one trip to the alps and you see the advantages. Unless you like burning through brake pads like crazy by trying to keep the speed down 😉

It’s all fun though whatever you ride.

ah, dont get me starte on the wheel size thing, strange how that cam eout after the gear numbers increased, the BB sizes were fiddled with and then the headset sizes. Cant they do all that in one go? Blimey, seems i have some cynicism
I have done a few trips to the Alps and I couldnt beat some old 888s, excellent stuff.

Also dampening is making something wet.

well if you don’t like damping you can always remove it and just fit a spring….

We’ve all got a (different) limit of how much of a beating we are willing to take on a bike and all suspension does is increase the speed which we need need to ride rough terrain in order to reach that limit.

For some people that extra speed is too scary so they stick to their hardtails and keep speeds lower while still riding just as hard. Others just like the easy life and enjoy the comfort that the suspension gives. But the rest of us thrive on the thrill so the advances in shock technology allow us to ride faster.