did it take you te get used to it?

I’ve only ever ridden hardtails, and last night i had a go on my mates stumpy, it felt quite strange.

Never, they’re the work of the devil. Shun them, no good can come from riding one.

I tolerated about 6 months of my Trek EX8 couldn’t get to grips with it, pedal strikes, bobbing up hills, probably a great bike for ‘Trail riders’ I just never liked it.

Hateful thing, I’ve now stripped it, the frame lying under my drawing board.

It took me about a month of riding to feel like I was actualy going faster on it than the hardtail, I was probably faster imediately, but it took that long to feel comfortable at the same sort of limit as the hardtail, which is still a long way from the bikes limit.

About 3mins. Had that odd sitting on a sofa feeling, then I rode over a rocky bumpy bit of ground and a smile came on my face.

You have to re-learn how to pedal a bit. Spinning rather than mashing big gears helps a lot. Also try playing around with the setup of the forks and shock. Not massive changes, but get it set it up roughtly right (sag etc) then tweak things like damping and pressures, not massively.
Perhaps ride a short loop and see how it feels each time after making changes?

You’ll get used to it soon enough, then you’ll start to believe that your new-found speed on technical sections is not due to the suspension. Oh no, not at all…. its clearly due to your status as a riding god!!!!

At about this point you will stack it massively at a ridiculous speed, and end up sitting covered in blood in A&E getting your face stitched up, and waiting for X rays! Ahem…. 😳

First of all make sure you adjust the suspension properly – ask someone like Loco or TF or Mojo for advice. Dont just ask mates or google it – you will often get crap answers.

Without it being correct you may never like it, or end up with a substandard ride.

You can / will ride differently on it, choosing different lines, when to apply power, pop, lunge etc – so some re-learning will happen before you get the most out of it.

But Id say a few rides then it will start to come together. Depends on you really though – how open you are to change and adapting.

At about this point you will stack it massively at a ridiculous speed, and end up sitting covered in blood in A E getting your face stitched up, and waiting for X rays! Ahem….

Yep. All my most entertaining injuries last year happened when I was on full-sussers. I’m thinking about selling my FS and just sticking to hardtails from now on, I don’t like hospitals.

Yep. All my most entertaining injuries last year happened when I was on full-sussers. I’m thinking about selling my FS and just sticking to hardtails from now on, I don’t like hospitals.

you need more suspension travel… 😆
how long it takes for you to get used to riding an full sus depends on the suspension design, geometry, bike set up and how quickly you can adapt your riding technique to compensate for these differences…

Took me about half a mile on mine. I’ve tried a few different full sus bikes over the years, some I’ve liked, most I’ve not gelled with. I bought a blur 4x after an extended test ride, felt right straight away, doesn’t feel like it’s wallowing anywhere, just takes the edge off the biggest hits, which is what I like. I have gotten a little lazy in my line choice now though as I’ve become used to the suspension doing its thing underneath me.

After 5 years on a hardtail iv just swapped for a full suss and at first it felt very bouncy but you get used to it pretty quick. I’m also running a pretty firm rear shock at the moment to give a bit more of a feeling I’m used too. But they are so much fun.