Just reading the mags and comments on forums on how 29’rs smooth out the bumps and the new 2012 fork etc is better than the last at soaking up the bumps, and was wondering if this sport is now getting too dependent on tech and gear.
Do we really want the bumps smoothing out? If so, why not hit the canal bank?
Surely the fun is the challenge of riding the terrain presented as a casual rider, not competing for fractions of seconds. What benefit does the best fork or rear suspension configuration actually bring? I suppose the question is do you get more buzz from handling a bike through the rough relying on skill or by relying on the suspension? Taking it to the extreme of advances, all rock gardens will soon be ridden through without fear or effort and surely there is no fun in that?
Ps….apologies to any marketing people for the above. 💡

Jeez, I’ve never thought about any of it like that. I have a laugh with mates on the bikes here or abroad, that’s all I want.

No.

Part of the reason I haven’t bought a full sus yet is because it kind of feels like it’d be cheating a bit. But at the same time smoothing out the bumps with all that travel will make it faster which should mean more fun!

Problem Solved..

A laugh is good.

Bear in mind that most of the magazine guff is made up nonsense.

Cars went down hill before the introduction of roofs etc.

Remember how much fun food was before refrigeration.

And who can forget the lovely warm glow of getting sick before the advent of penicillin.

Who are these cretins advancing human existence…

I will state that I have a FS bike from 04 that was bought due to advancing years and for….cough…comfort. The hardtail just jarred the back too much!
For the riding I do (including the alps!) it does all I ask of it for me to have a great big smile on my face.

Yeah lets keep it real.

I will state that I have a FS bike

I’m sure there was (and still is) lots of people making the same moany comments as you are about every innovation in mountain biking including full suss. Go back to a rigid with cantis if you hate all the tech.

I also suggest not reading magazines.

I’m still waiting for the first 36 pivot bike, just imagine the plushness man…

No it just means that previously unrideable stuff becomes rideable

MidlandTrailquestsGraham will love that hobby horse/boneshaker/velocipede up there: it’s got a map board.

Yeah lets keep it real.

Round wheels?

Well la de da!

If red ken would have had his way that’s what the cabbies to be would have been using to do the knowledge…

Cars went down hill before the introduction of roofs etc.

Remember how much fun food was before refrigeration.

And who can forget the lovely warm glow of getting sick before the advent of penicillin.

Who are these cretins advancing human existence…

These are examples of huge advances in science and industry. The context of this thread are huge advances in parting you with your cash. Not really a viable comparison.

Once everyone has bought 10-speed bikes, all the sponsored riders will start riding 11-speed. Then the marketeers will start telling us that we need to buy 11-speed. Progress? I’m not convinced.

130 years ago, the Bicycle was pushing the envelope of what was technologically possible. Lets not forget that ball-bearings and pnumatic tires, amongst other things, were developed for the bike. But the world has moved on since then.

As for the OP, i don’t think that technology is spoiling the point of riding, i just think that it’s getting outrageously expensive. £40 for a brake disc?! It’s only s piece of stamped ally, and i wouldn’t pay that much for a disc for my car!

There is always the option to forgo the technology, however, if that’s what you want (Singlespeed, rigid, etc) But as long as people keep buying whatever shite the industry turns out, they’ll keep making it!

ps – I’m just as guilty as everyone else – i found myself paying £50 for a seatpost the other day! 🙄

I know what you mean…I think.
It’s not spoiling it as such, but perhaps taking some of the rider input away and making riding more comfortable and perhaps even easier, is that what you’re getting at?

A fair few of us started when it was all rigid and cantis. We all had a great time, none of us held out of riding until the technology became better. Though for me yes it does. I remember doing my first decent on a full susser and whilst it was quicker I arrived at the bottom not shaken or stirred, kinda dulled it a bit for me.
I posted my feelings about that very day on here years ago.

Theres a lot of riders around with little or no skill levels that really make the most of the current batch of bikes.Theres also some of the top pro riders getting all the advantages they can in competion from same technology.Personally i hate the way the sports being dumbed down and although i havve a few good bikes in the shed i probably enjoy riding my rigid ss more than any.It simply reminds me of why i got into biking nearly 20 yrs ago and also makes me use all the skills ive learnt over the years.

I appreciate the technology as long as it is making my bile more fun to ride – decent suspension forks, good tyres, powerful brakes etc. I don’t get the whole technology to make it easier thing, unless you’re a serious racer.

That’s why I ride a 26″ hardtail. Just the right combination of smiles and speed for the sort of riding I do most.

Duffer – Member
As for the OP, i don’t think that technology is spoiling the point of riding, i just think that it’s getting outrageously expensive. £40 for a brake disc?! It’s only s piece of stamped ally, and i wouldn’t pay that much for a disc for my car!

I agree with this as manufacturing a stamped steel disc would cost less than £2. But…… all the marketing, sponsored riders and seemingly endless free products to mags means the cost gets bumped up

I reckon that’s why Race Face failed as they got drunk on the hype of team riders and having flashy adverts (some including helicopters) and forgot they were a company that had to produce profit

Is there any sport that technology hasn’t ‘made easier’ they pretty much havehz had some technology to help get better performance. My Hobby Horse was a joke but the reasoning is there, if you don’t want technology so spoil it then don’t buy any of the gear.

Part out of it may be Market driven but it’s hardly so fast that once people move over to say 10 speed 11 comes out. 9 speed has been out for years and 10 is only laterly becoming readily available.

Me I switched to full suss some years back now and all it means is I take different lines or take things faster. Yeah it’s the technology that’s allowing me to do that but I’m still loving it.

An interesting point. It would appear to me that as the bikes get better the trails have to get more difficult to get the same level of thrill hence the obstacles in the trail centres get bigger and in the real world tougher trails are ridden.

Increasing technology means that things get superseded and I can buy a three year old DH bike for a fifth of its build cost.

I like technology.

Road however…give me all the tech you’ve got.

I sort of agree with the OP, sort of. The “need” for a 180mm hardtail with 203mm multi-pot discs and all the bells and whistles affected me at some point but, luckily, I managed to get over it.
Most of us will never be DH gods (or Jedi-beaters) but think we need a 8″+ FS. Most of us will never need a 6″ trail bike but we want it. If we only bought what we need it’d be cheaper and more mundane at the same time. Will we ever? Not a chance!

rockhopper70 – Member
What benefit does the best fork or rear suspension configuration actually bring?

Car park kudos 😉

Not really no.

But in the interests of impartiality, go and buy a circa 90’s retro-bike and rag it around your usual trails. Then compare how much fun it was compared with your modern bike.

I’m guessing: both fun, but the modern bike more fun.

It’s a bit swings and roundabouts. The technology merely makes thing different, rather than “better” or “worse”.

I went up to Glentress a couple of weeks back – took my 7″ travel bike, as I was doing an uplift day at Innerleithen too. The big bike was an absolute hoot round GT. Yes I’m quite happy riding my xc hardtail round there, but the Uzzi was simply a different experience. Balls to the wall fast and I had to really work on my technique to let me carry the speed I gained on the straights through the corners. It also opened up different line choices, and the ability to use trail features in different ways – doubling up over multiple crests etc. Best bit was an absolutely flat our run down Deliverance on Monday morning in the sunshine. Beautiful.

You seem to be focussing on the downhill bits, most of the fun is in the going up and there the technology is a lot less important.

FITNESS & STRENGTH FIRST!

interesting point about as the bikes advance we seek more technically challenging terrain (this is also an advancement).

“Technology” doesn’t make it any easier it just makes it faster. More faster = more funner.

Try a MX bike and you’ll see what I mean 😉

For the average user, the technology allows us to have more fun.
I can get down hills that I’d have walked on my 1997 GT Karakorum – then state of the art, but 21 sp and rigid. Similarly, 27 gears allows me to get up hills that I couldn’t have done back then in spite of being older & fatter now. Brakes are better, too, so I can ride tricky bits faster when my legs allow it.

So yes, new technology is great.

As a self confessed gadget freak (mechanical not electrical) I love all the new parts.

Sometimes for it’s aesthetics, sometimes as I love to fiddle with new stuff, sometimes because it works better and occasionally because it actually improves my ability to ride stuff.

I’ve changed 2 parts this year which have massively increased my enjoyment and neither make it ‘easier’ to ride. First was XTR shifters – silky smooth and just sooooo much better than anything else I’ve ever used. The don’t make riding easier just better.

I also changed my Talas fork for a 2011 version and again it improved the enjoyment of my riding no end. That’s down to improved tech with the damping, reduced stiction, travel adjust etc.
It doesn’t handle the bigger stuff any differently but the improved damping’s ability to soak up trail buzz has meant I can stay fresher for longer and so want to stay out longer which is perfect.

Lots of technology if you want to go fast.

Otherwise keep it simple, and enjoy the hassle free riding.

I found better technology like better shocks meant I could go faster on tougher terrain. Downside is it means more pain when things go tits up, financially and physically 😉

No, after a self imposed ‘new bits ban’ I’ve ended up digging out some MX Pro’s from the spares shed.

They’re shit.

No two ways about it.

Spring is wayyyyyy away from being linear, stiff initialy, nothing mid way through then ramps up at the end.

Damping is ‘basic’, I didn’t think I’d miss SPV as I hated it, but these forks just use their travel up pumping through sections! Trying to carry speed is a nightmare. Come back SPV all is forgiven!

They’re not particularly stiff (see below).

Lightweight? Theres a couple of huge holes bored out of the crown if they count?

Riding old stuff and new stuff back to back just shows how much has changed! Riding the old fork is still fun, but it’s a lot of hard work compensating for its weaknesses. Even the much maligned SPV was a huge inovation over the marzocchi squelch we all look back on through rose tinted glasses.

I ride my SS rigid almost exclusively now – thats cos i have more fun on less demamding trails that I normally ride and have access too

That said I can and do ride it on other stuff too – it was good fun and quite a challenge mentally to ride it down Llannberis path last November in the snow

As I broke my front wheel on last Saturdays turbines ride this Weds I used my FS that only gets used in the Alps normally – it feels big/heavy but great in an entirely different way than the way I normally ride

I’m glad I have both but happier with my general trails to ride a rigid

I only occasionally ride the odd bit of trail* that is only possible because of technology (eg nan bield) the vast majority of trails just get faster with better equipment and faster entails the downsides kuco mentioned. Suspension is a skill compensator which can be good for all sorts of reasons, I’ve comfortably got down fast/tricky DHs at the end of long rides where my reduced concentration and reflexes could have caused a crash on a rigid bike.

As mogrim said uphills are more of a level playing field, you can’t buy climbing skills 🙂

and for anyone who got into riding in the last 5 years, give a bike like IanW’s a go they are (a different kind of) fun!

*this is an indication of the tameness of my local/usual trails not a claim to trailriding godhood