if any?

Try running in marshmallow shoes on a track made of jelly.

+1

It’s one of those questions where the answer is, ‘it depends’.

the more you have, the trickier it is to set up correctly. you can spend hours dicking around with settings.

more travel = taller and more wobbly.

it’s heavier.

it’s more expensive.

(unless you’ve set it up well) you stand up to sprint up a climb, and all you get is energy sapping squidge-squidge-squidge. eventually you adapt your riding style and stop attacking the climbs.

if you don’t use the travel to help you go faster, and or ride different trails/lines, it can make your rides a little less interesting.

for me it ruined the climb:descend ratio. my hardtail makes the climbs easier+shorter and the descents more interesting+longer. and i think that’s a good thing.

of course, your opinion may differ – i’m an idiot.

Some might say that because of the extra travel you end up with a generally heavier and less ‘pedally’ bike that is not as easy to lug around trails that don’t need the extra travel I guess. Slower steering too because of the slacker head angles

But I for one don’t care too much, I like loads of travel, I’m never going to be super-fast so I’d rather plod up the climbs and along the flats on my 160mm FS and never be left wanting on the downs! Thats my take on it anyway

pedalling? – no disadvantage if it’s working well. Today’s 125/140 bikes probably pedal just as well as yesteryears 80/100mm travel bikes.

Unless it’s the touchy feel connected with the trail stuff you’re worried about. 🙂

+1 for what ahwiles said

A 160mm bike is great fun when the going is fast and rocky but even the lowest are still considerably taller than a 120mm bike. They tend to be shorter in the top tube too, so you wind up with a bike that feels like you’re tottering at low speeds.

Taming all that squish is almost a science in itself. Get it right and the bike feels fantastically fast and wieldy. Get it wrong and it feels wallowy, unstable and truclent.

geometry changes too much for my liking. when you are negotiating a v. tight switchback and the bike is pitching and diving & the head angle is infuriating.

It can make some trails a bit too easy, is the main argument I think. My Hemlock can be a laugh up in the pentlands from time to time, just motoring over everything and anything as fast as I can, but my rigid bike makes the terrain much more interesting. (and means the descents last a lot longer!)

I think a big part of it comes down to design as well… Shorter travel bikes tend to be designed more for covering distance, with more efficient pedalling, lighter weight components etc. Whereas longer travel bikes will tend to be tougher, and designed to cope with much more severe descents. So travel’s only a part of the big picture but usually is quite indicative)

Suspension is about compromise and where you want to set it. This goes for more suspension, less suspension and how you set that chosen suspension up.

Makes your wrists weak, so much so that you may find yourself resting one on your hip while the other hangs limply as you go about every day tasks

+1 ahwiles re. climb:descent ratio. A HT goes up faster and down slower. That seems like a no-brainer to me.

APF

alexpalacefan – Member

A HT goes up faster and down slower.

Not always though, on technical or even just really lumpy climbs a full suss can be better.

apologies for my last post – i took it off on a hardtail vs suspension tangent that this thread doesn’t deserve.

a bouncy bike may have an advantage over a hardtail on some climbs – but the question has to be asked: does more travel mean more advantage?

i would reply: No.

(i could blather on for a bit, but i hope i don’t need to – and i’ve got pot of coffee to keep an eye on)

How’s the coffee?

OP – you’ll commit a proper stw faux pas, and maybe get slagged or flamed for riding too big a bike.

I dunno about you But that would put my self esteem in tatters.

Easier terrain gets boring.

Advantages for me is it means I can ride for longer and not have back pain in my old and fubared spine

i’d describe it as ‘average’…

although it seems tastier if i leave it to cool down, and then warm it up in the microwave.

(a bit like soup)

what blend/bean is it?
Self ground or what?

How did you cook it up?
recipe etc please.

well, i’ve seen threads go off on a tangent before but suspension to coffee?? That’s got to be a first.

Thanks for the replies.

buzz-lightyear – Member

Easier terrain gets boring.
this, and you don’t get as much speed from pumping.

i was asking as i’m looking to get my first full bouncer, i was looking at the sana cruz nickel and butcher, very similar geometry but the butcher has an extra inch of travel, just got me thinking why go for 5 inch travel when you can have six??

As AHWhiles has said, it’s all about the climb:descend ratio.

If your trails are a fire-road to the top while the descents are super tech and have gnarly drops in them (or you’re just not very good at riding downhill and in need of a skill compensator), then it makes sense to have a bit more travel. But if, like most people, you climb up the same sort of trails as you go down, there’s certainly a balance to be had. I ride in the peaks mostly and I’d personally argue the sweet spot is around the 130-140mm mark for me. I wouldn’t want to be the one pushing a heavy 160mm bike up a climb that one of my buddies has ridden, but that’s just me.

ahwiles – Member

if you don’t use the travel to help you go faster, and or ride different trails/lines, it can make your rides a little less interesting.

for me it ruined the climb:descend ratio. my hardtail makes the climbs easier+shorter and the descents more interesting+longer. and i think that’s a good thing.

of course, your opinion may differ – i’m an idiot.

Fooking nail on head, thank you……..Thats why i need the new 29er hardtail!!!

for local stuff i would say 6 is overkill – only really the ice cream run benefits from extra travel {FS} and that is just more speed /less skill IMHO.My FS rarely gets out locally and usually only because it has not been used for a while.

More travel = more fun down and slightly harder up as a general rule.

Depends what you want it to do tbh – e-mail DONK he has one of everything including short and long travel FS

.skill compensation
.weight
.pedaling
.there is only so far bouldering over stuff can take you
.makes the bike less responsive and poppy
.kills the fun

Apparent gains-
.allows you to go faster in a straight line on rough stuff. generally this only matters to people who care too much about getting down a rough bit of hill quicker than their mates.

You do lose a little feedback and control. I can flick my old Enduro round my local singletrack drifting either end if I wish, whereas it’s impossible to get that level of feel with my Wolf Ridge (on 160mm forks). Instead it seems to steamroller over terrain.

I only rode my heckler a dozen times last year, just consider it over kill for local stuff. It’s a barrel of laughs downhill but the soggy pedalling and weight don’t seem worth it most of the time. Pedalling isnt awful and other designs will be better but its maybe 10% harder uphill for 1% better downhill. If ur hitting the fastest rockiest scariest lines its ace if ur bimbling not so much. If I lived in the lakes I’d ride it a LOT

My 5′ light FS gets used a lot more*, more of an all rounder.

all IMO ofcourse YMMV don’t let others tell u wots wrong etc

*still nowhere near as much as hardtail tho.

Edit slow thrutchy stuff can be tricky too, geometry changes, wallowy and more effort to lift either wheel but as I said designs vary