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Obvious answer is the rider I guess, but boring as it may seem; tyre pressure seems to have made the most noticeable difference to anything else.
I have only been riding off-road for a while, so am a long way from expert, but having converted to tubeless I've experimented a fair bit with tyre pressure and am totally amazed by how grip/confidence can increase as pressure decreases.
I'm sorry that that this is yet another "tyre"some post, but seriously - I acutally laughed out loud to myself on a ride today once I had tested the effect of pressures on a known loop - it's crazy!
What else is as significant and as simple/cheap?
Suspension (if any), and perhaps rider/bike interface (weight distribution etc.)?
Oooh, and then of course you have to repeat the pressure experiment with each brand/model of tyre you run!
Not really a bit, but position. Setting up your seat and bars properly is a really useful thing to do.
....the rider?
Weight forward - elbows out, twist into turns- beats any tyre argument any day.
Rider, tyres, position... suspension is secondary (tertiary, quadi...ary?) to all of them
Most important part on a bike I would say the grin the wider it is the better the ride
everything else is secondary
Agree with the tyre pressures. Got myself a pressure gauge the other week. Amazed how low my psi actually was ( 18 front, 21 rear). Put them up to 28 f and 32 r and felt awful. Just thought there was no grip at all. Settled for 22f, 25r and I'm happy.
Fiddling with fork settings can have a pretty similar effect. Soft tyres and lowish pressure in the forks make for fun riding!