First Full Sus Ride

Just took my new bike out for it’s first proper ride(its been a while coming) First proper FS, and the major thing is the comfort. Dont really think it climbs any better than my Pace, but seems a better mile muncher.
Impressed with SLX tho, and Carbon Elixirs are my new favourite brake.

Just had to share.

That is all.

Is it a blur 4x?

It looks nice.

Just a blur, 2005 i think. Not entirely impressed with the forks, but they famously take a while to get dialled in. Maybe keep them a year or so and then look for some SID’s, (funds permitting).

Looks good.

It isn’t a 4X, by the way e.g. it hasn’t got the extra gusset-thing:

Thanks jfeb, i was sure it was only a blur, just not entirely sure on what year. I’d love a blur 4x tho, if it rides like a lairy, low slung blur.

I would love a 4x wonder how it would work with the wotans?

Swiftacular – oops I mis-read your post.

I would love a 4x wonder how it would work with the wotans?

I don’t find mine too slacked out at all with Pikes (517mm axle-to-crown) so I would have thought Wotans (540mm axle-to-crown) would be fine. The slacker the better 😉 And you could always wind them down a touch if it steered like a barge, which I doubt it would.

I_Ache, didn’t you have a Blur 4x before? The funny thing about them is that someone else told me “you have to be on your game” with a Blut 4x. At the time I didn’t understand what they meant, but I do now (ie you have got to ride it at ten tenths, otherwise it just feels a bit…hard work. May be that is the slack head angle, who knows…)

Full sus takes a while to fully understand. When I first rode it I was expecting a transformation but that didn’t really happen at first. Took me a long time to really appreciate what I was getting and how to ride it to get the best. Likewise when I got a longer travel big bouncer.

At first it just feels like a flat back tyre, coming from years of hard tails. The feedback is so different, i dont know if its just a VPP trait, but under power over bumps it feels a bit..strange.

In a low gear over bumps I find it feels like I have egg-shaped chain rings or something. I have put it down to chain growth with the VPP set up but I have no idea really! But the four-bar frames and others I have tried (non VPP) didn’t exhibit this “feature”

Full sus takes a while to fully understand.

I didn’t find that at all – as soon as I tried a decent full suss bike I thought it was great.

You might find that the classic Blur would be better off with a longer fork in.
A 125mm fork raises the BB just that little bit higher so you don’t get as many pedal strike problems.
Mine felt nervous to me with a 100mm fork in.

I had a 2003 (yours has the second version of the rear swinf arm without canti bosses) and it was a great bike – if you ran the shock a bit in pressure then it tended to become a bit “soft”.
It died and I replace it with a Spider FRO – much lighter, a bit sharper but the same premiss.

Mine has mounts for v brake bosses. and that egg shaped chainring description is exactly how it feels, but i thought it was partly down to my pedal mashing.
Also looked at 120mm fork, but only recommended up to 100mm, as its 105mm rear. Might look at Rebas or F120’s or something next tho.

Regarding the egg-shaped chainring – can anyone confirm if this is a result of the fabled “chain growth” with VPPs? In fact, I will start another topic (as this is hijacking the OP)

Seconding SSStu I rode mine for 4 years with a set of 120mm Bombers with no problems and it worked pretty well – the classic Blur is 115mm travel anyway not 105mm.

oh thats what i meant obviously 😉 The minutes were only £100 tho so cant complain too much.

nice stubby concrete post, looks 2nd world war?

Lol probably, these speccy storms are awesome in lincs wolds clay/mud, even better than black sharks.

Not wanting to hijack the thread so I will bugger off after this.

jfeb not had a blur before only ever had a Spech Enduro. At the moment I am searching for what I think could be the next big thing. And with regards to the Wotans travel I guess I could ride them at 120mm all the time and only use full travel when it gets choppy.

I found Wotans better when left at full travel and just use Albert Select for extra damping when needed.

They are better in 160 but im just thinking of possibilities.

By the way what pressure did you run in them?

dont know off hand, lots, cos im a bifter, but set up for reccomended sag as per mahoosive instruction manual.

I went to fine tune them the other day (up until then I had just let air out randomly) and I realised my shock pump had too big a valve on it so I couldnt adjust them 🙁 so Ive got a new pump coming.

They do feel good tho.

They come with a pump, or at least mine did.

And I got mine from you.

And the pump wasnt included in the sale.

I recently got my first FS bike (a santa cruz superlight) after years of hard-tailing.
Immediately the first thing i noticed was the ironing out of very small bumps & stones, this increased the comfort dramatically.
The next thing was the sheer grip available when climbing steep,loose or muddy sections. This was the biggest eye opener for me, it allows more line choices for climbs than was possible with a hardtail.
It took about 30 secs to understand that!

lol, want me to send you one? Sorry about that. I can bang one in the post?

Its ok mate dont worry about it. Unless you have one lying around.

I had an identical frame to that that I sold last year – I nearly cried….

i have a spare fox one somewhere, if i come across it ill let you know.

Thanks buddy.

The next thing was the sheer grip available when climbing steep,loose or muddy sections. This was the biggest eye opener for me, it allows more line choices for climbs than was possible with a hardtail.
It took about 30 secs to understand that!

I think your understanding will grow further with time.

Looks like you need all that travel for the gnarly downhills in your picture!

first thing i noticed with a full sus was the way it grips the trail and compresses into corners for more traction. i loved it! i didn’t like the way my hardtail chattered over fast rocky sections. One thing that confused me was that on the hardtail it was easy to lift the front end and keep it lifted for clearing drops, but on the full sus the first time i tried it the back end squished up and rebounded sending me nose first off the drop! i’m still not good at them for this reason if anyone’s got any advice it’d be much appreciated!

Anyone buying a 4″ travel bike for “gnarly downhills” would be a little off the mark anyway. Why do you think i got rid of my BFe? The picture is deceptive, but i do most of my riding in the wolds, so this bike suits me perfectly.