I recently put some suspension on the front of my bike after riding rigid exclusively for about 4 years. I can see what I’ve been missing for sure, but I already miss the rigid forks in many ways and I’m no slower overall with rigids on a typical trail centre red.

The main reason I thought I’d try out sus forks again was to feel comfortable hitting jumps. I don’t mind technical ground with rigids, as I’m reasonably competent with them and TBH quite enjoy the confused looks I get when passing full-face clad full suspension riders on the downs. My little bit of pseudo-luddite activism, somewhat offset by my 150mm dropper that I can no longer do without…

But what really slows me down is jumps. I’ve always been crap at hitting doubles, and I find hitting even relatively small gaps rigid quite petrifying.

Do you other rigid-riders (BMX’s aside) take off the ground much, or do you leave that to another bike? Any secret to it if you do?

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/first-ride-with-suspension-today-after-4-years-fully-rigid/#post-10414802

TBH quite enjoy the confused looks I get when passing full-face clad full suspension riders on the downs

Boom. 100 STW bullshit bingo points on the first day of the year. Good start…

Urban Dictionary definition holds true

Do you other rigid-riders (BMX’s aside) take off the ground much

Hell no!! Don’t have the skills

Boom. 100 STW bullshit bingo points on the first day of the year. Good start…

Thanks 🙂 Do I lose any of those points for the self-deprecation in the sentence afterwards that you didn’t quote?

(edit: i.e. the sentence that puts the one you quoted into context)

Depends on the trail centre I’d say, but at Afan I’m nowhere near as quick on rigid as suspension. It’s just too rough. Swinley though would be close.

Anyway, at Swinley I do get air on the rigid bike although of course not much. But.you have to be very accurate with your landings and plant both wheels on the downslope at exactly the same time.

Anyway, at Swinley I do get air on the rigid bike although of course not much. But.you have to be very accurate with your landings and plant both wheels on the downslope at exactly the same time.

Yea, I’m pretty similar, I certainly don’t keep both wheels on the ground but they don’t leave it by much. And perhaps there’s no secret technique, just precision and knowing your limits, as you don’t have much room for error.

Perhaps another thing is that, although big tyres on a rigid bike help a lot on technical terrain, they don’t help a great deal if you land a jump badly, the rebound just throws you all over the place.

I remember seeing a picture years back of some lunatic flying over the finale jump of the Fort William DH track on a rigid bike, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere

https://goo.gl/images/125dhH

I hit the smaller Surrey hills jumps and drops fairly happily on my Stooge. A decent transition is more important than the size of the jump but there’s no doubt I find the bigger stuff more intimidating without suspension to soak up a bad landing.

A rigid bike should be comparatively better at jumps than techy downhill, so it might be more to do with your personal strengths and weaknesses.

It’s much easier to pump and predict a take off and feel comfortable in the air on my hardtail jump bike (100mm front fork almost pumped rigid), than on my 160mm enduro bike. Personally I have no problems with doubles of any size (that ive encountered so far) on either bike but wouldn’t fancy a proper dh run on anything smaller than my full suss enduro.

A rigid bike should be comparatively better at jumps than techy downhill, so it might be more to do with your personal strengths and weaknesses.

I think that’s spot on actually

I did the Dragon’s back loop at coed y brenin earlier today on a rigid solaris. I’m a wheels on ground rider, the only air was for a split second to lift the front when passing a rock lip

I’m still the weak link, front suspension would have saved my hands/arms though, was holding onto the grips top hard. Thing I missed most is my dropper

Thing I missed most is my dropper

Yep, essential for me nowadays on anything tech. I’d sooner take a rigid bike with dropper than a full sus without.

There’s a couple of small jumps in a park that I sometimes detour through on my commutes home on a rigid 26″ MTB. 2.3″ front tyre and 2.1″ rear. The smaller of the two is quite good fun to try and send it on. It’s only a dinky little thing. The larger of the two I’ve less confidence about, it’s got a larger gap but a shorter run up. Regarding rigid bikes on rough stuff, no thanks, I wouldn’t even take my rigid bike around Bedgebury, definitely prefer some suspension if doing proper xc or trails.

I remember seeing a picture years back of some lunatic flying over the finale jump of the Fort William DH track on a rigid bike, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere

Was a poster on DW who used to race a rigid Kona, 4thdeadmonk/13thfloorezzi

Yep, essential for me nowadays on anything tech. I’d sooner take a rigid bike with dropper than a full sus without.

What is the dropper doing that just dropping the seat doesn’t?

What is the dropper doing that just dropping the seat doesn’t?

Just saving me time, as I reckon I change saddle height 20 times an hour on my local ride

Hmm, I’m not sure how to track this photo down. I think it was a pro of some sort, the phot was definitely pro-like, as it basically looked like this but with a rigid bike:

Any secret to it if you do?

The “secret” is simply being able to jump. I’d suggest making the time to learn.

AFAIC the ability to manual, hop and jump are absolutely essential skills for riding a hardtail or fully rigid bike off road anywhere rough or technical. (E and fudbikers aside)

@lego
Probably Jesse
(I’ll post the pic since Northwind’s injured his wrist)

As others have said, jumping on a rigid bike is actually a lot easier, or at least the technique is different. Having rigid forks allows you to pump the lip (I can’t explain what this actually is; it just involves pushing the bike into the transition and pulling up out of the lip, sorta). I always found that any suspension would just suck any of that up. I only rode BMX’s up to about 28, so I never really got comfortable with suspension, finding it rather vague.
Big tyres do help, but they’re not a replacement for suspension, they just improve roll-over, so you do lose the precision as @legometeorology already said.

Riding a lot of BMX when young does give a different perspective. I was obsessed with BMX from around 10 years old to 18 (and it certainly didn’t help with me studying/revising!)

May explain why I don’t like suspension, don’t like gears and am happy to ride with minimal braking.

Riding a lot of BMX when young does give a different perspective.

Definitely. It probably explains why I don’t like really long bikes.

AFAIC the ability to manual, hop and jump are absolutely essential skills for riding a hardtail or fully rigid bike off road anywhere rough or technical.

True, although I’d go as far as to say they apply to being able to ride any bike well. Manualling is more of a nice to have, a next level thing IMO. I can’t manual worth a damn but it hasn’t held me back, then again I’ve never been any more than an also-ran racing wise.

BMX is also a good training aid if you have a park close by, good for working on technique and rhythm. Just don’t do what I did and case a jump leaving you off the bike for a month.

I always found that any suspension would just suck any of that up.

I used to ride my 63mm travel XC bike very rarely, instead spending time on my 150mm Orange. First time in ages I took my XC bike to a trail centre and I hit one one of the jumps I pumped the suspension and got waaay more air than expected, overbalanced and hit the deck hard. Definitely needs far less work to get airborne with less travel, and even less with zero.

My Stooge was really playful and would happily pop off everything.
On smooth run-ins and landings you could go pretty big.
Anything rough and you’d struggle though. You’d lose speed on the run up, and then land too slow to roll obstacles.

Sounds like I need to stop making excuses and stop crawling over every double I see

For what it’s worth I think I enjoyed smooth transitions much more on my old Stooge than on a full suss. Also, quite a bit easier too as you can turn the diehard transition into speed rather than letting the travel ‘soak’ it up. I’m sure I’ll be shot down for saying so 😂

Quite old videos but hey it illustrates the point despite my stiff arms!

Nice smooth style there @frazchops the Stooge does look like a big BMX, moreso than some of the BMX inspired 29ers you can get.

Also, I was going to say, that it all needs to be taken in context; a bike optimised for jumps, rigid or otherwise, perhaps isn’t going to be much fun on a long ride, which is where I think a dropper post can make all the difference (personally, I’ve never had much of a good time with QR seatpost clamps).

Nice riding frazchops, that’s the sort of size of jump I’d like to feel comfortable on. I’m fine on jumps perhaps half the size of those at the moment, which is pretty limiting.

I’ve just remembered another video from a while back:

Not one to watch all the way through… but that’s quite impressive on a rigid thing

Was a poster on DW who used to race a rigid Kona, 4thdeadmonk/13thfloorezzi

13thfloormonk is still very much a poster here too. Will have to be a fight between the old skool rigid SDA racers for who it was in the photo though

13thfloormonk is still very much a poster here too.

I can never be sure who is who these days. Iain someoneorother IIRC? I did wonder if it was a mash of the 2 ID’s.

Ah that’s impressive on a fat bike! I did ride bmx for a long time so I guess I’m trading in muscle memory these days. If you’re struggling to take on larger stuff I’d plump for a skills course these days. Also, just mucking about on pump tracks is a great way to pick up the movement needed. Hope that makes sense!

This one?

The OM-Duro does look like a ton of fun, even if it makes Todd Lyons, who isn’t a small chap, look like an 8-year-old!

What is the dropper doing that just dropping the seat doesn’t?

Just saving me time, as I reckon I change saddle height 20 times an hour on my local ride

I think on some rides for me it’s more like 20 times a minute – any trail where you are constantly swapping between climbing and short sections of downhill with roots and drops. My dropper is broken at the moment and I don’t even want to ride the local trails!

Got it!

So I think the trick, if it can be called that, was to start this thread and realise I just have to stop making excuses… Was making it comfortably over various jumps at the local playing spot today (Adel, NW Leeds), including a 10ft gap I’ve been wanting to do for ages. Once it went once, it became easy every time.

And I really appreciate the feel of the take off you get on a full rigid.