xc-steve has a good point…
> if I ride a moderate sized hit, e.g straight into a kerb at a reasonable speed, my fork swallows the bump but my
> rear wheel thuds and slows me down.
I haven’t "ridden into a kerb" since testing forks BITD.. What the process should be is to approach, unweight front, get the front wheel on it, then unweight rear to lift the back. All in one single smooth highspeed closely controlled zen like movement.
Which is probably why often I’ll feel like I’m slamming into things too.
Riding a rigid 29er around Calderdale for 2 years helped massively with my technique when I got my long travel 26in bike (along with Maxxis tyres, Revelations, and watching Ed-O from behind – as it were).