I own a Marin Rocky Ridge and a Santa Cruz Blur. Neither are spring chickens, but are in pretty good shape. I’ve recently had a few months off the bike with a broken scapula, so my fitness, which was never brilliant, is absolutely crap now. So now, when I try to make the 30 minutes climb behind my house on my Blur, it is sooooo much difficult than on my hardtail.

Does this mean something is wrong with my Blur, or is this to be expected? I keep thinking that there must be something wrong with the RP3 on my Blur – no matter much much air I put in it, it is still a much more mammoth task to climb up that hill than on the HT.

What do y’all think?

weight, your head, tyres, etc etc etc.

there might be something wrong with the bike but probably not.

if you had 2 bikes and the ONLY diffrence was one was full sus and the other hardtail, then the full sus would be harder to pedal

A few months off the bike?

Crankset bearings seized?

If you’ve had a few months off you may have gained a little weight which would then potentially mean your too heavy for the spring rate and consequently the bike is bobbing around quite a lot. The SC VPP was always sensitive to sag set up to make them pedal efficiently.

if you had 2 bikes and the ONLY diffrence was one was full sus and the other hardtail, then the full sus would be harder to pedal

but may have better traction on a loose climb.

I wouldn’t expect a Blur to be massively harder to pedal up a hill (once you get used to the pedal ‘feedback’ if you’re in granny)

Depends on the trail. My suspension bike claws up rough trails far more easily but the ht sprints up smooths trails and roads better.

I agree that (fitness aside) i can make technical climbs on my Blur thati cant make on my hardtail, so it definitely gets great traction. And I’ve put more than a stone on in the past 6 months, but I thought that pumping more air into the shock would make up for that.

what sort of face are you pulling?

I find the big poo face on tough rough climbs helps a lot more than the hot soup face (which i leave for the smoother climbs)

Its all about which muscles you are using.

I,be recently swapped from a blue pig to a five, thinking the five may be harder to pedal. How wrong I was, feels like I can push bigger gears with ease. Bonkers!!

Maybe the Blur is the wrong size frame and/or you’ve set it up to be too small.

And if its heavier (which presumably it is), it’ll be harder to climb.

And I’ve put more than a stone on in the past 6 months, but I thought that pumping more air into the shock would make up for that.

If you’ve already compensated for the weight gain then there must be something else. Good luck getting back mate. I recently came back from a smashed humerus and as part of the return I’ve managed to she’d 10kg so far. Makes a bi difference.