Help: Shift Mountainbikers

[KillerBlackbird]

@GD3Skier

Well with any full suspension design you will be suceptable to pedal bob, which is the compression and decompression of the rear shock due to the forces of pedaling. Will you notice it? Probably. Will you feel like its sucking all the energy out of your pedaling? Probably not since its only really an issue in out of the saddle hard pedaling instances.

Also with modern suspension technology you could get a shock equiped with propedal which with the flip of a switch greatly reduces pedal bob at the expense of some bump compliance.

Or if you want to get really fancy there’s a company called Push industries that does custom valving for shocks and you can basically tell them how you want the shock to react and they can make it happen. I sent my rear shock to them last year wanting the first two thirds of my shocks stroke to be linear aand have a sharp ramp up in compression for the final third as an almost bottom out protection. I could get away with this because the suspension design of my frame (DW Link, research it if you want its really kind of neat) naturally eliminates most pedal bob. When I got it back it was exactly what I wanted.

This.
With a full suspension it soaks up your uphill pedaling power like a mofo.

For the last two years I have been using my Ironhorse Sunday as a general purpose bike, riding down a paved hill you still have to pedal to maintain speed…its a fucking pig.

The Ironhorse Sunday is a downhill bike, meant for bombing down hills, stairs, whatever. Its built like a brick shit-house so weight is a factor too. I recently picked up a 2009 Specialized Hardrock for general riding. I got it used for $300, it has mechanical disc brakes as opposed to the hydraulic on the Sunday but they still work fine. I find hardtails much easier to ride than full suspension. Before I got the Ironhorse I had a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR (full suspension, hydraulic brakes, etc) even that would dog pedaling up hills.