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I've always been a hardtail rider, having never ridden a FS more than a couple of hundred metres, but this past year I've been exclusively riding rigid bikes. I've got a Jones, Mukluk and Scandal. My Soul has been in bits after I cannibalised it for parts and instead of building it back up, I decided to move it on, as there is too much overlap in capabilities with my other bikes.
I picked up an obsolete Transition Bandit and swapped some bits over, thinking it would give me a bit more variety for rougher trails/actual mountains. So far, I've managed only 45min shakedown ride and apart from the (relative) lack of grip for mincing down greasy steep bits, the other thing I noticed was my inability to get the wheels off the ground.
Obviously I still have lots of tweaking to do with the shock, but suspension (front and rear) feels so alien at present I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to launch myself off trail features ever again.
Step one is obviously to ride it lots and get more comfortable with it, but at the moment it feels like the bike is actively working against me, at least in terms of unweighting it.
Any tips?
Off to a trail centre and session some features?
Get a friend to help you set the suspension up if you're baffled by it all.
Then take it up an actual mountain.
Sell it and go back to riding a hardtail 😉
I know what you mean by the stuck to the ground feeling, you have to compress the suspension just before you ride off the lip of the jump and you should get some big air!
Have fun!
Exaggerated body language is required compared to a rigid bike, and do it earlier than you are used to in order to give the suspension time to compress and then rebound to give you the energy back.
+1 for what scotroutes said. Hell, if you can land a kerb drop correctly it can be applied on bigger stuff.
I've recently gone from hardtail to full sus again and have noticed the same. Need to spend some time practicing technique again.
Off to a trail centre and session some features?
Yes please do,the tabletops on the freeride section at GT and GoPro it too.Practically every visit I've seen a middle aged man on a full suss end up hitting the floor and crying like a baby when his ambition exceeds his skillset whilst 12 year old kids on BMXs or jumpbikes glide effortlessly past 😉
I think timing is probably key as you say, I suspect I'm running too much sag on the shock ATM and too much rebound damping, so I'll need to fiddle a bit and find a kerb, then hit the trails proper.
Anyway, here it is in all its mismatched/excessive dropper hose glory.
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