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It occured to me that with the advent of fully rigid 29ers(Ragley,On One,IF,Singular etc)to some extent made possible by the inherent suspension offered by these bikes riding characteristics, are we going to see tyre / wheel designers actively build in enhanced suspension properties into their products.
Surly Pugsley, Salsa Mukluk. 🙂
They may use 559 rims, but the wheel and inflated tyre diameter is within the size range for a 29er.
are we going to see tyre / wheel designers actively build in enhanced suspension properties into their products.
I can't see how a suspension wheel would work. Big tyres can make a difference but it's not the same.
Well I was thinking that maybe people found that bigger tyres were more comfortable by accident, but can the tyre designers actually design tyres with this in mind in addition to the other things a tyre needs to do well.
On the wheel front can the rims and spokes be designed to be comfy so you can have a long distance wheel i.e. more comfy, or a race wheel less comfy more direct.
I think these are areas that can be looked into on a fully rigid 29er. Maybe it's been done already!
the problem is lack of damping control. a flexible frame and fork or soft tyre is ok to a point but too much undamped movement can be as much of a problem as no movement at all.
if you ride in the rough suspension is good, if you like rigid bikes you tend to have to modify your expectations of either tech, speed, or both. can be as much fun, just different )
tyre compound can help, a lower duro tyre can be less bouncy / rebound happy but it'll drag more. all these things can add up to smooth a bike out, but i'd say Jeff Jones has got this idea as refined as it can be and those bikes are soft and very comfy to ride, but definately not 'suspended'.
there was an elastomer-based suspension hub made many years ago, it didn't do that well..
I guess what I'm getting at is not if this will mirror proper suspension but if people will design products like wheels and tyres specifically with 29 er rigid bikes in mind with suspension properties being a key design feature.
I agree with Al - it's not the same but having been for a spin on my 26" with fat tyre on the front, I don't think I'll be swapping the rigid front fork over to a suspension fork in the near future.
The cushioning provided by the big front tyre run at low pressure is surprisingly comfortable and the relatively low speed over snow in particular negates the need for the damping effect of a suspension fork.
I don't think design of 29'ers (although there should inherently be more flex and therefore more comfort) will see much difference in flex characteristics or the design to what we currently see on the market as flex and pedalling efficiency (not to mention weight and aesthetics) is always a compromise. Tyres have already been done/tried, in the shape of slow rebound rubber so I think suspension forks and even full suspension will be the way forward.
p.s. your right Jeff Jones has done a lot - but his efforts are on the frame - he soesn't run tyres and wheels designed for a rigid 29er - assume they are stock models - or am i wrong?
Designing any flex into a wheel can't be a good idea . I can't see how it could be safe.
Well I'm assuming that not all wheels have the same tension in them - would a slightly less tensioned wheel be more comfortable.
Don't know!
Tyres are designed for suspension. They were the only suspension for many years.
The problem for flex else where is that tyres give alot of suspension (if you thinky about travel to hitting the rim we are talking a couple of inches). So even a soft tail is adding a huge amount travel
The other problem is that suspension bikes are good at being suspension bikes. Its not like in the early days when the choice was rigid or flexy bobbing horror. Now you can but a suspension bike all the way from like a hard tail with a bit more comfort to Downhill bikes
The clever thing about pivots is that one way they bend the other way they don't. This is a much harder trick for a frame, wheel or fork. I can remember project 2 forks coming in with straight blades to improove handling through reduced flex and I can remember the improvement
There may be a rigid neach with more Jeff Jones like stuff. But the main stream will be rigid rigid or proper FS
But I could of course be wrong
Smartwheels! it's the future. Possibly quite a long way in the future.
Northwind - what are smartwheels?