MTB rigid fork - Page 2

Simon Brooke <simon@jasmine.org.uk> wrote:
>Depends a lot on the road surface you're riding on. I know some tarmac roads (OK, in a poor state,
>but still tarmac) that are unridable with 20mm tyres.

I can believe that, but I don't think the answer is suspension.
--
David Damerell <damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Distortion Field!

In article <rcousine-E80C85.22152404012004@morgoth.sfu.ca>,
Ryan Cousineau <rcousine@sfu.ca> wrote:

>How much comfort would you expect a suspension to supply on normal roads? I would have thought that
>marginally fat tires were overkill for anything besides rutted gravel roads.
>
>I don't have any touring experience, but the 5-hour rides I have done were acceptably comfortable
>with 20-25 mm tires, and I ended with more butt problems than hand problems.
>

After 20 years on road touring bikes (Trek 520 and similar) with 25--28 mm tires, last year I bought
my first mountain bike. I find all of my riding to be much more comfortable, since every sort of
bump is smoothed out, from streetcar tracks in the city to tarlines on highways to dips in unpaved
roads. This is easier on both hands and backside. I also feel safer when riding fast, because I
don't worry about bumps in the road throwing me off balance (or causing pinch flats, which I have
had even with 7 bar air pressure in the 28 mm tires). Overall I am probably faster on the mountain
bike than on the touring bike.

--
Ned Mantei Department of Cell Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology CH-8093 Zurich,
Switzerland

RE/
>I also feel safer when riding fast, because I don't worry about bumps in the road throwing me
>off balance

...or those grates with bars parallel to the bikes path spaced about 2cm.....
--
PeteCresswell