After years of riding a hardtail I recently bought myself a full-supsension bike. It‘s a 2005 Cannondale Prophet with 140mm travel, provided by a Lefty on the front and a Manitou 3-way Swinger on the back. It was hardly used, not a single scratch or any sign of wear, when I got it and I have to say I couldn't be happier with the bike. Already it almost feels as familiar as my hard-tail of 8 years, a 2002 Kona Caldera with 100mm Fox Vanilla on the front.
As happy as I am with my new FS bike, a few niggling doubts have crept into my mind about the benefits of riding a bike that bends in the middle.
Laziness
When riding a hard-tail, I‘m always carefully choosing a line. I‘m choosing a line that will maintain speed, set me up for the right line further down the track and most of all I‘m choosing a line that will not completely kill the rear of my bike. This is even more of a consideration when climbing because in order to keep the power down the back needs to be touching the trail.
On the Prophet, I can be far less picky about the terrain I decide to ride over. This seems good to start with, it feels liberating not to have to worry about the kind of bumps and drops that would make life on a hard-tail positively uncomfortable. But now, because I can give less consideration to minor undulations in the trail, I kind of feel I‘m losing some sharpness, losing focus, losing precision. I don‘t feel like I‘m learning anything new when I go out on the trail. I‘m still new to the Prophet and FS in general. Maybe these things will come back as – over time – I gain confidence and therefore speed.
Raising the stakes
Speed. Everything can be so much faster with a bike that bounces both ends. Again, I initially reveled in the capability to go faster on the Prophet over terrain that I know I would have to hold back on with the Caldera. A graze-inducing stack and a few sphincter tightening near misses a couple of weeks ago at the Marin Trail at Gwydyr Forest is bringing into sharp focus how, with that extra freedom, comes higher stakes. It‘s making me think about things like body armour and full face helmets. These are not comfortable thoughts to be having.
I‘ll be riding the Dyfi Enduro this weekend (2nd May 2010). I‘ve never done it before, though I have ridden some of the route on a different ride.
So will I be taking the Caldera? Hell no, the Prophet is way, way more fun!
First published on Apr 29, 2010. Last updated on: Apr 29, 2010.
I'm Elwyn Malethan and this is my blog. I am an aspiring 