fully rigid?

[tlideen]

planning on doing the td in 2011 and curious if anyone has any experience or opinions on doing it on a hardtail with a suspension fork or a carbon rigid fork?  i was thinking i could save a lot of weight going rigid and not have to worry about packing up the bars.  thanks!

[E nelson]

I went fully rigid.  Steel frame, steel fork, no regrets.  May have lost a little time on dark rocky downhills but piece of mind and 2lbs less is the trade off.  Make sure your hands can deal with it.  May be more prone to nerve issues with a rigid fork.

Eric Nelson

[EMathy]

planning on doing the td in 2011 and curious if anyone has any experience or opinions on doing it on a hardtail with a suspension fork or a carbon rigid fork?  i was thinking i could save a lot of weight going rigid and not have to worry about packing up the bars.  thanks!

Chris Plesko did his record breaking Tour Divide run on a hardtail singlespeed with a carbon rigid fork.

[Marshal]

I never seriously considered a rigid fork in my prep for the TDR.  However if I were to do it again I would at least do some test rides with a carbon fork.  Here is what I would look for in comparing a carbon fork to my suspension fork.

With a fully loaded TDR bike:

A) Would the carbon fork allow me to bomb down heavily wash boarded / rocky gravel roads as fast and as in control as my suspension fork.  And if not just how much speed and control would I give up?
Note:The GD route has miles of potentially high speed descents that can become semi-technical (at least for me) while ‘at-speed’.

B) Would the carbon fork allow me the same level of ‘comfort and rest’ while on the aero bars across wash boards, rocks, etc. (including most of the mild but bumpy descents).  Again, if not as good how much would I give up?  
Note: I can not stress enough how important the aero position was to me or how much time I spent there.  

If after some realistic comparison testing I was satisfied that a carbon fork could satisfy both my A & B criteria I would use one in a heart beat.  

[Roland Sturm]

A lot depends on tires and pressure. The first time I saw a 29er was touring the divide, where I met and rode a few days with guys on Surly Karate Monkey rigids. Then 29er was still very obscure and the Karate Monkey was a fairly new model. I had a lower end 26 hardtail with a Judy fork and was surprised that they had definitely a softer ride than me, better for the seemingly endless washboards, even though they were just as loaded (no ultralight setups then, everybody had panniers, often even front racks). They fiddled around a lot with pressure and were going very low on rough surfaces and pumped it up for pavement (I only got a pump out when I had a flat), but no question that they had a softer ride and better control. So I can definitely see that a rigid fork combined with big wheels and tires would work just fine.

Of course, now that I have a Niner Air with Reba fork I may have a different opinion about smoothness. That combination may not be as sturdy, but together not heavier than a rigid Karate Monkey. I wouldn't load up with 40 pounds of stuff anymore either.

.

[Nathan Jones]

I made it through the GDR fully rigid this year, my main concern was riding a blown out shock for miles.  In future years, I plan to drop the cash for some front suspension, with coil springs as I'm a little bigger guy and would expect an air cartridge to blow.  I'm also looking long and hard at a soft-tail moots or salsa.   

Glad I did it rigid, right choice for the first time for me I believe.  Hopefully I won't do it again that way though.  I would say if you're a light rider, go full suspension, if not, you got some thinking to do! 

[krefs]

Ha, my advice is the opposite of Nathan's.  I rode the TD on a Salsa softail with a White Brothers Magic 80.  I had the damper cranked all the way up most of the time, so the fork didn't do much (because most of the route is smooooth sailing).  Next time I do it, I'll be on a hardtail, probably with a rigid fork.  But there's no way I'll ever show up in Banff with a rigid fork without putting thousands of miles on it to make sure my arms and hands can handle the extra vibration.  Find some washboarded roads down there in AZ and ride them for a few days straight, all day long.  If your hands are good by the end, you might be ok with rigid for the GDMBR.

[sshep]

I rode TDR with a rigid carbon fork this year, as did Jacob Johnsrud.  I would do it again (although I did curse the washboarded, cattle-trampled roads multiple times).  I was about 195lbs and riding with 45 psi in nanoraptors until I jacked it up at the NM pavement reroute.

Can't be stressed enough to ride it many miles and tweak position before committing.  Even with that, I had some hand numbness that passed pretty quickly.

Shawn

[AlanG]

I've ridden TD twice, once with suspension forks (Rebas) and once with rigid carbon forks (Exotic).
On the first ride with suspension I started getting numb fingers after about a week. Although this never got really bad it was worrying and didn't completely go away until a couple of months after.
On my second trip with the rigid forks I had no hand issues at all and completed the route 2 days quicker!
I was riding a steel hardtail both times but with the rigid fork setup I had the bars about 1 inch higher, maybe this was the key?
If I ride TD again I will go with the rigid forks.

Alan

[Roland Sturm]

For people really concerned about speed (and therefore weight), it may be the cheapest way to lighten up the bike without compromising reliability. Immediately 2-3 pounds less and actually cheaper. A Reba fork is around 1700g, a Niner carbon fork about 600g, I think.  2 1/2 pounds and $200 or so less. Usually it is easier and cheaper to take a pound or two off the rider rather than the bike!

I love my suspension fork, for an aging mediocre mountain biker like me, it makes the difference between getting through technical sections (like rock gardens) or walking. On dirt roads, however, the benefits seem fairly minor, except downhill over washboard. Even on washboards, 29 vs 26 seems to be a much more noticeable improvement than front suspension over a rigid fork. I've ridden the local trails in all combinations, 26 and 29 from full rigid to full suspension (26er only for FS). GDMBR is not technical, so the rigid trade off will be relatively minor change in comfort vs weight.  
 

[bartspedden]

I made it through the GDR fully rigid this year, my main concern was riding a blown out shock for miles.  In future years, I plan to drop the cash for some front suspension, with coil springs as I'm a little bigger guy and would expect an air cartridge to blow.  I'm also looking long and hard at a soft-tail moots or salsa.Glad I did it rigid, right choice for the first time for me I believe.  Hopefully I won't do it again that way though.  I would say if you're a light rider, go full suspension, if not, you got some thinking to do!      

Why would you expect the air to blow? Is it because of the lack of maintenance to the fork during the race?

[sshep]

Can't really comment on blowing the shock, but I saw more than one flat Reba during this year's TD.  Not sure they were poorly maintained-- there were bike shops available often enough.  Maybe it was the expense?