Thursday, July 2, 2015

Bait


As seen on the Blenkinsop bike check on Pinkbike this morning:


"There are many FOX-supported athletes using the new X2 shock for racing on serious mountainsides, not just for the odd practice run or on shorter, flatter tracks. Is the end nigh for coil springs?"


Subtle, Pinkbike. Subtle.

When you're so nakedly and shamelessly baiting a comment-section conversation like that, internet law requires you to follow up your question with "talk amongst yourselves."



Maybe with staccato breaths and tissue eye-dabbing as well.



Allowing the mechanized overlords to be baited for a moment, the ROBOTS happily await the impending death of coil springs. 90% of amateur riders and 50% of advanced riders the world over are rolling around on coils shocks with the wrong spring rate, either because it was too expensive or too much of a PITA to buy the right spring, or they bought the bike complete and didn't know they needed to replace the stock springs.

Nothing in the entire world makes a bike ride worse than the wrong spring rate. 99% of all head angle, geometry, body position, and tire design conversations going on right now could be resolved by changing the rider's spring rates.

This is also the root cause of 100% of all internet-dispersed Avalanche or Cane Creek Double Bummer suspension wisdom. "Yeah, I set up my fork with 35% sag like you're supposed to and it feels great on the small bumps, but I still can't shake the feeling that it's diving and a little unstable at high speed..."



The ROBOT apocalypse will be air-powered.

8 comments:

bdamschen said...

The downside- I actually burned my leg on my cane creek inline bummer after a long enduro-esque dh run... Now I have to watch out for rotors AND shock bodies!?!?

bdamschen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

best part is, this new fox boinger is a CCDB clone.........

Anonymous said...

All you've proved is that most people don't know shit about spring rates, or really any other aspect of bike set-up, like tire pressure or cockpit arrangement. This isn't exactly a huge revelation.

In unrelated news- a lot of new bikes are going to a fairly linear shock rate, which demands an airspring to avoid bottoming out in big hits. This sucks for racing, but it sure sells bikes in the parking lot test- "so PLUSH bro!" and "its got amazing small-bump compliance!".

The pros are just dealing with what their sponsors are giving them, so it's not really surprising they're running air springs.

Anonymous said...

^ such a bummer Blenki has to run an air shock... Who cares? it's lighter and more adjustable and *gasp* might not be that shitty!

Anonymous said...

'Bait'?

That is what you are doing in the Beauty school parking lot in your rape van.

Lloyd said...

"Go away, baiting"
-Frito

Anonymous said...

Losing cause. My friend Kris, a professional, put a DB coil on his Reign and immediately started going faster and having more fun. Then he won the next race. But, that might just be Yewtah where coils, going faster, having more fun and winning races is a way of life.