All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

I ran into a dude at the top of Black in Pisgah one time on a Rigid SS. Took me a while to process what I was seeing.

 

did they just run that red light? tsk tsk tsk.

 

Good vs Bad is subjective, but I'm genuinely curious to what you mean? I found the VPP to feel very supportive and an excellent pedaling platform.

I keep an old cap tube thingy for this very reason. Rinse it after use, then just buy refill bottles as needed.

 

Rigid on Upper Black?

Definitely not human. Use caution.

 

all these just go to show....it's not about the bike. the rider makes a bigger difference. but the bike does help a little.

 

My wife says “it’s not the size of the ship but the motion of the ocean”, but there’s always a little sadness in her eyes for some reason.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

lol!

 

See, I've found the opposite. Every VPP bike I've ridden seems to sag into it's travel and bob a lot. Consequently, I tend to experience many more pedal strikes and end up locking out the shock more so than on other modern linkage designs. I pretty much leave my Rallon fully open, unless I'm pedaling up a road.

Obviously SC makes high quality bikes and most people love them, so I know I'm in the minority here. Maybe it's rider weight? My buddy (who also dislikes them) and I are both well in to the clydesdale category...

 

I felt the same way and I’m only 175. Wife loves her 5010 though.

 

Full disclosure, I'm on other end of the rider size spectrum at 145-150lbs and have only ridden one VPP bike; Tallboy V4. Coming from riding several iterations of Treks Fuel EX, I found the TB4 to be a firmer platform. The Fuel is a great bike, but even with several volume spacers in the rear/proper air pressure and sag, I would still blow through the travel on that bike. It just seemed to want to hang out more mid stroke.

I'd like to get on an Orbea as I keep reading really good things about their bikes.

 

Your hygienist just called. Next root canal is ready for you.

 

it was a 2 year old demo, got a deal.

 

Never ridden a Fuel, so can't compare there, but I've been on quite a few VPP bikes (Tallboy, 5010, Bronson, Hightower, Hightower LT, Megatower). The tallboy is definitely the best pedaling of the bunch, obviously, but my experience held for all of those. Once again, many people love VPP so I could just be weird, but you should try some other platforms if you haven't yet. It's pretty amazing how different they can feel.

Orbea's new bikes are the best looking on the market right now; objectively speaking.... Jokes aside, I have been super happy with the Rallon and I'd put the Occam on a short list of best do it all bikes. They're also pretty rare and exotic seeming in the mountain biking world, which is kinda fun.

 

I definitely have limited time on other platforms. Would love to get out to some of the larger scale demo days I see that take place out west. So many good bikes out these days its really tough to say one is better than another.
Almost just easier to pick one and ride it. Then either profess it as the best thing ever, or claim its the reason you're slow.

 

depends on the day

 

Setting sag is critical with vpp, once you get into mid travel the leverage changes. Also, the stock Fox that came on my TB2 was shit. Switched to a CC inline air and it transformed the bike. Small bump compliance was improved tremendously, pedal platform was still supportive and it felt like it gained 20mm of travel on big hits. I'll never again hesitate to switch out to a 4 way shock from the oem stuff once I give it a chance.

 

speaking of suspension.

poll aside. interesting to read about all of them all at once.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/pinkbike-poll-whats-your-favourite-suspension-system.html

 

Short link four bar, co-rotating

 

I can't tell if the pinkbike crowd is trolling, or the hardtail clan got wind of this poll and started a fire mission.

 

I have a feeling it's a bunch of trolls. I couldn't imagine that many people have ridden more than maybe two different suspension systems

I used to work at an shop and was lucky enough to demo a bunch of stuff. Without that, I would've just played the bias of whatever my current bike has, or trolled with the hardtail answer.