[narlus]

would i be better off learning on a full suspension bike, or a hardtail? here are my options:

joker w/ super T
voodoo bakka w/ 4" z1

i am a bit more comfortable on the joker because i ride it a lot more, and am thinking that the suspension can bail me out of mistakes that the hardtail can't.

thanks,

tim

 

[Ian F]

..this is a battle I have with a couple of my buds all the time. They jump almost exclusively on their FS bikes while I continue to badger them to ride their hardtails more.

Yes, rear suspension will save you on occasion, but that's always a good thing. Jumping - and more importantly, screwing up - on a hardtail teaches you to be smoother. You learn how to case without crashing. You learn to relax and let the bike flow over the jump. Learning on a 20" even more so...

Once you learn the basics on a HT or 20", jumping on a FS will seems like cheating - at least it does to me. I learned to ride on a 20", but recently have been jumping on a 26" hardtail with a 4" fork. I rode my BMX at the track this past Sat for the first time in nearly 20 years and now I'm itching to try jumping on it.

 

[CouchingTiger]

Give it up Narlus, white men can't jump

Let me know when you want me to bring the tractor over and get started building the jumps in your back yard.

Also, if you had more than one wooden jump, one as a landing ramp, you wouldn't need the Joker.

-Couch

 

[Toshi]

Learn on the hardtail, or even better, on your stock bike. And make sure to get videos of you spinning like mad in the 22-18 gear.

 

[Toshi]

Oh, random Andover question: why does the town get such large christmas trees each year? My roommate, also from Andover, had some story involving a Canadian town and firefighters (?).

 

[narlus]

toshi -

if i tried jumping w/ my stock bike i think i'd break both wrists and knock all my teeth out.

i am not sure about the xmas tree in andover, but apparently it is the largest one in the US? i do know that the boston tree (pru center) is donated every year by nova scotia, which was helped out by boston when a ship (forget the cargo, but it was hazardous) exploded in the harbor and wiped out a lot; it was basically like a small nuclear bomb going off. perhaps andover pitched in w/ the same effort? i'll dig around and see what i can find out.

couching tiger, let's rent a bobcat and go to work. once the guys are done screwing around w/ teh gas pipeline in the powerlines behind my house, we can get to work. or better yet, maybe convince those guys to build the jumps as they are laying the pipeline.

 

[Spriggan]

Learn how to use a hard tail... i will make you smooth and more precise then with sloppy full suspension!