i have a question that i know someone will be able to answer... i just went up to Whister, great riding... but pretty rough. I have a '03 jr. t on a hardtail. Ive always heard that the super t is trail sensitive per the valving than a jr. t. I THOUGHT that the jr t. did pretty well, didnt make my arms tired from riding hard dh (riding around near B'ham), until yesterday at Whister. how much improvement would i see upgrading, or is it just too damn rough up there?
Super T vs. Junior T... at Whister
- Thread starter stinkyblast
- Start date
i don't think it would make that much of a difference... my friend has a shiver and his arms are shot after the first day at whistler. i have a jr t too and its pretty good, definitely a little underrated
stinkyblast, are you the kid that was up at galbraith that my friend and I biked with when there was a fire?
My arms and hands got tired riding whistler on a kona stab with a montster t on the front, so upgrading from a junior t to a super t shouldn't make a difference in that department. I just put a junior t on my hardtail, since i have been riding whistler on it with a blown out single crown i am expecting to be able to get a few more runs out of the arms and hands next time due to the fork upgrade. we'll see though.
I've ridden bad forks and I've ridden good forks at Whistler. While you will get tired either way, the Super T will keep you under control better and you will fatigue less over time. I haven't ridden a Jr. T, but I do ride a Super T, and it's pretty smooth (but not as smooth as a Monster/Shiver)... those with bigger forks can ride harder, longer and faster with equal arm strength. So yes, you can ride Whistler with a Jr. T, you'll just have more fun with a better valved fork.
Oh, and where did you find "hard DH" in Bellingham?
Oh, and where did you find "hard DH" in Bellingham?
I think he meant riding hard, as in pushing the limits, not so much hard downhill terrain.erikkellison said:Oh, and where did you find "hard DH" in Bellingham?
riding a super t will be a big improvement from the junior t. I'm riding an identiti hardtail with a super t up front, and it rocks. I love it. I would chose the valving in the super t over the junior t anyday. plus you can actually adjust the dampening wich will help alot too. true enough, the junior t isn't bad. its a good beginer's fork. but you will notice a big difference going to the super t.
You can adjust the damping (rebound) in a Junior T too, it's internal, and really annoying for riding different locations as you have to disassemble your fork (partially) just to ride Whistler versus the shore versus DH racing.
as far as arm fatigue goes, it may not be all about the fork, you might want to reconsider the position of your brake levers
I dunno, it seems like with just one adjustable valve and one simple valve r and C or vice versa, you can use different oil (which you should be changing anyhow) and get equal results to a fork with more adjustability. However, I'll make a wager that a super t, even with identical stantions and sliders has better seals/bearings. And I don't even know anything about the cartrideges inside. I wish I knew more tech stuff about forks.
you can't make a junior perform like a super just with an oil weight change. this is because the valving differs not only in adjustability but in its characteristics. in particular the junior t is widely reported to "spike" on repeated high speed hits. the super t does not do this, even when set up with much slower damping.
Supers have the same seals as a JR. The cartridges are different. There are no bearings. The love is all in the valving.
I think that no matter what, a day at Whistler puts everybody's hands in jeopardy of early arthritis. I had an 03' Super T in May, got a Dorado for June and part of July, picked up a Slider for last two weeks of July, and now I'm running an 04 Super T. My buddy runs a Shiver 04'(had an 04' Jr-t) and to be honest, out of all those forks, I like the new Super T the best. But back to my original point, unless you ride Whistler on a daily basis, your fingers are going to feel cramped like a ma-fa-kaw no matter what if you put a full day of chargin' in, no matter how good your fork, body, or skill is.
Oh and the Jr-t and Super T feel somewhat the same to me except you can dial in the rebound better on a Super T. I'd say if your doing DH, my other buddies Monster T has felt the best and I'd love to run one if I did strictly DH only. New forks are out or soon to be out so I'd hold off and see what people are sprayin' about them next spring. For me, that new Fox looks friggin' killa, I'm sure it's out of my pocket book range though...
too follow this statement up, i wen to whistler this summer and the jr. t was fine on everything except the real high speed sections where i could definitely feel the harsh spiking. and my hands were definitely sore after each day. for most of the technical trails though, the fork works finefreeridekid said:
Even that doesn't help. I put in tonnes of time on the mountain and at times feel it inmy hands. Just the nature ofthe gameWARider said:
Since I only have the hardtail, I just upgraded to an 03 Jr T from a Z-1 Wedge and the feel is amazing! I am far from a good rider and have never been on a bike with a Super T or Shiver...for now the Jr T is perfect.
Upgrading...are you talking about buying a Super T cartridge or a new fork???stinkyblast said: