Boing!

In the twilight years of my first bike racing stint, I pledged that once I quit, I'd build a mountain bike with no suspension and thumb shifters that could be switched to friction mode. I wanted, simple, reliable, and only three things on the bike that could leak: my front tube, the rear tube, and me! Dropper posts didn't exist yet, so that wasn't even a question. I built that bike from a frame auction purchase in the winter of 2003, and with selective removal of letters from the downtube sticker, I spelled "O K MOUNT" which I considered fitting, as there was so little to go wrong with the bike, it was always okay!

I rode that bike through the winter, inventing a wooden chain keeper about five years before the admittedly ingenious wide/narrow chainring ushered in widespread acceptance of single chainring setups, although true credit is due to necessity mothering invention. I had only a rear XC Pro thumb shifter.

I loved riding that bike, and not only because it, and what I managed to do with it, annoyed the heck out of most people stuck riding with me. Case in point: my friends and I joined a group of free riders (correct term for 2003) who happen to start their ride the same time we did. I hadn't yet learned the term "free standing", but it was appropriate when we arrived at a five foot vertical drop that I'd ridden on my XC race bike earlier. After a few minutes of the group talking up all the lines they *might* ride, I finally swung a leg over my O K MOUNT, said excuse me to the trail swarm, and rolled over the drop with some precisely timed lunges of my body weight. Next up, or down, was my friend on his 4" travel XC full suspension bike and a New England pro downhill title from a couple years earlier on his resume.

Eventually all the free talkers had to ride their 6" or more travel bikes over the edge, and we even managed to get back to just riding, which was fun! I do give respect the the friend in that group who quipped, "You make us look kinda silly for riding this much bike," although the best compliment for that bike and I came on different ride from another friend Derrick: "There's nothing like riding with Salem to make you feel bad about yourself as a rider," to which I replied with the best commensurate compliment I could: "Given the source of that comment, it means a lot to me." Derrick's stats included a 35-45 veterans national downhill championship.

But even beyond the ability to annoy people with a lack of suspension, I genuinely enjoy the experience of riding a bike with nothing but soft tires to help me absorb the impacts. I ride a mountain bike for the challenge, and a rigid bike presents me with the full experience of that challenge, nothing muted. And oh right, during that same winter of 2003, my friend Jill started the Trail 66 New England series, so my retirement was delayed another year, and then another, and then another since I wanted to support her badly needed effort, and as a bonus, racing was fun again, and I finished my career with a nice, even ten New England pro titles. I also rode at least half those races on a rigid bike, with thumb shifters! If I want high tech smooth, there's pavement for that.

But sometimes even pavement isn't smooth either, so many hybrids now often have suspension. Years ago, my partner's father was looking at new bikes and had been sucked into the desire for a suspension fork, at least until a few words from me. I pointed out he was shopping by price range, and that suspension technology costs money, so in order to produce two bikes with the same price, one with suspension and one without, the former would have to cut quality elsewhere, which would make for a heavier bike that didn't function as well. Plus, he wanted an upright position, so I suggested a suspension seatpost would be more cost effective and actually cushion the part of his body with far more weight on it than his hands, in that position. He believed me! Even better, both he and his bum were quite happy with the light, rigid fork bike he bought.

The industry did make, and successfully sell, many of those front suspension hybrids, often marketing them as a more trail oriented, with slacker angles, longer wheelbase, and room for a bit more tire. Yes, those are things I like, and I really like that those bikes are now about fifteen years old and pretty heavily depreciated, like the gem I pulled home from West Springfield after a day's visit to Connecticut to see my dad and sister while she was visiting from Seattle. The seller did offer me the bike for $25 after I pointed out a couple issues he missed, but I said, "No, that's too little, how about $30." We both enjoyed the reversal of typical negotiating tactics, and everyone left happy.

Yes, boing, the bike has a suspension fork, and yes, I'll likely swap in a rigid replacement I bought from Hampshire Bicycle Exchange a month ago, but honestly, I'm not really hating the 70mm of travel. I'm riding with the preload fully backed off, which translates to at least 20mm or 30% sag (nearly twice that when I climb out of the saddle), but there's enough friction in the design to damp movement out of the pogo range that annoys me, and I'm free of leakage concerns as I doubt there's anything high zoot like air or oil in there. Hmm, maybe there'll be movement on my angst against movement.