Originally Posted by Funkychicken
Now i feel that an absolutely efficient suspension design is less important than the overall bike's feel. Things such as brake jack and pedal feedback can be compensated for when riding, in fact that's something that a rider should do to adapt and grow with the bike.
While I won't disagree with this assumtion, and hopper is DEAD on on all points that I could see. Training yourself to outride your bike is not easy. The ability to NOT brake in rough conditions, turning etc is not that common an ability. Your brains instinct goes against that. FSR for example, lets you not worry about braking perfectly and lets you maintain speed. There is good reason why it seems the best in the world use single pivots and the people below them use vpp, fsr etc...
Again not disagreeing, I totally 100% agree with the point above, but I find meeting a lot of riders, most people will not like a single pivot vs an fsr once they ride an fsr because they can't let themselves not brake. I am a good example of someone who sometimes messes up my braking because my brain panics. I am learning not to. But I would hate to see what would happen if I had been riding a single pivot all season. Ouch...