Portis

I have been researching trying to find a bike that will deliver a "smoother" ride than my current Trek 4300. It might seem backwards that I am looking for a plush mtb, but for my riding style, it is what i want. I mainly ride rock and dirt roads and do no trail riding at all.

These roads start to sort of take a toll after 15,000 miles. I'm still holding up and my bike seems to be as well, I'm just interested if there is something out there that would deliver a ride that wasn't quite as harsh.

My LBS rep suggested that I get a Felt with carbon seat stays. Does that sound like a good idea?

cryptid01

?

Maelstrom 

I would think Ti would offer even more a plush feel.

Portis

I had the long travel version of that. Didn't like it. I'm just looking for something a little less harsh. I don't need any suspension.

pinkrobe

No suspension? Why not? I suppose you could try ginormous tires at a low psi. That's plush baby...

Oh, you could get a custom steel bike made out of old Tange Prestige/Ultralight tubing. That stuff was springy. You could dent the top tube with your thumb...

Curtis_Elwood

How about steel?

Jason222

+1

ed 

What you need is the Surly Pugsly! Woohoo, 3.5" tires will cushion your butt.

Maelstrom 

Letting air out of the tires would create a really poor ride. Not to mention very inneficient. He is looking to soften the ride, not make the bike ride like a pile of crap. Those suggestions are bunk...

Frame is where it is at. Either ti or carbon, but keep in mind quality fibre build can be rigid as well. Ti traditionally is a great material for flex. Heck they made a non linkage suspension bike out of Ti.

LowCel 

Do you have a Thomson seatpost or another extremely rigid post? If so you could try a carbon post out to see if you notice any difference. I have an Eason EC70 post on my roadie and it has quite a bit of flex to it. It might be just what you are looking for.

If this doesn't work then I agree, either a carbon, steel, or ti frame. You could even check into a soft tail frame, not a full suspension, just a soft tail with about 1" travel.

zx108

i would have to say go with a surly. he is going to be dishing out big bucks for a ti or carbon frame. and softtail arent cheap either.

i am not exactly sure how much a surly is but i am pretty sure it is less than a ti or carbon frame,

Portis

My LBS guy steered me away from steel. He was telling me that they have a lot of flex and that some in fact have a harsher ride, depending on the build. What about the notion that some aluminum rides better than other.

My lbs guy told me that my entry level trek 4300 frame is like plumbing tubing and better aluminum when deliver a much nicer ride. Is this possible?

khuon

How much cushion are you looking for? Ti, steel or carbon can be built flexy or stiff depending on how they're shaped and in the case of CF the way the weave is laid up so don't just go by (or is that "buy"?) material. Also, while I really dislike suspension seatposts, I think investigating that area might be a wise first move. I however would suggest looking at different saddles rather than posts. Ti railed saddles might just do the trick.

Curtis_Elwood

I was a little vauge with "steel", but I was referring to a high-quality steel frame. Yes, there are a lot of crap steel frames out there, starting with x-mart bikes. I'm talking about something made of good quality steel like Reynolds or Columbus. As the poster above said, it depends on the shape of the tubes, but you can get a fairly rigid ride from steel. Marin, for instance, uses triangular tubes for the main tubes. They also use higher quality steel that shaves weight and offers a nice ride. I thought you were looking for a "plush" ride anyway. You'll want to test ride several different bikes since you're looking for a particular feel. For an economical and vibration dampening ride, you should at least try a few steel bikes out. I don't know what experience your LBS guy has with steel, but I think he took some liberty with his generalizations of steel frames.

d_D

The amount the frame will deflect is insigificant compared to the tyres, seat and seat post. The frame geometry can also play a big part in how the bike feels but the material its made of really tells you nothing.
The only way you will remove anything other than road buzz is with some form of suspension. Wider tyres, sprung saddle etc.

Grasschopper

Salsa Dos Niner. Soft tail plus the bigger wheels. https://www.salsacycles.com/frames_06DosNiner.html That said Ti or Steel are your other options...IMO the LBS doesn't want you on a steel bike because they don't have one on the floor. They can get Salsa (they are in the QBP catalog) so they can get you the Dos Niner or the Ala Carte which is a steel framed 26" wheel MTB. The Motorapido is a rigid Scandium frame with CF stays...that could be another option.

junkyard

A buddy of mine has a Dean Jester. Steel soft-tail with 1" travel. As he says, it's just enough to take the edge off.