DenisMenchov

Well technically the brain if set up properly is able to detect for you as to when you need rigidity, and when you need "squish" for bumps, hence you don't even need to get off the bike, or flip a lever. So as long as you can dial in the right settings, it's all automatic, where as the RP23 would be considered manual I guess. See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns76kFy14ZM

ed 

I agree that it's "supposed to work that way", but according to your previous post...you suggest to set it up improperly:

If you crank it all the way up, you're not setting it according to design. If you "over-damp" the thing for climbing, it will not work as designed for everything else...why even have a rear shock at all? Whereas if you use the RP23...you can overdamp for climbing efficiency and click it all the way out for the rest of the trail just by flipping a lever...or you could just set the Brain properly instead of cranking it all the way up.

DenisMenchov

Exactly. It was more of an example. I have a stumpjumper so the "correct" textbook brain setting is suited for trail riding however. If I'm going to ride 5 miles on pavement to the basketball court for a pick up game, I just put it on the firmest settings...and it's basically as rigid as a HT. I'm telling you, the best of both worlds really. I'm probably going to get a cheap hard tail on the side though, no sense taking numero uno out just for a pick up game.

dminor 

Haha! I stirred up a little hornets nest with that comment and guess I got a bunch of people all butt-hurt over it. Yeah, I did cast a pretty big net over the whole issue and, well, I thought everything I ride back here at home is "real" - - and it is IN ITS CONTEXT.

But you'll have to understand that I spent a whole day learning a trail (among a half dozen others) called In Deep - - that had NO easy-outs, ride-arounds or wuss-out lines. It was commit-and-hit. You think what you ride on a daily/weekly/monthly basis is technical, challenging, maybe even spooky; and then you get on something that taxes you to the limits of your skillz and totally tests your cajones - - and even tests your notions of what is considered rideable on a mountain bike. You spend a day working up to manning up and hitting some feature that scares the crap out of you because you know that tomorrow you're going to have to hit all of them at race pace - - well, it gives you a whole new appreciation for that bundle of levers and springs and hydraulics between your legs. In the end it's that bike that finally gives you the confidence to boost it because you know it can handle it whether or not you can.

Just saying that after what I rode those two days, all the quibbling in this thread about the finer nuances of no suspension made me laugh. Gimme all the advantage I can get; 'cause next year I want to do it better, faster, bigger than I did this year.

And it's not as if I think the only 'real' riding is lift-assisted. I love regular trail riding; I still race XC some (although at a much more recreational cat. level), I dig off-road duathlons and I appreciate the challenge of a good climb. But, hey, the descent after the climb is where it's really at for me.


BTW, we're headed back in late October after the bike park closes, so I'll have some time to enjoy the "other" Whistler - - trails like River Runs through It, Cut Yer Bars, Gargamel, Kill Me Thrill Me, etc. Hopefully, I'll be able to rope Maelstrom into guiding me around some. My son rode them the day we left and told me they are awesome.

But I'm still gonna do 'em on the XTS Moto .