I noticing now, even with pros and amateurs at many races for MT bike. I seen many people going back to Rigid forks. for XC races.
What is up with that?

is the new lightness better? over suspension proving better?

What would be your reason to return to rigid frame?

Return? They never went away.

I came from a full suspension and i don't like it , so i moved to a front suspension and is not work as expected.
Maybe is just my fork awful becouse is not working properly and seems to be really slow in the compression , also the compression is kinda low.

Personally i don't see the point to have a fork with 80mm lenght and very eavy (2kg+) and is not working as expected.
Actually before changing to any other fork i want to try others and think on the difference , becouse as now there is a little voice on my head screming "buy a rigid fork". Also i made a tread here , https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-b...bout-fork.html.

ps. some forks looking pretty good! as the "esotico" in my tread.

I think wider tires might be playing a roll in this.

Better, lower pressure with tubeless, and often wider tires have helped make this transition back to rigid. I am very happy with my air fork, but am tempted to try it myself.

Weight and cost , coupled with my riding needs , a rigid fork would be fine for me .

Went from a 90s era full suspension 26" to a contemporary 29r hard tail. The hard tail rides better in every way and the fork seems redundant. I ride with it locked out almost all the time. It solves a problem that went away with all the other improvements. Mostly I credit better tires at lower pressures.

I started riding MTB's when most bikes came with rigid forks. Then I got a Mag 21. No, I don't understand the new popularity of rigid forks, unless you ride glass smooth trails. It's kind of a head scratcher to me.

I totally got your point. But as owner of a bad fork i can tell you is not "that difference" becouse is very minimal.
And in some point , having a lw fork seems to help a bit more.

Agree. Although I'm no racer, I'm tempted by the Trek Stache 5 29+ for a play toy myself. Word is they may be coming out with a carbon model for 2017. We will see...

I don't ride bad forks. If I have a bad fork I perform maintenance on it. My 22 year old Manitou 3 is better than a rigid fork.

I have to agree with the sentiment that a bad or cheap fork is worse than no suspension, that being said, I ride FS and will never go back to hardtail or rigid.

I want and NEED good traction especially at big speeds,
Good suspension allows this,
Rigid does not,
I like my tires on the ground and feel no need to take a beating from my bike.

Yeah Yeah I get it, I To have heard the stories starting to pop up and now an article in the MBA rag about how on some trails under certain conditions full on fat bikes are turning in times faster that regular old out of 'Style' 2.2-2.35" wide tire'd trail bikes..

As for the weight of a full squish bike,,,PfFFfttt
If I was a weight weenie I drop 10 more pounds of my self before I'd spend big coin to drop 5 off my bike,,,

BTW after riding two I am beginning to think 27.5 plus bikes when set up right may be as good or even better under MANY different trail conditions (but not all) as our tried and true ,,, again per the manufacturers, our out of style trail bikes.

The next, 'greatest thing' does sell bikes but don't forget that a short while back the next greatest thing was the 29er and it turns out It was one of the greatest things.....

People like to say that including myself but then I bought a rigid and a hardtail . They are all fun to ride. The rigid is like riding an adult sized BMX and my slack hardtail is just super fun. I still love my full squish too but it is nice to be able to mix things up.

I was riding fully rigid last year, and it really is extremely fun. And, given that I do not make any money riding, it is all about fun and staying in shape. However, after a while, I decided that my 50+ body was taking a beating riding fully rigid. That does not mean it was not fun, though.

Yes, rigid bikes are fun. A different kind of fun than a full suspension bike, or even a hardtail but still fun. Not everybody will enjoy them, but some of us do.

My shoulder, however, can't take a lot of it anymore. So I don't ride rigid that much anymore.

Where I usually ride most of the suspension duty is over washboardish roots across the trail. This stuff will just beat up your forearms on a rigid. I've done it and didn't like it. Now maybe a Plus or fat tire could absorb it, don't have any experience with that. I will try it some time, but for now I'm sticking with at least front suspension.

On smoother trails I don't know that I'd miss my fork.

It was my wrist and my lower back,,, I hear ya..

My steel 29er is rigid.

Great all-around bike.

I ride with a small group of buddies. We don't always agree on where to ride.

So having different bikes, including a rigid / singlespeed will let me be sufficiently challenged in traiIs I consider to be easy.

I have one FS, one HT, and two rigid mountain bikes. I love all of them for different reasons and different uses.

I'm riding a rigid 29'er (Niner Sir9 with RDO fork) and find it to be a lot of fun with little to no maintenance. I'm faster uphill if the hill doesn't have a bunch of roots and rocks; probably slower on the flats and downhill compared to the full suspension. The bike is the one I choose to ride when I ride solo, because I find it to be the most fun. If trying to keep up with a group, I pick the full squish because it is faster (except at climbing).

Gotta follow those trends!

Probably a lot of people bought bikes with too much suspension for their needs and riding style or ability. But they were clearly 'the best' and what everyone needed because the ads said so and they were more expensive.

I wish this latest trend was a move towards some kind of rationality in assessing real needs but the reality is that it is a small blip caused by a few biking magazine writers trying to sell magazines and bikes.

Ah well, keeps the bike manufacturers in business!

Hot Dang! After 20 years I'm fashionable again! Don't be frigid ride rigid!

Ever since I first rode a rigid 29er I wanted one, and finally have one! That said, I am building a second, AM oriented 29er right now that will have front suspension.