I agree that it is boring to watch on video, but I know that I couldn't do it (wheels moving or not), and I think in person it would be awesome to see someone do it.

WOW...nice skills but why not just ride the dam trail?
I road once with a professional trails dude and was blown away by how easyhe makes thing like that look..Crazy skills

I could definitely descend that on a rigid & most likely climb it (with the wheels spinning...I'm better that way), but what I couldn't do is ride a respectable distance on a trail with rocks like that all along it. For that, I would need the squishy.

For me, it not a matter of "could", its more of a matter of "would" :lol:. When I see it in pics and videos I'm like "yeah, I'd ride that" however, when I saw it in person (I've only seen it once and it was on a hike when I didn't have my bike :() I was all like, "hhmmmm, I might ride it if I'm feeling good. The rest of this trail isn't this extreme, but it is nothing but decent sized rocks and root and you are either climbing of decending the whole time, it is a 7 mile one way (14 mile total) trail. I've only ridden it once and the person I was riding with had a blowout right before we made it to this particular spot (which is about 4 miles in and all up hill :(). I'm planning on going back this winter though.

more comfortable, less fatiguing. lock it out when you don't want it. it's there when you do.

Yeah see I'm not even sure I could do that whole trail on any bike, let alone a rigid. But if I could do it on a squishy, I could probably do it on a rigid, but it would be much less pleasant, & my #1 goal is to have as much fun out there as possible.

ROFL..I have to admit I had the same thought. The bike was irrelevant. Might as well have been a pogo stick or my kids wagon.

+100

There were many spots where I had to do the "walk of shame" :lol:, but the ride back down made it all worth it.

I ride on what can barely be considered trails at all - basically just washed out gullies full of huge jutting rocks, with some fallen trees, roots and mudpiles for good measure.

Yes, I ride the Wiss, and yes, I'm pretty sure they are getting harder due to heavy rains and erosion over the past few years. 10 years ago, I remember riding them with a Toys R Us bike. I've been riding some old rail beds in Port Richmond for practice - much more path-like.

Where are the rail beds in Port Richmond and how long are they? I'm in Northern Liberties and wouldn't mind having some other options close to home.

Sounds like a full suspension would help make your ride more pleasant and easier on your body, but over all, as we said above, you can ride the trails with either. If you have the money, do what cleon was recommending and get a full suspension and just turn the lockout on when you want and off when you need/want.

I tested a Pugsley today. Thing hops curbs like riding over twigs. I can only imagine what it's like on the trails. As someone more interested in fun than speed, it might just be my next bike.

This might provoke the fully rigid fans, but I'll take even an entry level suspension fork over a rigid one (for my style of riding anyway).

Blasphemy!

I used to argue with my friend over that all the time when he first got his Giant box-store whatever the name was, saying that, to me, it felt like a pogo stick everywhere I went. He swore up & down it felt better to him. What I realize now is that was all that mattered, because it was HIS bike. Cheap forks still feel like pogo sticks to me, but who am I to tell you not to get one if you prefer it?

I rode fully rigid bikes all my life (let's just say several decades :D) up until just a few years ago. First suspension fork was a Suntour XCT, and pogo stick or not I loved it.
Sometime later on I picked up a '90s AL frame GT with a cromo fork, and since it was "cool" (and really light) I rode it around for a while.
Guess where the GT with the cromo fork is now? Yep, gone.

I think it mostly has to do with riding style. Not much finesse with me, I'm usually hitting stuff fast and hard when possible, and a rigid fork is just too brutal for me in those circumstances.

I would challenge that and say try a Niner carbon with a 2.4 tire. I would also ask you to take a tight turn on the entry level suspension standing and watch your front end just sink/dig right in.

My main issue with suspension forks and this is coming from riding a singlespeed most of my mountain bike career is how inefficient they can be on the uphills. My suspension for before this last rigid was a Cannondale Lefty so it's not like I was riding a Rock Shox Dart.

Agreed. And my main issue with rigid forks is how brutal they can be on the DHs.
There's always a trade-off, and since I'm not a competition rider I prioritize based on personal preference - IOW, what I consider more fun.

+1..... actually, +100000

It's all about what works for you and what allows you to enjoy riding, and don't ever let someone else try to tell you other wise. If you like full suspension, then get full suspension. If you like ridged, go ridged. If you like HT with a suspension fork, get that. Its YOUR bike and YOU are riding it, not anyone else, so get what YOU like and works for YOU.

Yes you do.....nuff said

both my MTB's used to have rigid forks, but, after doing some very step descents i came to the conclusion that my front-end was just to low even with so-called suspension corrected rigid forks. i don't mind the bumps but if you can't get your weight over the backend enough you will go over the bars!

I rode some trail otw home yesterday. Rode the rigid. I found myself more often than not...shifting up to a really hard gear so I could stand up the whole time. It just ain't fun when it's that rough. Pedaling an easy gear while standing is tough in itself b/c you just don't get anywhere.

I've noticed this on my new Giant HT. Back when I had my cheap walmart FS, I would ride in like gear 1-3 which was 22T front and 26-28T rear, now that I have the HT, I find myself riding standing up in gear 2-4 with is 32T front and 24-26T rear.

No real data here but both my wife and I bought new bikes (29ers) this year. Hers full suspension and mine with front shock and HT. Weights are almost identical but I can fly on her bike and suspect it is that peddling efficiency is so much better. This is my first hardtail and my back gets a bit stiff after 2.5 hours in the woods. Wish I had purchased the full suspension. regards.