Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:27 am
This is good advice. My bike has air forks and air shocks. I run them stiffer on twisty rides, but it is easy to get it too stiff. I have actually found myself instantly displaced 4-5 inches outside my chosen line from hitting a bump and skipping sideways in mid-turn. If you just stay calm, it's fine, but it's nice to be aware of...a little unnerving the first time it happens. So now I just pick smoother roads.Toyuzu wrote:I ride hard occasionally too. Most of the time I have no trouble keeping up with friends on newer bikes. One thing to be cautious of on older bikes like ours though is going through corners with bumps in them. Our softer suspension has too much compression and slow rebound, which will cause us to be pushed toward the outside of the corner if there are significant bumps mid-corner, like wrinkles due to tree roots, water damage, pot-holes etc.
Combine that scenario with a corner that has a decreasing radius and things get hairy real quick. I found that out the hard way, and I've slowed down a lot on un-familiar roads now.
