Ah, congrats on that first "real" ride! Always feels \*amazing\* to be back in the saddle, pedaling briskly, descending with purpose, for the first time after some time away due to injury, busy-ness, or (in my local case) five months of fatbiking and skiing. Will be interested to keep up with your recovery and hear how things evolve.
That's fantastic to hear the Rift Zone build is panning out so far. I'm looking forward to reading a full build breakdown. (I was a bit surprised you didn't just go for a Phantom frame and an angleset, as you reference, given your affinity for all (many) things Banshee.) I personally would not build a shorter travel bike with the same tires as a longer-travel one -- I like the game of building 110-120mm bikes up \*almost\* as light as a 100mm race bike, but with just enough concessions to descending to make them survivable on steeper stuff -- but I take your point about the incredible versatility of a short-travel bike. "Pumpy" is a great word for such bikes, btw.
Ha, consider the salt measured! I, too love hardtail'ing and singlespeeding (not a rigid convert, regrettably!), but if anything I think it's turned me into a suspension snob: when I am riding a fully-suspended bike I feel like I need it to be fully tuned and dialed in -- the shock needs to feel great, the linkage needs to feel predictable and active, everything needs to work in concert -- or else I'd rather just be on a hardtail. After all, a hardtail is nothing if not predictable and easy to tune perfectly; you just need to dial in tire pressure/insert usage and away thou goest. Maybe that's not true of all hardtail riders but if anything I listen to the opinions of folks on non-suspended bikes \*more\* closely than I would listen to someone who exclusively rides, say, 150mm+ FS bikes and likely is losing the forest for the trees in their impressions of the ride as a whole.
Aug. 1, 2022, 5:32 p.m. - gubbinalia
Ah, congrats on that first "real" ride! Always feels \*amazing\* to be back in the saddle, pedaling briskly, descending with purpose, for the first time after some time away due to injury, busy-ness, or (in my local case) five months of fatbiking and skiing. Will be interested to keep up with your recovery and hear how things evolve. That's fantastic to hear the Rift Zone build is panning out so far. I'm looking forward to reading a full build breakdown. (I was a bit surprised you didn't just go for a Phantom frame and an angleset, as you reference, given your affinity for all (many) things Banshee.) I personally would not build a shorter travel bike with the same tires as a longer-travel one -- I like the game of building 110-120mm bikes up \*almost\* as light as a 100mm race bike, but with just enough concessions to descending to make them survivable on steeper stuff -- but I take your point about the incredible versatility of a short-travel bike. "Pumpy" is a great word for such bikes, btw. Ha, consider the salt measured! I, too love hardtail'ing and singlespeeding (not a rigid convert, regrettably!), but if anything I think it's turned me into a suspension snob: when I am riding a fully-suspended bike I feel like I need it to be fully tuned and dialed in -- the shock needs to feel great, the linkage needs to feel predictable and active, everything needs to work in concert -- or else I'd rather just be on a hardtail. After all, a hardtail is nothing if not predictable and easy to tune perfectly; you just need to dial in tire pressure/insert usage and away thou goest. Maybe that's not true of all hardtail riders but if anything I listen to the opinions of folks on non-suspended bikes \*more\* closely than I would listen to someone who exclusively rides, say, 150mm+ FS bikes and likely is losing the forest for the trees in their impressions of the ride as a whole.