@TAZ123: A tad less lowspeed compression, maybe a tad less rebound. Tire pressure and suspension settings are a tricky problem however.
In my experience, lowish tire pressure feels great for certain types of bumps - it carpets small chatter and hits. The same pressure (with inserts and no snakebites therefore) ridden in rough, rocky conditions can induce severe armpump.
Like with suspension, if you are too far into the travel most of the time and just riding along (too much sag maybe wrong suspension curve) you’ll run into the ramp up too much of the time and therefore the energy will not be dissipated in an even manner, but feel spikey to your arms and body.
Too high a tire pressure will let you bounce and struggle and make you tired fast, too.
Key in reducing rider fatigue seems to be a fitting ratio between the suspension curve of the tire AND the suspension AND the riders strength and dexterity regarding muscles.
Inserts can help with that, because they keep the tire from blowing through their „travel“ (which amounts to a couple of centimeters on a 2.4 tire...). Similar to a short tavel bike which is ridden really hard - with proper suspension settings it won’t be plush, but rideable.
Rim/wheel compliance can have a severe effect under these circumstances, too.
I can reproduce a loud clanging, tire to rim „bang“ event on my front wheel with a stiff 28h Newmen rim on a trail I ride often, but don‘t get the same BANG on either a DT Swiss EX1501 front wheel nor on a Notubes Flow MK3. Same bike, same tire, same pressure, same settings. Just the front wheel is swapped. No inserts. Minion DHF 2.5 WT @21PSI.
I want to nerd out (like you can tell from this post) and verify and reevaluate my findings with a FCK-Flats tire insert in the front tire. What will feel better? Compliant rim without insert or stiff rim with insert?
My (weak-sauce) wrists like extra chunky ESi grips (to filter small stuff) with not too low a tire pressure, firmer but still plush fork and single ply tires with big volume best.
And regarding tubes - I find ride quality AND ease of maintenance AND reliability of a proper tubeless setup is NEXT level compared to tubes. There are certain steps to follow to avoid hassle, for sure. But riding a proper mountain bike with tubes is leaving a lot of performance untouched. If your body can take the punishment of 40PSI and you are happy with the performance - all good for you!
Last edited by: Znarf on Nov. 28, 2019, 5:54 a.m., edited 1 time in total.