First time on a FS

Got a chance to demo a 2008 Rocky Mountain Slayer (SXC 70) yesterday. LBS had one that had never been sold so he reduced the price pretty substantially.

Never having been on a full suspension, I had some thoughts and questions:

1) Man, this thing was WICKED in tight turns. It was surprisingly fast. Almost as fast as my Cobia.

2) It was definitely at home going downhill. It negotiated some of the turns better than most of the other bikes I have been on.

3) Gearing felt different. Also, it had X.9's on it which had the lightest touch. I loved them and noticed a big difference from the X.5's.

4) Climbing was difficult. I found myself popping the front tire more so than on my current bike. Again...also could be because I was geared improperly. Any thoughts here?

5) Question about rear shocks - I can't remember which Fox it had on it (DHX Air maybe?) but the bike felt like it sagged. (maybe I am too fat) When I brought it back, I mentioned this to the shop owner and he said he probably needed to check the air and re-adjust. Because of the sag, I was hitting my foot whenever I went in a dip and I felt like I was sitting pretty low. Is this common?

6) The front fork was pretty screwed up. It didn't like to go back to the extended position. (fully extended) He has to call Fox and was going to try replacing the oil in it.

Overall, really enjoyed my ride after the first 30 minutes. Before I figured out what was going on, I felt like I was on a bucking bronco holding on for dear life. After that, things seemed to go much smoother. I would like to try it again with the rear shock figured out so I wasn't dragging toe ever time I hit a bump.

sounds like it needs some serious dialing in to get a real sense of the ride - regarding the climbing when i went fs a few years ago the biggest adjustment was climbimg but it had more to do with a much slacker head angle (like 67.5d) than any suspension issues. i just get way upon the front of the seat / over the bars to keep 'er tracking

Yeah, some of those issues, like the front lifting while climbing, could definitely have more to do with the geometry than the fact that it was FS. Though if the rear end was too soft for you, and sagging too much I don't think that would have helped in getting the front end to stay down while climbing.

bvibert said:

Yeah, some of those issues, like the front lifting while climbing, could definitely have more to do with the geometry than the fact that it was FS. Though if the rear end was too soft for you, and sagging too much I don't think that would have helped in getting the front end to stay down while climbing.

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What he said. If you take the best FS frame out there and don't set the sag and damping correctly on the spring, it will give you a sucky ride. That makes all the difference. Same with suspended forks.

Not familiar with Rocky Mountains geometry, but the main purpose of designing rear suspension linkage is for movement only via rear wheel inputs, and not pedaling inputs or braking. Sometimes the bottom bracket ends up lower on some designs, but if you where hitting your pedal on the ground a lot, it was probably because the shock didn't have enough preload (too much sag). You could've also gotten a bike with longer cranks randomly as well.