Full Suspension Bike Usage Question

[OldPedaller]

This is probably a naive question, but anyway ........ I'm wondering if it's worth the expense of changing to a full suspension MTB.

Here's the situation: on our doorstep are forests that have miles and miles of rough tracks. Very rough, mostly layers of loose stones, some quite big . We have suspension seat posts and they really help soak up some of it. The bikes have Suntour NEX-D-DS 50mm travel front forks. We ride with them fully released. But the problem we find is that after only a few miles, the juddering ride becomes so uncomfortable that it spoils it.

So I was wondering what options we have to turn this ride from a chore into a pleasure. And one thing I thought of was getting full suspension bikes. I kinda thought that the full suspension was more for the big, bone crunching kind of bumps and bangs that you get hurtling down a hillside on rough ground. And don't know whether it would soak up the lesser continuous rattling and shaking about that we get on these tracks?

Alternatively I wondered if the front forks on our current bikes can be swapped out for something that would deal better with the terrain?

Can anyone advise? It seems crazy that what we're doing now is putting the bikes on a car bike rack and driving up to 40 miles to get a decent ride when we have all this potential on our doorstep.

 

[GLJoe]

I kinda thought that the full suspension was more for the big, bone crunching kind of bumps and bangs that you get hurtling down a hillside on rough ground. And don't know whether it would soak up the lesser continuous rattling and shaking about that we get on these tracks?

For the smaller 'continuous rattling' type of bumps, large supple tyres set at a lowish pressure generally gives much more comfort than full suspension.

Something like a (compliant, i.e. NOT Marathon Plus type!) 2.3" tyre @around 20-25psi makes a huge difference. If your frame can take something that wide of course.

 

[vfr400]

Air forks make a big difference to front suspension and a Suntour NCX seatpost should look after your rear. fitting those two would be a lot cheaper than changing bikes. You can usually find plenty of suitable used air forks on Ebay. Ones for 26" wheels are very cheap now because of the fassion for bigger wheels.