New Bike Suspension Adapts to Terrain in 7ms

[drutort]

this is retarded, its only possible for consistent terrine and would still fail if you have a dip or some unpredictable pot hole.

I fail how a sensor can see and adjust ahead as a human can... this is only good for consistent terrine that change... not unpredictable, and plus this would never work good for mountain bikes... and i dont bike 😛

even if they had sensors that could scan ahead as they are doing for vehicles, this is quite unpredictable for a mountain bike 😛

for something to do what a human does, there would have to be massive sensors that pretty much map out the terrain around you constantly and take into account the continues position of the bike.. then i could say something like this would work... but WHY? when you do this auto with your brain 😛

 

[gm0n3y]

Maybe this is just my road-biking oriented mentality, but how much does that thing weigh?

 

[idisarmu]

[citation][nom]JWL3[/nom]Cannondale makes awesome bikes. But it's becoming ridiculous - we're getting to the point where these bikes cost as much as a good used car.[/citation]

...worth it IMO. I'm just pissed off that they dropped their freeride/dirt-jump/downhill mountain bikes for 2010. I just hope they make a big comeback in 2011 with some good revisions. Right now I own a Cannondale Chase and I'm just waiting for them to release the Chase Soft-tail (For non-bikers, right now I have a front-suspension only bike, the soft-tail is a short-travel dual-suspension bike with 70-80mm or 3" of travel for those really big drops and jumps)

About the cost though, I personally would have no problem dropping $4000-5000 on a new bike when the Chase Softail comes out. It's all about your priorities. I would rather have a REALLY REALLY nice bike for $4000 right now and keep it for 4 years, than have a $2000 PC right now and then another one in 2 years when this one can't max out the latest games. A sub-25lb (that is still strong) dirt jumper simply sounds way sexier to me than 60fps in _____________.

The suspension in the article could be VERY useful if they keep the weight down (under 4lbs for the XC forks and under 5.5lbs for the All-mountain forks) However, I think they could save money and keep the suspension simpler if they just made some tough, reliable suspension for Downhill bikes and added a remote compression adjuster/lock-out. Something like that would be GREAT for the straights and hole-shot, while allowing the rider to flick a switch to make the suspension plush for the actual trails/rock gardens.

 

[jwl3]

About the cost though, I personally would have no problem dropping $4000-5000 on a new bike when the Chase Softail comes out. It's all about your priorities. I would rather have a REALLY REALLY nice bike for $4000 right now and keep it for 4 years, than have a $2000 PC right now and then another one in 2 years when this one can't max out the latest games. A sub-25lb (that is still strong) dirt jumper simply sounds way sexier to me than 60fps in _____________.

Yeah, but for 200 year old + technology, they sure manage to improve the bikes every year, making you want to replace a perfectly good bike. I bought a hardtail Caad 2 bike in '95 and almost immediately, the softtails came out, which made me want to buy them. Except I couldn't justify tossing or selling my perfectly good bike. Then every few years, brake technology improves and again, another couple grand to replace a frame that won't take disc brakes. Kerplunk!

 

[gm0n3y]

[citation][nom]JWL3[/nom]Yeah, but for 200 year old + technology, they sure manage to improve the bikes every year, making you want to replace a perfectly good bike. I bought a hardtail Caad 2 bike in '95 and almost immediately, the softtails came out, which made me want to buy them. Except I couldn't justify tossing or selling my perfectly good bike. Then every few years, brake technology improves and again, another couple grand to replace a frame that won't take disc brakes. Kerplunk![/citation]

You could say the same thing about any enthusiast level technology (cars, computers, bikes, boats, etc). If you want to have cutting edge stuff, you have to pay for it, repeatedly.

 

[anamaniac]

That's actually pretty cool.
[citation][nom]JWL3[/nom]Yeah, but for 200 year old + technology, they sure manage to improve the bikes every year, making you want to replace a perfectly good bike. I bought a hardtail Caad 2 bike in '95 and almost immediately, the softtails came out, which made me want to buy them. Except I couldn't justify tossing or selling my perfectly good bike. Then every few years, brake technology improves and again, another couple grand to replace a frame that won't take disc brakes. Kerplunk![/citation]
I actually don't like my disc brake. 0.o
I always have to readjust the cable, POS...

Hmm, I could go for a new bike. But then again, I could go for a car.

 

[gm0n3y]

[citation][nom]anamaniac[/nom]That's actually pretty cool.I actually don't like my disc brake. 0.oI always have to readjust the cable, POS...Hmm, I could go for a new bike. But then again, I could go for a car.[/citation]

I have hydraulic disc brakes on my bike. No adjustments needed after about the first month (once the lines stretch).

 

[idisarmu]

[citation][nom]JWL3[/nom]Yeah, but for 200 year old + technology, they sure manage to improve the bikes every year, making you want to replace a perfectly good bike. I bought a hardtail Caad 2 bike in '95 and almost immediately, the softtails came out, which made me want to buy them. Except I couldn't justify tossing or selling my perfectly good bike. Then every few years, brake technology improves and again, another couple grand to replace a frame that won't take disc brakes. Kerplunk![/citation]

Frames don't evolve nearly as fast for dirtjump bikes though. In the last 3 years, frames have gotten probably 300-500 grams lighter, and the geometry has tightened up a little (shorter chainstays mostly) but other than that, there isn't much that would make me pay a premium for a 2010 frame now when my 2008 frame is still pretty good. Brakes and suspension, however... i guess you can say that they are constantly evolving and quite expensive ($150-300 for a brake and $500-1000 for a great fork). But let's say that hypothetically, I bought a Fox Float 36 fork in 2006, a 2006 or 2007 model. Now that the 2011s are coming out, I still do not believe that the old forks are obsolete simply because I paid SO MUCH for the first one. (Fox has mostly just gotten more reliable, not really much lighter though, since they were already light.)