Old news to the MB world, news to me, the Niner 29” carbon rigid fork. Nice.

Planning to re-enter MB racing sphere this season. Find myself drawn to the simple aesthetic of rigid MB’s and single speed road bikes.

MB suspended bikes work much better than rigid designs ever did. I can still remember waking up in my sleeping bag at our riverside campsite the day after riding the 409 trail on a full rigid steel Stumpjumper with Deore DX and thumbshifters and having such intense shooting pain in my forearms that I thought I must have broken my wrist somehow the day before. Nope, that’s just the full rigid MB’s innate level of comfort.

Since then I’ve gotten to put every major suspension design, and many failed designs, through the paces in the dirt. The modern crop of suspension bikes work very well. But as much as I enjoy riding them, I just don’t dig the infnite atomization of offroad riding styles into five gazillion very terrain and purpose specific bikes. Awesome in their intended element, doddling everywhere else.

I have loved every bike I’ve owned, but I strive to keep the quiver lean. Bike projects and routine maintenance eat up dozens of hours when you work on your own rigs (and you should if you rely on them to keep you upright and safe every day). More bikes, more components to break and go out of adjustment.

Suspended MB’s are superior to rigid MB’s, but unless Lance lends me a private mechanic for the next few seasons, I would prefer not to spend time that could be spent riding dealing with a plethora of pivot points, blown seals, etc. So rigid, perhaps?