Chalo wrote: ↑May 02 2019 10:26pm
I am discussing bikes, not toys, that an adult of sound mind would be willing to ride for transportation.
It's arguable that today's suspension bikes don't quite make it to that level.
After the war people were buying cars, with suspension. It wasn't until the 70's and the gas crisis that people were considering bikes for transportation.
Adults and children of sound mind looking for inexpensive 2 wheeled transportation bought millions of mopeds and small motorcycles, all with suspension. Bicycles were displaced from the market. Then you have the influx of scooters in the 80's,
all with suspension. So the market for small, limited speed vehicles being used for transportation for the last 40 years has been mopeds, scooters and small motorcycles,
all with suspension.
For the most part over the last 30 years bicycles were used for recreation, with a steady rise in cyclists using them for transportation. You go from a full rigid frame and fork on the average bicycle to a rigid frame with suspension fork during this time.
So suspension in vehicles used for transportation has been used to some degree or another for the last 100 years. Before electrics came to popularity people were using mopeds and scooters. All with suspension. "Ebikes" are displacing them from the market, but most ebikes have full suspension when you think about all those electric scooters being sold by the millions. It's really only the small conversion market when you see these rigid frames being used.
So I don't think you actually want to discuss "bikes" adults are using for transportation. Over the last 40 years almost every small,
POWERED bike being used for "transportation" has had full suspension. And that's what we are talking about.
You want to compare the
self powered bikes being used for transportation and try to extend it to a small subset of powered bikes being used for transportation.
So I say it again, almost every single similarly powered vehicle (of approximately 1000W) HAS HAD FULL SUSPENSION FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS.
The only reason it hasn't come to popularity with self-powered vehicles being used for transportation is because suspension sucks power. It dampens the forces from the road
and from the rider. The only time you want a rigid frame vehicle is when every single watt/hp has to be transmitted into forward motion.
There was a brief trend with moped riders to hard tails. They would take the shocks off and replace them with steel rods. It was just a dumb fad and most converted them back. Today for the most part the moped riders are upgrading their suspensions using small dirt bike forks and gas shocks.
And I'll add this, whether you realize it or not almost all the rigid frame riders are adding some suspension to their bikes. They use bigger tires and keep the air pressure in them low. It's just a piss poor way of getting some suspension in the back. You increase the rolling rate of friction, loose control in turns and have a much higher chance of getting a pinch flat.