Sorry try again, first ride on new forks last night in dark in quagmire conditions, and yes the difference between lyrics and standard 35 is night and day. I forgot what it is like to have suspension this smooth and actually see the forks moving. My 35 were rock solid but I had got used to them, will the new forks make me faster or jump further and bigger the answer is no. But the ride is so much smoother now it feels like a different bike. do you need to make this upgrade no not really, it depends on how much you ride your bike i suppose, if you spend hours every week bashing around local trails, then yes you will benefit from fork upgrade just for the extra feel and smoothness of ride. I just need to keep my wife out of garage now before she realizes I have been spending on that E bike again. LOL
Cheers for the post, great to see someone be honest about "do you need the upgrade, maybe not" side of things. Got me thinking, we ll love new shine bits, but what about upgrading "Ourselves" ?). Sometimes the constant upgrades we see talked about (I know, this is an upgrade forum), can make some believe they are Danny Hart, while for others, they may think they have made a poor original choice of componentry, or try to sell their dog for an 10mm of extra travel. Being wrongly focused on the "inadequacy" of a part while they should be enjoying the ride until the new part is fitted, is a real shame.
We all have to be honest about our ability to notice the differences, and the impact they have as you rightly said. The old "Emperors new clothes/go faster stripes=amazing gains " syndrome is something we have all done. I've been there and it does" work", and this is where the "working on ourselves" comes into it.
Having worked in sport (grass roots through to elite) for many years, and using mental (turning into physical) advantages of the belief system, the actual/perceived gains it will give a sportsperson/weekend warrior/improving rider can be unbelievable. Obviously you still can't jump a supermarket special off a Rampage drop, but you may be able to double that jump you've wanted to do but haven't had the guts (no upgrade is gonna help when you are heading for the face of the landing cos you bottled on the take-off).
Sounds boring, but chuck a few quid into a book (remember them?) about sport psychology, such as the Lanny Bassham "With Winning in Mind". He's been there, done it and the information is relatable. relatable. Guaranteed to make a difference, just give it a chance, put the work in and reap the benefits (plus an easy read) . Not a bike book, but sometimes it's good to get an external view on something that is not bike related, but applicable to the person and not the machinery.
Apologies if this post is seen as not relavent in this thread/forum, but we all enjoy riding and sometimes we overlook the cheapest upgradable part-us.
Right, I'm of to service my RS Quadra 21's (just kidding, they are just wall art now as part of my old P7 Orange).
Just food for thought.