Squish-DOWN, Lock-UP...

I'm still not sold on the whole 29er thing. I do like the fit of my big-wheeled machine, however it still feels sluggish on technical trail, and getting her up and running from a stop is a bit more difficult than a 26er. I'm not one to be super fast and just scream down the single track ignoring the scenery. I like to dabble in the rocks, ride the skinnies, you know: have fun and play like I'm a grade school kid. I do however like to at least keep-up with my riding pals, and I don't think that i can do that on this bike. I've been trying, to no avail, to get out and ride this Reba fork to see if I can start blasting through the rock gardens with a bit more prowess, to float through like a monster truck over junk cars. Maybe this is the missing link in my 29er build that will convince me to make the leap. I think it will be, at a minimum, a confidence booster. At worst just additional  and unnecessary weight.

I am pretty excited to use a suspension fork with a lock-out mechanism. The Fox Fork I run on my 26er does not have this feature, and being a single speed only type of guy, I really need to kill the bob when climbing and then allow the plush absorption on the descents. I used to run a White Brothers Magic Fork until it was destroyed in your classic 'drive into the garage with your bike on top of the car' scenario. The Magic was the perfect single speed suspension fork. It was not as squishy as the Reba or Fox which I liked, and at the same time it did not bob on climbs and there was no additional gizmo to make it 'lock-out'. Too bad I can't find one of [those] beauties for an honest price. I find the price of a good suspension fork to be out-of-the-question for one with meager wages like myself. Maybe a lottery ticket is in order?