How much suspension for dual slalom?

Lee,

I was wondering what you thought the best dual slalom bike set up would be for courses like Sea Otter, Mount Snow, Snowshoe and other courses that have rough terrain and lots of flat turns.

I noticed Brian Lopes pulled out the dually for Sea Otter. The main thing I’m wondering about is travel. Would a shorter travel bike setup for mountain cross work well or would you be better off with something like a 5 X 5? Or is that overkill. Thank you. Still loving the site.

Christopher

Hey Christopher,

On rough courses with flat turns, dual suspension hooks up better and lets you carry more speed than a hardtail.

Most slalom bikes these days have four inches of travel. That’s a good compromise between traction and responsiveness. Specialized SX, Intense Tazer, etc.

A 5×5 will still rip if you set it up stiff and with lots of pedal platform/low speed compression. My Enduro is awesome in jumps and slalom — it has so much hookup — but it’s nowhere as quick as my SX. Braaap.

I hope that helps. Rip it!

– Lee