So Mr. Altagirl was telling me about this phenomenon this spring in Moab. He explained that basically when he engaged the ETA function on his 66 Light, he felt a 'drag' on the bike - like it was harder to pedal uphill, like you were pushing against something. It really should be easier to pedal uphill with an effectively steeper HA. He also said that the Go-Ride guys had received other reports of this same issue.
Anyway, I thought he was smoking something since I'd never experienced that on my 66, or the previous years on my All Mtn 1 and Z1 with ETA. Then a couple weeks ago, I was climbing Collins Trail over near the Canyons in Utah...left the fork at full travel due to the super rocky start to the climb, and then switched on the ETA. Felt like I was pedaling in molasses. It was bizarre. I picked up the bike and spun the wheel to see if there was some resistance, the feeling was so strong. I raised the fork to full travel and I felt like the resistance was gone again. Put it back down, and tried riding it compressed for a while, and while I was able to ride like that, and the resistance feeling started being less noticeable, it still felt like it was there and maybe I was just getting used to it.
So anyway, my theory is that it's a mental thing, and the dramatic change in body position puts your weight so much more over the front of the bike that it feels like you have more pedaling resistance. And possibly there is due to more weight on the tires/more traction between the knobs and soil? The perplexing thing to me is how I never experienced it in many years of riding ETA forks...and suddenly it just happened one ride on my 66. Maybe there is something actually going on...
So anyone else experience this?
