I have purchased a Lauf Grit SL fork to help with osteoarthritis in my shoulder. I've been told that I need a replacement and once I have it my off-road riding will be need to stop. My experience has been it is great for vibration and surprise pot hole and hidden rock. But has a lot of flex while climbing out of the saddle. I am a bigger rider (185 lbs). Let me know your thoughts please.
I’m sorry to hear about your shoulder. What type of thoughts are you looking for? I mean, do you like the fork and want to continue using it, or are you looking for other options? If it’s the latter, the Redshift Shockstop suspension stem is a pretty unobtrusive way to take some sting out with minimal side effects on other aspects of the ride.
Somewhere in the comments, it was mentioned that the shock stop stem in combination with the Lauf is the way to go. I have the Lauf and it could use a little help on the rough roads ( mainly washboard ). Larger volume tires also has its benefits. Look at second opinions as life is so full of stories, where one was told... you will never do this again, only to be proven wrong. Good luck!
I dunno how bad your shoulder is, but plenty of people ride on replacement knees. Personally I wouldn't listen to that doctor without trying it myself.
I think something more upright (i.e. a Fargo) would take some weight off the joint, then combined with big tires, a lauf, a suspension stem, and carefully choosing your lines would be good enough.
For what it's worth, I'm riding off-road on a replacement hip with no issues. If you need some "soft" in the front for your shoulder, but don't like the bob on climbs, you may want to consider changing your style so you stand less and sit and spin more. That may require a gearing change. I know, I like to stand too, but sometimes you've got to compromise. I found that oval chainrings seemed to make climbing standing smoother. I found that improving my core strength made my climbing standing smoother. Equipment options would include a suspension fork with a lockout, suspension stem, gel pads, bar tape, more flexible bars, etc. All involve some tradeoff. Changing your position to get some weight off your hands might help.
I bought a True Grit Race Edition late last year. When I first demoed the bike, I did note what you did in that if you jump out of the saddle to sprint, you can feel a little bit of a "dive", due to the leaf springs doing their job. What I've found over the course of a few rides is that I don't notice the front end doing its job when I get out of the saddle to sprint or climb. I'm not as big as you are, OP, weighing about 155 lbs.
Overall, I really like the True Grit, especially how light it is, which matters when the road goes uphill. The fork design smooths the ride and Lauf's frame geometry feels good, too.
