Seriously thinking that a trail angled 29 ht is all the bike I need as I head into my forties. What was it like leaving the world of fs behind? How does it feel riding with full sussers? Can you still do all the riding you used to do?

Of the three bikes I own, the two fully rigid are the most used at the moment…. That’s a rigid forked Tranny and a 9:zero:7 fat bike…

Out tomorrow on the mojo sl first time in ages …

No. Bought a Boardman 650B MTB Pro and cannot stop riding it, not even sure why I have a full susser anymore?

no regrets. unless i start downhilling, i will not buy another fs

My Blur XC Carbon is by far my least used bike. I’ve had it out twice this year and that’s already twice as much as last year. Fatbike, 29er, Cross… all much more fun.

Yes and no, due to financal constraints I’ve run my trailsy 29er HT since Jan 2013. Has it struggled to do any of the riding I normally do?
No, though I’m a wheels firmly on the ground rider with no big drops, and the guys on FS, I ride with are still following me…
Do I want another FS… YES desperately, a trailsy 29er FS please for the summer months, though I’d definitely go back to the HT for winter riding now.
But if I was forced to continue riding a trailsy HT 29er from now on, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Oh and I’m 40 odd…

For a bit of balance:

I bought a hardtail (Cotic BFe) to complement my FS (Yeti ASR-5) a few months ago. I’m thinking of selling it the Bfe, I enjoy riding it but the Yeti is just plain nicer. Faster up, faster down, nicer spec. Sometimes I like a blast on the hardtail but 9 times out of 10 I’ll pick the Yeti. So yes, if I had sold the Yeti, I would have regretted it.

Depends where you ride of course – I’m in the peaks so most rides are pretty rocky and I get bounced around a lot on the hardtail.

Oh – age 55 btw

It all depends on how you ride and only you can answer that.

Yes, got suckered in to an internet forum’s HT love PR 🙂
Tried every material going all a pain in the a*** after more than an hours riding.
Finally got a short travel carbon fs frame in a sale last year, in a word brilliant.

I like riding my Yelli HT and in winter it is my bike of choice but I prefer my Epic or Stumpjumper. I can and do ride all local trails on it but I find full suss faster and more comfortable when trails are dry. A mate tried to go to one bike (HT) and 1) he doesn’t ride as much and 2) he has started fantasising about a full suss.

For the first couple of rides I felt like I’d been locked up in Strangeways with Big Bubba for a month..
It got better after a bit when I got the nack with the hover over the saddle and MTFU thing and I love em now. 🙂

Went from a 5″ trail bike to a 29er Ht. I.love my Ht lots. I just wish I could have afforded the ti one.

Depends on where you live if you are a mountain biker that rides rolling hills then get one if however you ride rocky type stuff then FS is the way to go.

Yeah but I needed the money so the fs had to go. I dont even ride rocky or techy trails but a fs just makes more sense to me – rather have both ends bounce or none at all. HTs just feel a bit unbalanced to me now. I did have fun on mine last time ar BPW though. Love the instant acceleration and lack of bob when you’re giving it the beans. I will definitely be getting another fs when I can afford it though.

The answer is a dropper post, I have a 140mm (rear) FS and a HT. So long as the saddle
goes down you can compensate for the chatter DH. Climbing and acceleration much nicer on the HT.

I use the HT (1×10) much more than the HT – until it’s trail centre time, then the FS comes into its own. Both with droppers.

C

I own both (but both 26″) and only drag the HT out when the FS is out of action – and don’t particularly enjoy it

When I rode in the peaks I said I’d never bother with a hardtail again, now I’ve moved to Canada its all groomed alpine single track and a hardtail is much more fun than full suss as it makes the ride more engaging

seriously thinking of getting rid of my full suss as I hardly ever ride it
next bike will be a ti 29er hardtail I think

I went from FS to HT a couple of years ago and it felt great. I was stomping up climbs and riding down the hills rather than rolling over everything. Though I found at 1st that any ride over 25 miles and my back and neck were really feeling it. I recently bought another FS bike to compliment the HT and it feels great sitting and spinning up the climbs and rolling over everything downhill.
Did I regret it? No. Did I regret not keeping the FS as well? Yes. Are new bikes great? Yes.

Winter-HT
Race XC-HT
Race Enduro-FS
Playing in the woods-FS
Trail Centre-FS

47to

Never really ‘got on’ with FS, rear suss designs are always a bit of a compromise, the extra servicing/faff of all those pivots and bearings and shocks finally made me sell all my bikes, for one 140mm HT.

Never really regretted my decision, not much slower, easier to service, cheaper and as I’ve got one ‘do it all’, I can afford to spend on one what used to be spread over 3. What’s not to like? I’m fit enough so that I’m not bothered by a lack of ‘cush’ at the back for hours at an end (bike was a Chameleon, now a Shan).

Would never go back to FS

I have 7 bikes – only one full suss. The FS being a 160mm travel bike only really gets used for things like trail centres, anything likely to be a bit lumpy or trips to the alps or suchlike. I probably ride fully rigid SS more than anything (fnar fnar). Currently toying with a new XC hardtail though. 47 yo.

I am confused by the comments that people are more likely to take FS to trail centres. Are trail centres rockier than your normal riding or something? For me the complete opposite is true – when I (rarely) ride trail centres if always take the hardtail on the off chance that it makes it interesting.

I got sucked into the FS world (Kona Four Delux) a few years ago and regretted it, so went back to having a HT and love it. But …

I like building bikes, so I also now have a Cotic Hemlock (looks great – pretty much completely black), but it’s boring and heavy compared to my HT. So I’m back to thinking I don’t want a FS anymore. It only really gets ridden in the winter, or if I’m going in my mate’s car and don’t want my carbon HT downtube to be clamped onto his roof bars.

Now I’m riding the HT most of the time; long or short rides. The simplicity of the bike, low weight, speed on the ups/flat, and picking smoother lines on the downs is winning for me.

oh yeh … 46 1/2 yo, and ride in the Peaks

I’m really enjoying my new Ragley Big Wig. The angles feel sorted, the back end doesn’t feel too harsh, the 140mm Fox 34 forks suit it perfectly, and most importantly it’s fun to ride. I also have a full suss 29er, but I don’t think I would be unhappy if the Ragley was my only bike.

I sold my FS after buying a nice 29er HT (after testing the water on a cheaper one).
Since owning the 29er I have, on two separate occasions, convinced myself that you need a FS in your life for trail centres, summer, longer day rides, after watching Roam/Seasons etc.
Both times I really enjoyed the gathering of parts process, & the excitement of a new build etc. But both times I ended up missing the 29er whenever I rode the FS I had built.

I cant go as fast on the 29er, but therein lies the one of the reasons I prefer the ride. Trails feel more of a challenge again, rather than just knowing you can hit stuff at any speed, line etc. Don’t mean this to read like I’m some kind of riding god, in fact nothing could be further from the truth. 😕

Next change will be a 29+ conversion to the current bike, as the Krampus I test rode was about the most fun I’ve had on a bike in years.

I’m a good few years the wrong side of the big 40. I’ve got both, and I reckon I rode my full suss about 5-6 times last year. My hard tail (P7) gets ridden all the time. I absolutely love it! The Intense just feels like too much bike, so the hardtial gets the nod 95% of the time.

However…… last night I took the full suss out, as the my hard tai’s away getting powder coated. Bloody hell it was fun! I had a right old laugh. All my favourite descents, I was absolutely flying down! Hooning down them like theres no way you could do on the hardtail, while cackling like a maniac! You should see the difference in the Strava times! It didn’t just feel miles faster, and stupidly good fun. It was!

So in answer to your question, you can do all the riding you can do on a full suss, but you can’t do it anywhere near as fast, and in the same completely brain-out manner! Unless you fancy a trip to A&E or a chiropractor. I’m off for a weekend at Brechfa this week, and was wondering which bike to take. After last night, theres absolutely no doubt which bike is coming with me. It’ll be big and bouncy at both ends. I’ll just suffer on the climbs 😀

Ye I ride a hardtail, either rigid or 100mm front all the time now, building a full sus to take to the alps but I wouldn’t be bothering otherwise.

Have both a FS and 29er HT and since autumn I’ve been riding the HT more and more and now hardly touch the FS.
I’ve ridden all types of natural stuff (Peaks,North Wales,Yorks Dales) trail centres the lot and can’t realy see me going back to the FS

At the risk of more kittens dying… I think one of the reasons a lot of people have liked the move to 29ers is that many have traded in a short travel full sus 26er for the hardtail 29er and are loving the responsiveness and speed of a hardtail and it’s slightly more engaging ride… maybe even more than they like or even notice the switch in wheel size. It’s certainly a refreshing change going back to a hardtail and you end up wondering why you bothered with full sus for so many years.

My initial feeling taking on a hardtail after years of short travel FS was “wow this is waaaaay more fun and far faster”. The feeling was less true on 80-100km rides in the Welsh hills where I valued being able to sit and spin in more comfort on rocky climbs for example.

It really depends on you trails and your riding style. If I was just doing short blasts, trail centre type rides or XC racing then it would be an easy choice to go with a hardtail only. For the longer rides on the limit of my fitness I do like the extra comfort of the full sus. Likewise if my rides were super long, technical descents then I’d have the full sus for more fun on the downs.

No one right answer IMO. Can’t say I’d be devastated to be “stuck” with just a hardtail or just a full sus as almost all bikes and modern components are bloomin’ amazing nowadays and more than capable in a range of conditions

I am pretty committed to hardtails.

I know perfectly well that a full-sus is better, but I consistently found mine (a Remedy) to be intimidating, ugly and oddly soul-less. I’ve just broken the full-sus down, and seem to be buying a beautiful new Chromag to replace my beautiful old Chromag.

🙂

Nearing 40 and only have HTs. Used to have FS, but prefer something faster and more direct feeling. Maybe if I lived in the Lakes or somewhere where most of the riding was properly rocky, then I may ride a FS. Used to live in the Peak, and even then preferred the HT for most rides as barrelling down really rocky stuff is only a small part of most rides.

HTs always feel fast, even if a FS is actually faster, so that counts for more to me.

this weekend I rode this

after a month on this

slightly embarassingly I got PB’s on two bits of woodland singletrack on the rigid bike.

They’re both fun but, sometimes, the hardtail is just funner (but sometimes the FS bike is, it depends).

Horses for courses innit after 20+ years on a hard tail i ventured into FS territory last year and got a Ghost lector short travel admittedly i spent the first month falling all over the shop previous 5 years on a single speed so the array of gears and suspension lockout flumoxed me somewhat, but i do find it more forgiving and easier on the arse on long day treks I still ride the hardtail about 50% of the time and now find them both fun in there own way and would miss either one if i was limited to one bike

I’m off to demo the latest in HT trail-friendly 29″ mode I think.

I’ve had 8 ‘proper’ bikes since the 90s.

Number 6 was a Spech Enduro M5 and sold it to buy an Inbred. Never looked back. FS just isn’t for me.

I don’t think I regretted selling my first FS, it just wasn’t the right FS for me, I’m pretty much sorted now with the bikes I have and don’t feel the need to change any.

Been riding a solaris for as couple of years and a niner EMD before that. Decided to buy a sus for two reasons, firstly I now live in Innerleithen and in 6 months it has killed alot of the parts on the Solaris riding the off piste stuff. Secondly, my knees really struggle with 4-5 hour rides on the rough stuff.
I love the solaris, its fabulous and my favourite bike and the new suss keeps throwing me at the scenery. I know its just cos I’m not used to it and Looking at times its quicker without trying as hard but I don’t know if I’m sold on it yet.