Long summary:

Diabetes, health problems, more inconvenient than serious but won’t be going away, fitness is shot to hell but hopefully improving.

140mm FS Trail Bike that I built up as a dream bike. It’s gathering dust in favour of CX and an old hardtail with V-Brakes as they have bottle cages and I’ve found packs difficult to wear.

I was keeping it to use when things get better but have seen a rather lovely steel hardtail frame that’s nagging in the back of my head.
It would take all the bits from the trail FS and hopefully the second hand price of the FS Frame would cover the cost with a bit left for toys.

Realistically the kind of riding I do does not need FS, I am doubting I’d ever visit Bike Park Wales and most “features” that appear on FC Red Routes don’t do anything for me. I guess I just like a nice bit of singletrack through the woods, don’t mind berms and swoopy stuff but surprise rock steps and woodwork spoil it for me.

Anyone else had similar thoughts? anyone got shut of a FS bike and regretted it.

n+1 is not an option. (unless there’s a lottery win this weekend)

I onlt ever have had one mtb at a time and regularly switch between full sus and hard tails. It seems that i get a 2 year itch.

Current (only) bike is a fully rigid fatty….

Can’t say that owning / riding a hardtail is detrimental to my riding enjoyment over a full sus bike.

I did it and haven’t regretted it (although I have just built up a cheap DH bike for uplifts etc).

I was lugging around a 160mm travel bike, which climbed well etc and covered all bases with one bike. Once I built up a hardtail again though, I found myself riding that more and more. For general trail riding I don’t really find that I’m losing out. I might be a tad slower on the rougher descents but overall I’m faster round the trails that I ride normally.

I’ve tried FS bikes and hated them; it felt like sitting on a boingy mattress, so I never bothered. On my Ti hardtail I raced a bloke on a mahoosive Rottweil downhill bike down a rocky bridleway and he complained I was going too fast for him to get past.

I use a HT during the winter and have just dragged my FS back out nowthe trails are drying up, & am so much happier for it. Were all different though, I hate marmite but they still insist on selling it, make you own choice…

If you’re not riding anything massively tech hard tail will be fine.

However if you’re struggling with illness the full suss will make things easier, after I snapped my femur in half if I didn’t have a full suss it would’ve taken me a lot longer to get back into mountain biking, it’s only now 3 or so years later that I can ride my hard tail with out feeling any pain.

Weird, I am going the opposite way, see my thread…

maybe we can come to some sort of deal….bike dependent. What is yours ?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shops-that-do-part-exor-sell-privately

I was limited to my old ht for a while after stripping down the fs. Couldn’t wait to build the fs back up and sold the ht on soon after. Saying that, I’m eyeing up a ht again, albeit one with different priorities. It would be n+1 though.

Couple of mates went back to ht only 3 or 4 years ago, one of them selling his fs frame to fund a new ht one. Both are now back on fs.

Yep, ditched the FS bikes about 10 years ago and never looked back.

I got bored of just flying down anything and feeling like a passenger, sold it and went for a long travel HT and had so much more fun picking lines.

I had a FS itch and bought one a few years ago. About the same time a friend was begging with me to part with a HT as he was moving country and wanted to take it with him. I agreed and about a month later admitted to myself I just couldn’t get on with a FS. 😡

No health issues here but H T only for me in 26 and 29. I find I enjoy riding H T’ more plus they’ve been less problematic than my F S’ have been in the past. Just to muddy the waters my H T’s are carbon, steel and alu and I wouldn’t want to choose a favourite. Oh, did I mention I was a bike tart and I like the look of H T’ best?

What Pickle said.

Grew up on a hardtail, only got full suss after 12 years of riding. Had a lot of fun on em, but the riding I do is mostly more fun on a hardtail and where it’s not, I just enjoy the challenge (and overtaking those on FS obvs).

I’ve tried FS bikes and hated them; it felt like sitting on a boingy mattress, so I never bothered. On my Ti hardtail I raced a bloke on a mahoosive Rottweil downhill bike down a rocky bridleway and he complained I was going too fast for him to get past

*Swoon*

Ran a ti hardtail for a few years which caused me to sell my Five.

Back on a susser now, but getting a new hardtail soon.

Do it. 🙂

*Swoon*

😆

I’ve tried FS bikes and hated them; it felt like sitting on a boingy mattress, so I never bothered. On my Ti hardtail I raced a bloke on a mahoosive Rottweil downhill bike down a rocky bridleway and he complained I was going too fast for him to get past

Ah, the ’90s anecdotes, they’re so relevant…

I tried a nukeproof mega and a Vitus sommet recently after getting a full sus itch. After the demo day the itch was scratched, I preferred my hardtail.

n+1 is not an option.

n+1 not being an option is never an option 😉

Just find a way. Sell the kids, or wife, or whatever else 😀

As for HT vs FS. There’s no ‘vs’. They’re both good. I ride both and love them to bits each time I ride them. The HT actually gets more rides at the moment but mainly due to night rides I do which are more xc-ish or rather less gravity/gnar oriented singletrack, plus the battery mount fits better on the HT. I can ride the stuff fine on the FS too, but keeping up with speedy 29ers is tricky on a heavy 26″ All Mountain geometry 170 travel full sus. However, thrashing round big hills, Wales, Alps even, the full sus is awesome. I then flip to the HT for similar stuff and while it’s different and have to use the legs more as suspension, I find I can still do the same stuff and get a real kick out of it too.

It’s all good fun. I can’t see being without one or the other.

In fact it’s not enough. I need a fat bike also. And a singlespeed.

😀

(I have no space at all for any of it though)

If you’re trying to get fit, and have hills, and live where there’s a grinding paste that trashes gears, and primarily do non-gnarly stuff then give single-speeding a go.

I’ve had ht bikes for years alongside my fs bikes, great fun but now I have my 2 really well put together fs bikes the ht has sat in the shed unbuilt. I’m still tempted by something like a soul but not enough to order one.

I’ve always had a ss and a 4x/jumpy ht.
I alternate with my grrrr bike.
Have a ht,get jealous of shiney fs bikes and all the stuff I could do with one.
Buy said fs and do all the stuff I wanted to do….get bored.Sell it.
Buy ht and do all the stuff I did on the fs.See more stuff I could do on a fs.
Buy said fs and do all the stuff I wanted to do….get bored.Sell it.
Buy ht and do all the stuff I did on the fs.See more stuff I could do on a fs.
Repeat ad infinitum

For me its about simplicity and ease of maintainance. Had a few ht’s and decided to buy an Orbea Orcam fs which was a fantastic bike to ride but required two bearing changes through the winter months.
Back to ht now in the form of a Spesh Carve Pro and loving my riding more than everer!

I am lucky and have most often had both built up and available. I love my current hardtail and love bashing through the woods on it, hacking about bridleways and also a bit of trail centre (Red/Black) stuff too. It’s all good fun. I love my FS but I always come back smiling from my hardtail rides.

I’ve got one of each. Tbh the HT beat me up on the natural trails that I ride on. The short travel 29er is a v good way to go as an all rounder. I am back in love with my HT since I changed it to 27.5+. How about that for an option?

I’m in exactly the same dilemma, only not as a result of health issues, so sympathy to allan23.

I have a Stumpy 650b Evo and a Whyte 905. Both very nice but after a crash on it last autumn I don’t use the FS that much – generally going faster when I run out of talent… Bike unharmed luckily!

So trying to decide whether to sell the Stumpy and use parts from the Whyte to put on a been-meaning-to-for-years steel HT; either a Cotic Soul or a Pace RC127.

I seem to go through the ‘need FS, buy, get bored, sell’ cycle endlessly, but as I get older I’m slowing down and identifying with a HT ever more. Decisions.

Thinking the same way myself.
Riding both at the moment both 29.
After a few nasty offs last weekend on the fs thinking of getting back to basics.
I am a mellow xc rider at heart!
Thinking ti hardtail 29 with 120 fork.
Maybe the option of 27.5 plus for more adventurous days?
Thanks,
Max

Turnerfan1 – Member
Thinking the same way myself.
Riding both at the moment both 29.
After a few nasty offs last weekend on the fs thinking of getting back to basics.
I am a mellow xc rider at heart!
Thinking ti hardtail 29 with 120 fork.
Maybe the option of 27.5 plus for more adventurous days?
Thanks,
Max

On-One Parkwood?

3.5 hrs on the Anthem SX today felt about the same as 2.5hrs on the Soul, same local trails. Love them both but the Anthem nails it for fast and dry.

I’ve only ever had one MTB at any one time (lack of space) and have alternated between FS & HT. For what I want to do now (traditional bridleway biking and bikepacking) a HT is fine. I’ve no inclination to spend much time at trail centres, when I do the HT is more than capable.

You do have to be more active on the bike so you are out of the saddle more, you can’t just let it soak up the hits.

This weekend I’ve done two eight hour rides on the HT and don’t feel particularly beat up. Would I have been less tired on a FS? Possibly but strangely I feel more confident on my HT than my last FS (admittedly it was a 2006 Marin Mt Vision)

Useful opinions there, seems like I’m not the only one.

I suspect it will come down to something practical like the lack of bottle cages on the FS. Health stuff isn’t that bad, bit of loss of muscle strength as a side effect of some of the drugs while getting everything stable but it’s all good now. Backpacks still hurt, however riding without them made me realise what a pain in the arse they are. Not having a sweaty back last year was great.

I have got a HT luckily but it’s my old 90s one with v-brakes. Something a bit more modern would be welcome. (Not selling it – it’s a Zaskar)

Still considering, might take the FS out next weekend and see what I think. It’s an awesome bike (V2 Spitfire) I was hoping would be a long termer like the old HT has been.

I’m mostly riding my HT as my mates Zesty has been out of action so he’s been using my Spearfish. It’s very rare on the local XC stuff that I find it anything of a problem…. If the need came up I’d happily have the HT as my day to day bike.

n+1, obvs 😀

Buuuuut…, I’d prefer a HT over a FS if I could only have one bike. I stripped my HT to build up a new FS frame, hated it, sold the frame and rebuilt my HT up. I’ve since bought a cheap-ish 170mm FS frame and built it up cheaply for local DH races but for everything else I much prefer chucking my HT about than steamrollering over stuff on the FS.

Do it, beware its a rocky road though… I switched to a HT when I made the leap to 29er wheels and now its all about making the thing lighter, stronger and even quicker up the climbs. I miss the security of rear travel, but my riding has progressed far quicker than it would ever have done sitting back and steamrollering the trails on my old Intense.

I have a choice of two bikes. An FS and fully rigid.
I enjoy both.
I’d like to get a half decent set of suspension forks on the rigid bike, but finding ones with a straight steerer long enough for the mahoosive headtube is tricky….