I’ve been riding for a few years now, just on a hardtail, starting to really enjoy it now and wondering if its worth upgrading to a Full suspension bike? my budget is very limited and wondered if I was better off buying better forks and tyres for my hardtail then spending loads on a new bike? im far from a downhill racer but starting to get better at downhill red routes (never tried a black yet). My current bike is a Merida Matts trail 100-D, any thoughts?

Where do you ride?

What sort of stuff would you like to ride in future?

Where do you find your current bike is lacking?

What level of mechanical skill do you have?

What is your budget?

Upgrading your current bike is always a good idea, and never wasted – as even if at some point you buy a FS; you’ll still have the HT.

I’ve had FS’s in the past but now only ride a HT. But lads I ride with mostly have both and use whichever one they fancy for whatever ride we are doing.

I’ve been riding a few years on a HT and have recently built up a Mega FS. Only two rides in but loving it so far, BUT i won’t be getting rid of my trusty 456. I do a real mixture of riding from natural trails, singletrack, jumps, urban obstacles, DH runs and trail centres and whilst my 456 was OK for them all when it gets rough and rooty i felt i was really at the limit of how fast I could go on my bike.

If you can afford it (not just to buy, but maintain also!) and want it then why not? It’s much easier to carry speed with a bit of extra boing.

I mainly go to thrunton woods so natural trails but also up at kielder and glentress trail centre, i was always terrible at going downhill and ofter hopped off if i thought it was too steep, but my confidence is getting better and really want to push myself and just feel would have even more confidence on a full sus. I might stick with hard tail for now and carry out my planned mods and see how i get on!