HARDtails (or why FS makes you lazy!)

I spent pretty much most of last year on my 160mm full susser. I was ramping up my riding, hitting bigger stuff, going faster, and the confidence a well sorted longer travel bike brought was a definite bonus.

But, i noticed i was getting a bit “lazy” on some trails, because the FS was just swallowing stuff without me having to actively RIDE the bike. So i got my old c456 out of the garage, treated it to a new 1by drivetrain, slapped on a sketchy set of tyres (Racing Ralph/FuriousFred) and hit my local trails.

And? OMG! I’m TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL! I’m like a bowling ball bouncing between trees 😉 STRIKE!!

Stuff that the FS would just waltz over, even at max attack, without the slightest twitch have the HT slewing sideways, bucking like a horse being branded, and good god i’m enjoying it! (other than falling off the thing the whole time…..)

Well, there’s no point in this thread really, but i think everyone should have an HT, even if they only ride it once a month to remind them how bl**dy amazing modern FS bikes are.

Go on show us another pic of you ramping up your riding again i need a lift after todays wet ride.
And just for you I’ll also include one of these. 😉

🙄

sketchy set of tyres

I assume the FS has the same?

No, the FS is on a set of super-gravity dampfs. Rather different to ride….

I’m Usually found on my 160mm Mega.
I went for a quick spin on my Transam hardtail today.

My bum hurts.

this^^^^^^ 😆

Maybe try not hanging around in the local male dogging spots if your bum hurts.
Well at least until you get used of it.

HT for the win

Until you get older and then decide that going fast is more fun on a FS especially when it compensates for your lack of skill.

Then you’ll just want a HT again til you ride it as your ONLY bike

sounds familiar. After a couple years riding my first full susser I got myself a hardtail again last year. Fell off more in a few rides than I had ever I think. Got used to it again now.

Have both but tend to ride the HT more, it feels like a bike should (light, responsive etc) whereas the FS feels like a machine that is taking me for a ride, all I have to do is pedal if that makes sense!?

Obviously for the odd race I’ve entered I use the FS as I am faster on that one but agree with the OP’s sentiment, there is a tendency to get lazy on a FS.

i have got to the age where speed is of no consequence whatsoever. i want comfort and control. hence my recent bike purchase. 160 front and rear.

Yeah this exact thing happened to me, I loved my (admittedly cheap) full susser, but after a year I realised I was just pedalling around between the bigger obsticles, and it was just a bit dull.

Back on a 29er HT now, miss the full suss when I come up to a drop or some rocky steps, but the rest of the time the the HT makes more sense, especially as I can’t be arsed to clean anything.

I found the same about five years ago but I am now drifting back to wanting a full suss for riding lumpier stuff partly for a bit of skills compensation, partly because I want to cushion my now middle aged body from landing those things that I am prepared to drop and jump, and a bit because I think it would be a little confidence booster/ nice change.

I cannot imagine not having and riding regularly a hardtail or rigid bike though . As the op says it keeps you sharp and or bruised!

Go on show us another pic of you ramping up your riding again i need a lift after todays wet ride.
And just for you I’ll also include one of these

You need to “ramp up the banter” Stu, as its going unnoticed. 😆

its going unnoticed

Ignored not unnoticed I’d say. 🙂

tbh, unless you’re hucking big to flat, you don’t notice the lack of rear bounce on things like drops or jumps, but i do notice it when whanging down a rocky/rooty bit of single track 😉

What i do notice is how high the BB feels on the c456 by comparison. With no sag at the back, (and with quite a high top tube) it feels much more like being “On” the bike and less like being “in” it

singlespeedstu

Ignored not unnoticed I’d say.

Just for you Stu, the worlds dullest MTB video. Should help you sleep well tonight 😉

I’m sitting waiting by the phone for the RB Rampage people to phone any minute now………..

I have a fully rigid 29er and a lively shortish travel (130mm) 26 FS. This works really well for me therefore obviously is also the correct answer for everybody else.

😀
That’s cheered me up no end.

Went for the first outdoor road ride in ages yesterday after an autumn/winter of riding big squishy tyres with at least front suspension, but mainly full suspension, and a nice upright riding position.

After an hour on Harrogate’s, apparently ploughed, roads, I’m a broken man.

I am now chanting rule 5.

Stuff that the FS would just waltz over, even at max attack, without the slightest twitch have the HT slewing sideways, bucking like a horse being branded, and good god i’m enjoying it! (other than falling off the thing the whole time…..)

Try the same ride on a CX bike with semi-slick tyres, works for me, it’s put a whole new slant on some of my local Quantocks trails.

Sold my 5 a few yrs ago and have spent past 2 yrs on a Soul, which I love, 120mm Reba’s and a reverb, so quite capable. First ride today on ‘summer bike’, a shiny new Anthem SX – jeez, so much fun – fast, comfy, nimble… Ain’t selling the Soul though as they are quite complimentary 😀

Meh, I find fs so much more fun! Pretty much only ride dh though.. I’m toying with the idea of getting a nice xc 29er hardtail though. I do enjoy xc rides and want to do more of them on a bike that was actually made to ride up hills for a change – I’ve always compromised uphill performance for downhill fun! Having said that I still prefer having travel either end, feels so much more balanced. I think I’d rather fully rigid than ht.

Recall swapping my ti hardtail with 80mm SIDs to a Scott FS with 170/150 for a wee scoot down Spooky Wood at GT. Initial marvel at the capability soon turned to boredom, the bloody thing just bulldozed everything, no need to pick lines, unweight, think, just point and plough. Prefer easier climbs and more challenging descents tbh.

Maybe we should all have a 1980s HT sitting in the back of the garage that we have to ride at least once a year to remind ourselves just how far MTBs have developed in that time.

Both bikes and trails have moved on, each seemingly daring the other to be harder, gnarlier, than before to the point where we now have trails and bikes that are made for each other.

If, like _tom_ , you basically only ride DH courses then a HT isn’t going to be much use, it’s the wrong tool for the job. OTOH for the vast majority of my riding a DH rig, or indeed any FS, is overkill, they would turn the trails in to virtual roads. Like others have said you have to really work at getting down the rougher trails on a HT.

I only ever want one bike (plus a hack). At the moment it’s a little-big bike (170mm each end) and love it.

I borrowed the wife’s Inbred to ride the other day and Jesus… the first thing I did was ride seated off a biggish curb and almost broke my spine.

Once I’d remembered how to move around the bike etc, I had great fun.

The FS, on one hand, does make you lazy on the smaller stuff but having been a hard tail rider for most of my life, I enjoy the confidence I have with a full susser. Horses for courses.

The one thing I miss, no longer riding an XC carbon HT, is people assume you could jump etc but are on the wrong bike. Now they look at the bike, see me being a wimp and I have no excuses 😉

^not really, jumps are easier on a hardtail so don’t feel so bad about being a wimp 😛

Im impressed you took the time to film a pi55 take video just for stus hucking benefit

Maybe we should all have a 1980s HT sitting in the back of the garage

If I had the money I would. A friend of mine has an 80’s era Spesh hardrock with the original whitewall tires and canti brakes. Looks amazing.

I’ve never owned a full bounce, always ridden a hardtail that was either a DJ bike or similar geometry. Borrowed my clubs stinky a few times… that’s a great machine for soaking up idiocy. The line choice issues with FS vs HT is more about speed than anything. Sure you could go over it all and not care, but if you point a FS at the line you use for a HT you’ll go miles faster. If I ever get a FS it will be to compliment my current rig though, not to replace it.

Has anybody said yet that sus forks are skill compensators? Gears? Freewheels?

Pah, I sneer at all your extra wheeled skill compensators – if you don’t ride one of these at least once a week you’re unskilled and lazy

I’m sitting waiting by the phone for the RB Rampage people to phone any minute now………..

May i suggest a skillz course in the mean time 😛

Local spins are always on the HT and the only thing that’s stopping me from riding it more often in the mountains is my FS is so bloody good. The lack of rear suspension is the obvious difference but for me the gearing (1×10 34t) and the lack of a dropper post mean that unless i’m feeling particularly fit, i’ll take the FS.

I’m Usually found on my 160mm Mega.
I went for a quick spin on my Transam hardtail today.

My bum hurts.
What? You are sitting down?

I had a go on an FS once.. didn’t like it

Not riding your bike makes you lazy, the rest is just BS.

Did this thread slip through a wormhole from 10 years ago or something?

Blimey Chaka, did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning?? 😆

It’s not meant to be a “bike x is better than bike y” thread, it’s just a “hey, different types of bikes are different and if you only ride one bike you’re missing out” thread really!

whitestone – Member

Maybe we should all have a 1980s HT sitting in the back of the garage that we have to ride at least once a year to remind ourselves just how far MTBs have developed in that time.

Every time I hear a Youth criticise anything about a modern bike I want to make them ride my old rigid carrera at gunpoint. “Oh these Avid brakes suck, they barely slow you down man!” “Let’s see if you still say this after riding the altus cantis mother******” “This suspension fork is…” “**** YOU! Bent bit of steel for you!” “These tyres…” “These are made of leather!”

Until you get older and then decide that going fast is more fun on a FS especially when it compensates for your lack of skill.

If I find my full suss is compensating for my lack of skills I just go faster, it doesn’t take long for my skills to be maxed out again.

Blimey Chaka, did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning??

A bit yeah, but I wasn’t just aiming that at you – more the ensuing FS/HT debate.

Keep it up anyway, better to be enthusiastic about riding than making smartarse comments on the internet!

Got back from our ride this afternoon and sat outside the pub (swoon – spring must be here!) and there were two really old-school mountain bikes leant against the wall looking suitably muddy. Pedals with rat-traps (yes on an MTB); tyres that were hardly any bigger than those on my wife’s cyclo-cross; narrow handlebars (sorry about the kitten). Don’t know where they had been – probably having fun.

The oddest thing was that despite both bikes being really muddy and the bloke being really muddy, the woman looked as if she’d just stepped out of the car!

If I find my full suss is compensating for my lack of skills I just go faster, it doesn’t take long for my skills to be maxed out again.

This x 10000