For me a 29er hard tail is over biked

Hang on, going back to the OP, hasn’t he only got 2 bikes? A Dude and a Five?

How is that multiple? Sounds like a couple to me. Doesn’t even sound like much overlap either….. 😉

Sounds like the absolute bare minimum……

How is that multiple?

Two is a multiple of one. (2 x 1 = 2)

Sounds like a couple to me.

Sounds like a couple to me.

A couple is two, which is a multiple of one, so a couple is multiple.

There is nothing radical about the geometry of my Dude: 455mm reach (large), 68.5 degree head angle, 74 degree seat angle, 440mm chainstays. There are plenty of 29ers out there with very similar numbers. So what makes the Dude so amazingly confidence inspiring on a steep, loose, rocky descent?

The head angle might be conservative but the reach and chainstays are on par with a modern enduro bike – I’d expect it to feel very planted.

Got four that I use all the time, and five or so sitting idle. Of the four, my fat bike gets taken out the most as it is so useless at just about everything, it becomes almost fun. My 5 generally sits idle as by the time I’ve got it to the top of the hill, I really can’t be arsed to do anything else. On the odd time I find somewhere that suits it, it reminds me why I keep it. But the bike that’s done the most miles is my do-it-all PACE hardtail. It doesn’t excel anywhere; just gets the job done in a workmanlike fashion. Hence why I’ll never tire of it.

the old winter hardtail thing is a bit of a cliche now, but I enjoy my hardtail and my full suss an equal amount, they are both immense fun in their own ways. which one i choose usually boils down to how long ive got, and whether ive time for the cleaning routine when i get back. if im pushed or its after dark ill choose the HT because i will just put it away till next time when i get home – this is the only reason it gets used more in winter. but if i have more time ill take the full bouncer whatever time of year it is…

How is that multiple?

Two is a multiple of one. (2 x 1 = 2)

And I thought that arguing with myself was going to be as low as this thread got 🙂

For the record I do only have two off-road bikes (well, three, but two are fatbikes). However, over the years I’ve had various combinations of bikes and always faced the same problem: they are all great somewhere and not that good in other places.

The head angle might be conservative but the reach and chainstays are on par with a modern enduro bike – I’d expect it to feel very planted.

Planted? Yes, that’s a good way to describe it, which also means it’s harder to loft the front wheel over things of course. But is that all there is to it? Is what I translate into confidence on tricky descents just the bike feeling planted? Could be, I guess.

Which is why I have a fat bike, it’s not just bad, its ridiculously bad at most things!

Having been beaten by fat bikes at both an XC race and enduro this makes me feel rather useless 🙂

its baffling to me why for so many years we have had to put up with squidgy, not locked out lockouts

This deserves its own thread. I’m baffled too.

Maybe full lockout is too damaging to oil seals as anything but totally smooth pedaling on a flat surface will cause pressure spikes on them?

But so many bikes get sold without the shock even claiming to have a full lockout. Must be an OEM conspiracy to make you want to upgrade it.

Why would anyone want a lockout?
Just stop mashing the pedals.
Spin to win. (But don’t spin too fast, you’ll start bobbing).

Maybe address this before you buy another? Rather than getting what people suggest you should get, or one that’s popular, or the latest fashion.

Or alternatively, practice riding more, so you can do stuff on an unsuitable bike…… means each niche gets bigger thanks to improved skills.

I’m getting a Trek Stache 29+carbon, not seen 1 bad review on this bike!
It looks great fun,agile, rolls really well and soaks up the small stuff(magic carpet style)with the 29×3 tyres with low psi and instant feedback though the drive train. I guess there’s no perfect 1 bike but this ticks most of the boxes for me, i’m in!

Problem with multiple bikes:
Which one to ride
Why they all break at once and space

I’m planning to scale back this year selling an enduro bike I hardly ride the wife is getting my short travel full sus and im about to build up a 130mm full sus

Out of all my bikes the 29er lefty with 90mm travel has to be the most fun and most ridden, although it felt like a pogo stick on north America end of cutgate

Just stop mashing the pedals.
Spin to win.

ghostlymachine do you own a hardtail?

assuming it’s not silly rough, and both bikes fit you, what climbs quicker, your hardtail or an equivalent weight/wheelsize full suss?

Today, I have two HTs, and two FS. And a rigid. They all fit me. (none of them are broken/worn out/in need of servicing either!)

If its not silly rough, climbing is much of a muchness, none of them are consistently or measurably quicker. Why would they be?

The suspension needs input to start moving, the trail doesn’t provide very much, neither do I.

Been there and felt the same – I’ve run two MTBs for a long time; one has stayed consisitent (although rigid/ sus, gears/ SS). the other has swapped about a lot. I’ve finally got them where i enjoy/ suck up the bad bits as much as to good bits.

Don’t stress about sus sucking the efficiancy out of a climb, drop a gear and winch up it. Don’;t worry about a HT rattling your teeth out – just grin with the stupidity.

Also a better suspension system will help 😉

*anecdote alert*

The problem with having multiple bikes is when two or more are set up to feel pretty much the same.

I used to have a long-travel HT and a Very Long Travel freeride bike. The JRA position and geometries were almost identical I even had the same size/type contact points.

This is absolutely fine until you commit to a super booter/road gap and realise you’re on the wrong bike

@ghostlymachine fair enough. Myself I find I can climb quicker on the HT by standing up and stamping on the pedals more, while obv on the full suss I’d have to sit and spin. Both bikes the same weight (it isn’t a light hardtail) but fs has 160mm travel. That implies for me that if stamping on pedals was a worthwhile option (because lockout actually did what it said on the tin) then I could climb faster on the fs too.

Of course neither bike is particularly set up for the climbs. Just as I like them 😈

Or alternatively, practice riding more, so you can do stuff on an unsuitable bike

It’s good advice in general, but can just make the problem worse ! Coaching (and just riding more) tends to change what and how you ride. For example, I used to ride off the back of the bike a fair bit. Modern (progressive) geometry didn’t work for me and I preferred bikes with short chainstays to help me lift the front end. With a bit of coaching and a lot of practice I now ride more in the centre of the bike and can lift the front more easily. So, now a whole load of bikes that I would have rejected before come into play and the bike that seemed ideal last year no longer feels as good.

add a few BMX’s into the equation and multiple bikes seems even more crazy. I choose a bike depnding upon what type of riding I’m doing. All mine are 26 inch ( the mtb’s) so came from an era when bikes were more suited to one type of riding I guess, so choosing is easier. Modern bikes now are so capable of a variety of riding types that I can see less of a need for too many bikes now.

I have a seperate basic mtb for commuting too and even a commuting/urban riding bmx!Then add a retrobike. No problems having multiple bikes at all. 🙂

That just says “can’t spin very effectively”. Or at least, doesn’t have much practice and/or good technique.
Generally, it isn’t, not for any sustained amount of time, can generate more power, but does it incredibly inefficiently and not really sustainably (30-60 seconds maybe? Or if you’ve run out of gears! Then it turns into heaving on the pedals rather than stamping!). As i said, spin to win. Or at least, once you’ve practiced spinning. 😉

So not enough headspace to remember how to modify your behaviour to suit the bike you are riding, can see a) how that would happen and b) see how it would be a problem. More practice needed i guess……

And i have a pile of road bikes (going back 25+ years, so shit brakes and DT shifters to remember about) a couple of CX bikes, a TT bike and probably some more i’ve forgotten about…….

@ghostlymachine

I’m quite comfortable spinning on the full suss, thanks. But I gave it lower gears than the HT for precisely that reason.

Yeah, standing and stamping isn’t long term sustainable, it’s only useful when you run out of gears. Which nobody ever does on 1×10, obviously. Nor do mountain bikers ever need to tackle short steep bits. 😉 Ok sarcasm over, as you’re right to a point, it’s not the short steep bits I want lockout for anyway (unless a climb has lots of them in sequence with gaps between, or repeated call for hopping up over roots, or such like).

I just feel – even when spinning – that my hardtail is a more responsive bike when climbing, the fact you can stand and stamp is one example of that responsiveness but for me it plays out in other ways too. It would be nice if the FS did that too.