[Closed] Anyone else not get on with hardtails?

Personal preference and riding style I guess.

I have an Orange Crush 26er which was alright, good fun. I've recently sold my 160mm Cube Stereo for a Stanton Switchback with a 160mm fork on the front and I have no regrets about it at all.

A friend commented how sketchy it looks riding behind me watching the back wheel bouncing around all over the place but I'll be honest I don't feel it and the imbalance of 160mm up front to 0mm on the rear never really crosses my mind.

Just depends how you ride them!

You're doing it wrong.
Love my HT. So responsive and gets me up and down everything I want.
The only time I miss my FS is big long days for comfort and feeling fresher and occasional uber rocky lines that I have to slow on.

Nope. Just two carbon HTs here and they're both perfect.

nope, i love my 456 and will always have a hardtail... i'm actually debating whether or not i should sell my full sus as the HT will do 95% of what my full sus can do...

I can see where you are coming from, my suspension forks died recently so went to rigid carbon. It needed a little change to my riding style but it's brilliant (especially with B+ tyres) and I manage most (if not more) things that I could before. Whenever I think about getting a FS I realise that there's just two trails around here where it would be preferable to my HT and while I can do them on the HT, it's just hard work and I just need to apply rule #5.

@Paul_B The sketchiness of the backend of a HT is something my wife took a bit of getting used to having ridden a FS for some years, A FS bike "sticks" to the terrain whereas a HT or rigid pings around (for want of better terms). So long as you still get traction when you need it then letting the backend do what it wants is no big deal.

Interesting to see Josh Kato's bike for this year's Tour Divide: A full-suss with Lauf forks. The rear suspension takes the sting out of the many miles of trail while you don't need the weight and complexity of standard suspension forks for dirt roads, so something like the Laufs are ideal.

Nope, love my Whippet.

Yes I can't be doing with clattering over things getting shaken to death. Fine for a tow path pootle I'm sure but they are not for me.

Whilst i have no problem with hardtails in general, I always have similar thoughts about agro hardtails. If you are ploughing into stuff hard enough to need a 140+mm fork then the back end is going to be kicking like a mule. Maybe someone can explain them for me, cos I sure as hell don't get it.

Fork set up (especially if longer travel) is key to avoid the front end diving too much.As is a different riding style.
I never own a fs for more than about 9 months before I get fed up of it and go back to a ht.

I'm not keen on long travel HT's for this reason, owt over 100mm on a HT feels wrong..

Stop 'ploughing into stuff' and pick some actual lines? 😉
See....'different riding style'

Stop 'ploughing into stuff' and pick some actual lines?
See....'different riding style'

Exactly, you cannot ride a HT like a FS, you have to look for the HT line rather than letting the shock take the hit at the back. Roots are a pain in the arse though.

Saying that, Ive never owned a FS bike.

@Khani I had the fork on my HT (Cotic Solaris) set at 120mm, felt fine but I think on a 26" or 650b then 100mm would be right.

If the majority of your riding is trail centres or rough stuff such as those trails around Ladybower then a FS is ideal otherwise a HT is more than enough.

Yes. I recently sold my Solaris despite having quite an emotional attachment to it as I was forced to conclude that hardtails just aren't for me. I don't like the way you can get pitched forwards if the front end compresses or the fact that the front lets you plough through stuff only for the rear to beat the crap out of you. All personal preference of course, but I replaced it with a 5" rigid fatbike, which suits me much better. More comfortable and more confidence inspiring (as the geometry isn't always changing).

This is all in addition to a good full-suss of course 🙂

a hardtail makes you pick your line better, its good to ride one from time to time to up your game, but my mate must have balls of steel the speed he goes down some singletrack our way.

Yup, me. Certainly where I ride I get fed up of hardtails within a pretty short time and go back to full suspension. I don't personally find that getting bounced around makes a ride fun, I find that the feeling of flowing along really fast and being able to smoothly hold lines through corners peppered with rocks and roots is fun, so for me, a hardtail is just less fun. I don't personally understand this notion that a bike that smooths the trail out too much is less fun, perhaps it's just not smooth enough where I am for this to ever be an issue.
For what it's worth, I get the impression that Steve Jones of Dirt magazine is pretty much anti hardtail too, or at least doesn't see the point of them.

You just get used to it, don't you? Years (if you're of an age, anyway) of riding them will make them feel 'normal'. I love my 150mm HT but just can't get away with FS bikes. I've tried, I've had various with different amounts of travel but they just bore me (because I'm not fast enough probably!)

[troll] It'd be interesting to know how many FS riders have come into MTBing fresh from nappies, so to speak, and how many HT/rigid riders have grown up through BMX and therefore know how to ride a bike... 😉 [/troll]

a hardtail makes you pick your line better

... Exactly!! ... sure, for pure DH, an FS is the right tool, but an FS masks a skills deficit for most riding

Lights blue touch paper and retreats 😀

Nope, I think they're ace

I'd got caught up in the have your cake and eat it of all mountain / enduro bikes but ended up sacking my 160mm bike and off for a hardtail because I found myself constantly riding the little hardtail that I'd built up for mucking about on. It was just so much fun. A bit slower through the rough stuff but quicker on the smoother stuff and it made me smile more. I also don't need worry about pivot bearings etc and just chucking it in the garage after a wet shitty ride.

I like longer travel hardtails and and currently running my Ti Switchback with 140mm forks. There are some places that I rode and my Rune was immense for but I just don't get to ride them often.

I seem to have switched between FS & HT several times. Currently on HT, have never ridden a BMX.

I'm with the OP. I like the idea of a HT but when I ride one I wish I was on my FS. Every HT rider may think they're a riding god but I'd prefer to ride further and faster, in more comfort.

I've done my time on HT so won't be going back any time soon.

Different ideas of 'fun', isn't it? If you like having to think about where you point the bike and like a little bit of sketch, ride a hardtail. If you like being able to blat about, flat out downhill, and not worry [i]too[/i] much about what the back end's doing, ride a FS.

Bikes, innit. Fun.

Always had one when I lived down south, got a lot of use out of it.

Don't make as much sense for my normal riding now I live up north, so I've been without one for the best part of a year.

Guess what I just bought though...

Aren't most of the comments on this thread simply justifications for whatever the poster is riding at the moment? (myself included)

Guess what I just bought though...

A quarter of cola cubes and a 10p carton of pop? Do I win £5?

edit- made no sense at all 😆

I'm quite the opposite, whilst I see the benefits of a nice full sus, I just can't get the hardtails off my fleet, indeed I just built one up.

Every HT rider may think they're a riding god but I'd prefer to ride further and faster, in more comfort.

... and every FS rider also thinks they're riding like a god!

When I did a stint as a ski instructor I always used to say it's better to ski a blue or red in control and with style rather than hurtle down a black out of control just to earn the bragging rights. Maybe the analogy stretches to MTB??

Lights touch paper of big rocket this time 😀 😀

 

I ride rigid in the winter and stick suspension up front for the summer. I have tried fs a few times but it just feels strange. When I swap from rigid to ht in the spring it takes a couple of rides to get used to the feeling.

It'd be interesting to know how many FS riders have come into MTBing fresh from nappies, so to speak, and how many HT/rigid riders have grown up through BMX and therefore know how to ride a bike...

Hardtails are fine through the technical "gnar" and on proper "trails": The problem I have with them is the constant chatter over hardpack ground, particularly on rough bridleways.

However, [u]man-made[/u] trails have changed and got steeper and rougher and what you can do on a bike, or at least what you can ride at speed, has come on hugely since those days as suspension, tyres and geometry have improved and [b]it would feel enormously limiting to go back[/b].

Which is part of what [b]you[/b] get out of riding [b]your[/b] bike. It's subjective, isn't it, and there's no 'right' or 'wrong'? I love my HT but then I don't ride at trail centres much, but I do like riding down stairs and doing skids and wheelies 😆

Had a 456 with old zocchi 150mm travel forks on for years. Bought a orange partrio x cell 66 frame and moved everything over. Sold that and now have a ns bikes clash fram with 150mm revelation world cups.

Hardtail are fine just gotta build up your thighs to take the bumps

Erm, a no from me to the OP i'm afraid. Have ridden everything from rigid to long travel full sus, currently have short travel FS, long travel FS, long travel HT. The HT gets by far the most use locally in the peaks and recently over 2 weeks in the alps (backcountry not bike park mind), and i'd say is the most predictably handling setup i've ever had.

The unbalanced issue - I think you do need to put a lot of effort into getting your bike setup right to get the best out of long travel hardtails, and also your body position; you have to do a lot more work using your legs as suspension and getting your weight in the right place. However, surely it's even worse with rigid... haven't ridden rigid for a number of years now but friends advise it's pretty brutal on the body (i.e much more so) on our local trails.

That said, ride whatever you enjoy. Fun is more important than fast anyway.

Which is part of what you get out of riding your bike. It's subjective, isn't it, and there's no 'right' or 'wrong'? I love my HT but then I don't ride at trail centres much, but I do like riding down stairs and doing skids and wheelie

As been said, it's a different style of riding. Need to get the fork setup right. Then make the front work when you're hitting the gnarr, letting the back end float over stuff.

It's long flat pedally rooty rocky sections when you're tired that can get a bit tedious.

it would feel enormously limiting to go back.

Partly why I like a HT. Tackling steep rough stuff quickly is more of a challenge and harder work, makes it more fun IMO. If I was racing that stuff I'd definitely be on a FS as it would be quicker, but for fun and playing about I like a HT.

Fun is more important than fast anyway

Well, yes, but the illusion of faster is funner, whether it's [i]actually[/i] faster or not

Fixed, no charge 😀

the best rider i know, and he did come from a bmx background, and was very very good, can ride any line he chooses, but ive never seen him ride his hard tail, its full suss every time.

i dont get on with hard tails either, even on a 456 i feel like im pitched way too forwards, and the back end does my back in.

The fs may be a skills compensator, but i enjoy it more

Interesting thread and I do agree, it does feel more balanced to me. I have often wondered if the front suspension hardtail thing, was that manufacturers of bikes sort of added the front suspension forks as a marketing tool to sell bikes over fully rigid going back into the archives of MTB. It was a chicken before the egg thing, then they decided to make full suspension bikes a bit after.

It would have made more sense to have a fully suspended bike straight off. No doubt some smart arse will say such and such made a a full suss bike before even front suspension hardtails were available. This is the mainstream I'm meaning though not niche one offs and the like.

It's very tame round where I live, mostly bridleway and fireroad style bashing with some bits every now and then

So I supplemented my hardtail with a rigid last summer. Was set up SS but now has gears and is set up as a bit of a gravel grinder

Always had a hardtail, always will.
Love riding it on trails that challenge, even my 160mm bike, and love trying to keep up with mates on gnarpoon enduro sled rig weapons.

As mentioned above though, it's the stutter bumps and wallowy holes where you get bucked more than a fs where they annoy slightly. It's probably just laziness of style though after being used to riding full suss.

Me poor rims though.... 😯

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Well, yes, but the illusion of faster is funner, whether it's actually faster or not

Very true that.

the best rider i know, and he did come from a bmx background, and was very very good, can ride any line he chooses, but ive never seen him ride his hard tail, its full suss every time.

Not really sure what that's meant to be proving? Really is a personal choice thing I think. He might like it because it means he can go faster, or have a greater number of lines to choose from, may suit his rad skillz, might just be his preference based on the way he likes to ride. Or maybe he just likes to sit and spin on the rooty flats 🙂