[Closed] faster on a hardtail?

Depends.

As above, depends, but generally no.

up, sometimes
down, sometimes
across, sometimes

hope this helps

I would say no. For a start if it's really new you're likely not used to it and it's quirks. Certainly not as used to it as the old warhorse that's been in the shed for half a decade. Could mean your trying to ride the exact same lines though, which would be foolish. Full bounces are made to blast through stuff you pick a knacky fast-ish smooth line on a hardtail. If you're around the right sag/air pressure then the bike is right. You'll learn it and get faster over time.

Depends on the trail. After years on a FS, there isn't a lot in it for me unless I'm on a really rough trail with limited launch points.
I feel it most "along" as I can't sit and pedal through like I could on the FS.

Absolutely not. Recently went from a trail 29er HT to a trail 29er mid-travel FS. It's a non un-reasonable like-for-like. The FS is indisputably faster when pointed up, blatting along, or pointed down. The HT is not even close.

The only caveat is this is in recent dry conditions, perhaps it'll change with the onset of leaf mulch season. We'll see.

Im faster on my xtc29 than the anthem 29, except for rougher stuff.

I'm faster on my XTC 27.5 than on my Anthem 26er pretty much everywhere - uphill, along, but most noticeably downhill. Which is not what I was led to expect.

Probably not but as an example, I prefer to ride Lee/Cragg Quarry on my HT, all those grunty climbs seem easier and the rest is oddly smooth considering...

Kulhavy does'nt agree.

my hardtail 'feels' faster, and is therefore more fun. My riding buddy assures me that my full suss is faster though.

I'd rather feel fast at slow speeds, then feel slow at medium(realistically) speeds

Strava?

My take on this is that hardtails can be quicker when you're riding trail centre type trails (usually at a trail centre). Particularly if there's lots of rollers and little compressions as the hardtail springs out when you're pumping it, whereas the suspension on the FS soaks up some of the energy. I try to counter this by running high pressure in the rear shock

On rough terrain however, like the Peaks where I was riding today, the FS is indisputably faster.

That said the high pressure in the rear shock made descending Jacobs quite interesting 😐

Absolutely not. Recently went from a trail 29er HT to a trail 29er mid-travel FS. It's a non un-reasonable like-for-like. The FS is indisputably faster when pointed up, blatting along, or pointed down.

+1, which I hadn't expected on the up's & though we're talking only seconds, I hadn't been trying to 'get' a faster time

I'm faster on my hardtail until my legs get tired.

I was faster on my hardtail until my [s]legs[/s] joints got tired.

My 29er hardtail is faster around the chase than my 160 AM rig but the AM rig gets down the rocky trails in the peaks way faster.

Proper rocky DH stuff (big rocks not gravel paths with no smooth opt out lines) unless you are at the top of your game on a HT you get left for dead.

Don't get me wrong I love the option of both! play to the strengths and a happy bunny you will be.

chestercopperpot - Member
Proper rocky DH stuff (big rocks not gravel paths with no smooth opt out lines) unless you are at the top of your game on a HT you get left for dead.

Don't get me wrong I love the option of both! play to the strengths and a happy bunny you will be.

The full-sus is faster.

That way, when you spank someone riding a full-sus and they're be all "this trail is quicker on a hardtail anyway" you can be all "nah bro, I way quicker on my full-sus, you just be way slow aye". And they be 🙁 lol

My Fat Bike is quicker than both my full sus and hard tail, unless it's muddy .

My Fat Bike is quicker than both my full sus and hard tail, [s]unless[/s] especially if it's muddy

For me on a 5-6 mins climb I'm 2-3s quicker on the HT...

for a 2 mins descent... I'm 15-20 quicker on the FS.

Overall, I'm quicker on the FS. But it's a short travel XC FS, not a massive burly beast of a thing.

Went to Afan, felt happier on the hard tail; my Five felt rubbish. Around Surrey the Five feels fast, yet on Strava it isn't. After reading this, starting to think the shock? Either that or twelve years on a Klein Mantra has left me mentally scared.

On the terrain I ride on I am actually fastest on a track bike with 24c tyres (actual times on Strava)

Only a bit faster though and a whole lot more uncomfortable and no fun on twisty/rooty bits so would rather be a bit slower on an MTB. It is a rigid MTB though as I haven't gone mad (I dislike suspension of any sort)

I find hardtail bikes quicker over nearly all stuff i've done on both types of bike but think its probably me not exploiting the strengths of the full suspension bike that is the reason behind this, either way they are both fun.

Xc, possibly. Rocky fun trails, fs all the way. Big mountains, fs. General climbs, fs. Hardtails can feel faster even when they're not

My new Ti Slackline (25.5 lbs) is quicker on my local XC than my Five (32 lbs)...no surprise given it's not very gnarl hence why I built the HT XC.

On the rough decents though I'm confident the FS is still quicker (although not compared yet) for me though the FS is just for comfort on the rough rides...my body's too old!

My hardtail feels faster but the fs is faster as it is more forgiving of what I throw at it on the trails.

I'm faster on my hardtail than my FS on climbs, but not all of them. Although on some of these climbs my CX is quite clearly faster. But other times it isn't.

Descending is quicker on my FS, except the times my HT is quicker.

+1, which I hadn't expected on the up's & though we're talking only seconds, I hadn't been trying to 'get' a faster time

z1ppy, what do we know that they don't? 😉

Who cares ? Whatever happened to riding because you enjoyed it . Strava endomondo etc , really ? The last thing I do when I'm riding is check anything other than my bike . The phone goes off and in a pocket .

Way faster on my F/S so I sold the HT ... No regrets

Whatever happened to riding because you enjoyed it .

This ^^^. Unless you're racing. For most UK trails always find a HT a more rewarding ride, don't really care if it's faster or slower (IME it's slower but I don't analyse it.)

FWIW it takes me a while to get back up to speed if I switch between a HT and a FS, more so going the other way too. If trying to go fast over technical stuff they really need be ridden quite differently.

beermonst3r44 - Member

Who cares ? Whatever happened to riding because you enjoyed it . Strava endomondo etc , really ? The last thing I do when I'm riding is check anything other than my bike . The phone goes off and in a pocket .

Because people want to gauge their progress, see if they're improving, see if the weight loss is helping. etc.

Because enjoying yourself is directly proportional to being faster than other people.

I have a 27 mile loop around the surrey hills from my house I have been doing for years. I average between 9.5 and 10 miles an hour on both ht and full suss, so nothing in it speed wise. The main difference is that if I haven't been on the bike for a couple of months I come home feeling battered by the hard tail. Both good fun, just different.

Same old same old

My HTs have their moments and when the planets are aligned and I'm on fire they're quicker

When the planets aren't aligned and/or I'm not fire the FSs win

I'm quicker on my Whyte T-130 Works on local trails but my HT is fairly XC in setup and therefore quite nervous on the faster downhill stuff. My garmin tells me I'm faster on the FS but as I've not ridden the HT for about 8 weeks it might be that the trails are dryer and I've been riding more.

Mostly I'm enjoying the FS but in the winter gloop I'll probably swap back to the HT.

Think Rocketman has the answer. Also, just a little bit, perhaps the susser intimidates me and I need to man up! It is by far and away the most fun bike to ride, yet somehow 10/10ths on the ht is in my comfort zone, where the susser seems to be calling me a big wuss all the time.

Double post silly boy.

FS fast
HT faster
29 new HT faster
Crossbike fastest.

According to my Strava anyway.

Whatever happened to riding because you enjoyed it

I enjoy riding and I also enjoy getting fitter/faster - you can do both.

However, my phone is zipped up in my back pocket and I upload the data to Strava when I get home so no monitoring it during my ride.

Who cares ? Whatever happened to riding because you enjoyed it . Strava endomondo etc , really ?

quotes like this always makes me laugh,

My 120mm travel full suspension bike is one of the fastest MTB's I've ridden, i have no idea why? even on fairly smooth rides that you would expect a hard tail to be faster on, i think that sometimes a bike just suits a rider, not sure how else to explain it. It's a £1500 Norco btw.

Nope, my FS is set up with 160mm forks and a burly build, I can just plough through stuff....always faster, not that it matters though.

On my HT I have more fun but have to concentrate and pick wisely re. line choice....that is definitely slower but more involving so I'm very lucky to have both to choose from.

(At the moment the HT edges it, I just can't get enough of that thing!....I'd like to meet the designer, shake his hand and buy him a beer!)

Go on Deviant; share!

Most of my strava pr's have been set on my hardtail, but my fastest rides door to door were almost all done on the full suss, like someone said earlier I could really make time up just pedalling along in the saddle which I can't do on my hardtail

I've been debating this recently. Up until the last few weeks, my Soul275 has been pretty much all I've ridden offroad on since January. I've been logging on Strava, for comparison rather than competition (I'm hundreds of riders away from KoM's) .

I was expecting the Soul to be blindingly faster up and possibly along and the FS to rule on the down.

What's actually happened is the FS has edged in most places, and on a couple of descents, the Soul nearly gave the fastest rides.

Totally unscientific as different days, none of this is competition condition riding and there's a wheel size difference (26er FS).

I enjoy riding both differently. I've concluded it's our old friend "the best bike is the one you're riding *now*"...

Interesting this, cos I'd just got my hardtail back working again last weekend, I took my 575 and the hardtail (Handjob with 120mm forks) for a ride to check everything out.
2 laps of QECP, one on each. There really was no comparison.
There are a couple of transitions, sharp turns from down to a climb - Couldn't make them on the HJ.
The Yeti just flew and everything was fast and fun.
No way a hardtail is faster unless the full-sus is rubbish! Or maybe there's nothing remotely technical on the ride?