[Closed] "full suspension dulls the trail" really?

And damn them pneumatic tyres as well.

Love my fs trail bike much more comfortable than a hardtail on all day rides and never found myself going downhill thinking this is dull.

FS can only be redeemed by using the 650b revitalising wonderwheels, any fool knows that

So 650b solid tyres on wooden wheels for the ultimate trail feedback then?

Because not all our trails are that lumpy?

Also possibly it's not how fast you go but how challenged you are or how many fillings you shake out. for me the riding I do and my level of skill I will choose getting roughed up at a slightly lower speed and giggle like i'm a third of my age!!!

I buy it.

Plenty of trails that I find boring on the FS and a hoot on the rigid.

Horses for courses.

On the contrary, for me it livens an otherwise flat and dull trail for me. Maybe i'm getting old, but the last time I hit the trail with my hard tail, I nearly came a cropper in the first few miles as I had to completely re-calibrate my speed, also after the ride I felt i'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. I can ride harder for longer on a soft tail. The Hard tail is now gone.

there... I think wobbliscott's testimony above clearly shows that soft tails are indeed, for girls

I was wandering why I suddenly had a higher pitched voice when riding my full suspension over my hardtail.

DP

They both have their place but its clearly harder to ride a Hardtail than a FS. Picking lines , getting bounced around etc. For some reason we describe this as "dulls" the trail

Like both personally but i can ride stuff much more easily on the FS than the hardtail

I like both, and not so much for what trail I'm riding but what mood I'm in..
It's a hobby not a religion, ride whatever you want even if its different to someone else..
Sorry... 😳

Niche-mongers fear the full sus. Just saying...

It probably does somewhat dull the trail if your local riding route involves pavements and towpaths.

I think if you live/ride in Scoland a full sus is required. I suppose if you live down south you would get away with a hardtail (or are poor or super gnarr up here)

Sold my beloved 456ti and Enduro (not so beloved) and bought one bike for all trails (to me) with a Santa Cruz Blur LTc.

So far, I'm loving it. More confidence all round. No regrets and I did think I might regret selling the 456ti but I don't.

I do believe a hard tail makes you ride better however. You have to as there is no skill compensator at the back to save you when oh mess it all up.

I'm not arsed if Im faster or slower. All I know is I'm enjoying myself (again).

BTW the Enduro made the Peaks very dull indeed. I didn't find that bike fun anywhere though..

Full sus is a life saver if you have piles.

LOL @ Yorlin, true dat!

It's all about perseption and taste though innit.

One persons techy and sketchy on a full suss might be another persons dull as **** on a hardtail.
Ride whatever makes you feel good and don't give a **** about what others are doing.

as said before they both have their place.

The evidence I get from looking around doesn't seem to stack up though. If Less is more fun then why do all the guys riding round rigid always look so grumpy 🙂

It's also a way to big up yourself by implying that riding FS is only for people who can't hack riding HT which is obviously so much better and they have more skills, bigger manhoods and have way more luck with the ladies.

ooh this thread has caused me some issues.

Full suss is nice. I doubt it dulls the trails though, that's a silly statement.

But riding on the edge on limited technology blows the latest kit out of the water IME.

Still, whatever floats your boat as far as I'm concerned.

"HT Makes the trail come alive"

IGMC

Got a full sus a few months back, completely re-invigorated my riding. Never worth the money but am back in love with biking. Still got my hardtail, just great for round town.

If you live in the lakes then fine. I live in Newcastle and plenty of my rides are very local. There isn't much technical challenge. But the rooty singletrack on my CX or hardtail requires line picking, jumping and thought. On my full suss I can just pedal through it. Great for strava, but I ride to be challenged. I tend to ride my as hardtail on rides I know are easier to make them harder. Occasionally I'll ride them on harder trails for variety. I nearly always race on my full suss.

...I read this fairly often on here...

I don't recall reading that on here before.

Most people seem to understand that FS and HT bikes are equally good, just for slightly different types of terrain and riding.

Its just Imagined tribalism.

I own both, but in flatter trails, there is no doubt in my mind that my susser does indeed "dull the trails". Yes it means I can ride faster and smoother, but there is no doubt is makes it easier, which sometimes means less engaging.

I think I'm actually finding fs more fun on most trails. Even smooth blues etc. Just feels more balanced and I love pumping out of a berm on a fs. Hardtail is better for boring bridleway type riding though I guess, and better for jumps. I feel I have to set my forks up pretty hard for a hardtail otherwise it feels all divey and unbalanced.

It's the boingy bits that makes riding off-road fun. More boingy bits = more fun.

I have I only ridden a HT (apart from demos) so I am intrigued by this connected, harder riding stuff that I do apparently. Is it the bit where my saddle kicks me up the proverbial on the rough stuff? If so, I should stopping being mean on myself and get unconnected. Sounds fun!

Bikes are good. Sometimes I ride my bike that does one thing better than the other bikes, other times I ride my bike that does something else better than those bikes.

I think I'll ride one now.

I paid good money to make sure my bike 'dulls the trails' and a damn good job it does of it too 😀

The thing is riding hardtails or rigid makes you feel like you a riding faster than when you are riding FS so riding a HT is probably a little more satisfying in that regard.

For me riding FS is more fun because you have no excuses. The bikes push you to push your riding ability, to hit things faster than you dare.

The one thing I hear more than anything else with HT or rigid riders is that 'they can't hit it that fast or do that jump or do that section because they are on a HT or rigid' so it begs the question; why bother then? I want to be able to ride the most extreme of terrain, I don't want to have to stop or slow to a crawl for a section so a FS bike will always be my choice.

It seems to me that one advantage of an FS over a hardtail is that it can provide a sort of whip out of a turn, a bit like a ski.

This is why you all need 650b, because - [i]it simply brings the trail alive[/i]

Cheers,
[s]Danny B[/s], no sorry , bikeind

The one thing I hear more than anything else with HT or rigid riders is that 'they can't hit it that fast or do that jump or do that section because they are on a HT or rigid' so it begs the question; why bother then? I want to be able to ride the most extreme of terrain, I don't want to have to stop or slow to a crawl for a section so a FS bike will always be my choice.

This. I'm far from the best rider but I can hold my own on fast, technical Singletrack. The buzz I get is riding every decent as fast as possible and taking new, challenging lines whenever I find them. A FS allows me to push myself much, much harder. On a HT I used to find myself being a lot more cautious and picking 'safer' lines - something a better rider would not be hampered by...

The term skill compensator is very apt IMO but should not be used negatively. It is a MTB riders best tool as it allows you to do stuff you simply wouldn't try on a more basic bike. To answer the original question though; does a FS dull the trail? Depends how you ride and where. Not much point if you only ever ride tow paths!

A full sus doesn't dull a trail, nor does a hard tail. It's all down to how you ride it. You can make any trail interesting if you want.

That said a flat smooth dull trail isn't necessarily improved by a full sus (*cough* Swinley *cough* 😉 ) and a hard tail can at least bump the interest or at least challenge.

A good trail however can be interesting on both. The ride is just different. The full sus will let you go nuts on a steep rocky or rooty descent at speeds in ways that a hard tail will be difficult to control and rattle the hell out of you, but picking lines carefully and efficient riding can come from taking a hard tail down the same trail that can be a reward when you get the full sus out later.

For the reasons stated above, hardtails and rigid bikes should also be viewed generally as skills compensators..

I'm a old duffer, unfit, no bottle and little skill.. By riding a rigid bike it's the perfect excuse for not riding certain lines, being slow on the descents, taking the chicken line and generally mincing about..

All this 'full sus is cheating' nonsense is back to front

Double post

When riding as fast as possible on level, bumpy trails with full suss, the feeling is akin to 'flying' to me. A full suss allows full power pedalling sat down and the speed-sapping square-edged bumps are 'dulled' so I get this feeling of faster and faster acceleration.

Good job I love my HT coz that's all I've got!

Oops double post!

The last full suspension bike I rode was a Proflex 857 back in 1998 and everything since has been fully rigid with a few hardtails thrown in.

I've just had a Scott Spark on loan for 2 days whilst in the Lakes and I was amazed at how much easier it made the steep rocky climbs.

The Spark certainly didn't 'dull the trail,' and I felt a real benefit over long ride; particularly on the climbs and generally making me feel far fresher at the end of the ride.

I didn't feel any quicker on the down bits though 😳

yunki - Member

For the reasons stated above, hardtails and rigid bikes should also be viewed generally as skills compensators..

I'm a old duffer, unfit, no bottle and little skill.. By riding a rigid bike it's the perfect excuse for not riding certain lines, being slow on the descents, taking the chicken line and generally mincing about..

I see loads of people doing all of that shit on thier fresh out of the showroom MTBR recomended all singing all dancing full sussers too so i wouldn't be too concerned about it. 🙂

Ht funner on smoother trails.

I try to ride my fs as fast as possible DH and when I get on my ht I rode at the same speed, this makes for a very loose and fun ride. That's not to say my fs isn't fun, it's great. My fs is what eggs me on and make me try to ride faster than before.

By ht is a better bike for smoother trails that I ride with the family but it certainly isn't limited to blue routes.

depends on where you regularly ride your bike?

my local trails (the ones I ride 90% of the time) are faster on my hardtail 29'er, than they ever were on my full suspension 26"

I timed many runs and rides on both wheel sizes as a proper comparison

And feel much more fun on the 29'er simply because I am riding faster and it feels more direct, a little more "body english" is required than the FS which just seemed like a lazy ride on those trails

its mainly fast rolling singletrack XC with steep climbs and steep descents, some tree roots, but no rocks, and fireroads linking the singletracks

For me personally, it's a bit like the difference between driving a tractor and.... Well, riding a bike I suppose

Full suspension bikes can be skill compensators, but i would say mostly only on technical climbs, where you can get away with more it terms of lines and traction.

However i much, much prefer to ride my fuss sus over my hardtail, its just a nicer place to be especially on longer rides 🙂

I find my full suss tractor makes the trails come alive even when i'm towing half a ton of cow shit.

For me personally, it's like the difference between eating a nice scotch egg and playing Yahtzee with your gran

Do you play Yahtzee through a medium?

My gran told me she died years ago so i'm a bit confused how you could be "playing with my gran"
😯

Oh gosh.. I'm terribly sorry, I didn't realise that she was dead!! (although I don't feel so bad about her cheating all the time now)

If you can only ride a section on a full suss but not a hardtail, you're not riding it, the bike is 😉 Solution- get better at bikes.

I ride HT and FS and it all depends on the trails IMO

I've ridden stuff FAST on the FS that would smash me (important one) and the HT to bits.

On the other hand I did 30 miles this morning on the my 29er HT which was a mix of road, trail, field 😯 and it would have felt twice the distance on the FS

I found myself unable to pull off a decent bunnyhop on full suss, so went back to hardtail and happily bounce around like a spazzy frog, all day long. I fully realise that others can pull boom-gnarly hops on their bouncy bikes but it ain't for me 🙂

Getting loose on my hardtail on trails that have become comfortable abd dull on the full is mega fun.

Theres stuff a hardtail a hardtail opens up over the full sus and vice versa. Therell be bits that are faster on a hardtail too.

At the end of the day, riding is more than just seeing how fast you can smash through rough stuff, thats all a fs buys you, you cant just stick to that all the time or else riding just gets dull. Expand youbhorizons in how you get your jollies.

Mtbing is just off road bmx to me, im trying to turn every trail i ride into a pump track, a fs nakes it possivle for me to turn rougher stuff into viable pump track, but hinders the pump on the smoother stuff. Pedalling is dull, fs on smooth stuff is dull, it creates more pedalling.

Remote lock out = three bikes for the price of one 😉

If you can only ride a section on a full suss but not a hardtail, you're not riding it, the bike is Solution- get better at bikes.

Super rad to the power of 10.

Can't say I'm not right, though 😉 There's not that much stuff that I can ride, but won't ride on my hardtail... And when it happens, it's never the bike's fault, it's me not being good enough or brave enough.