[Closed] Hardtails - they're called hard for a reason

Haven't touched a hardtail for a few months and I want to get back into riding one. I like the extra fun you can have on a full sus but its definitely made me lazier with line choice!

yes to begin with.i p/x'ed an anthem x2 for my duster.i definitely felt the difference to begin with,but you do get accustomed to it after a short while.i love riding a ht again 😀

men ride hardtails............ 8)

I like the extra fun you can have on a full sus

What is this extra fun you speak of?

What is this extra fun you speak of?

Being able to plough through rocky/rooty stuff you'd maybe have to mince around on a hardtail. I also can't imagine constant braking bumps being much fun on a hardtail. Having rear suspension gives me more confidence to try bigger drops and jumps which equals more fun 🙂 That being said some sick part of me wants to bring a hardtail back to Whistler next summer.

men ride hardtails............

+1

Dale Winton rides full sus.

men also ride full sussers.

In my case men with really aching legs ride hardtails!

Cowboy up cupcake. Get a decent hardtail and you'll be fine.

People who have sore bottoms from the night before need to ride full sus.

I've just sold a 100mm full sus, xc race bike because I just didn't get on with it. I always felt battered riding it and hated technical descents on it. I thought this was because I'm used to bikes with 140-150mm travel. Anyway, just bought a hardtail for bikepacking with the money off the race bike...Its got a slightly long fork on (120) and I stuck a wide'ish tacky tyre on the front. I felt like I was flying, instant acceleration, the only time I really noticed I was on a hardtail was when I dropped off anything. Who knows I might start doing a few races/events again!
I'll still be using my 140mm travel bike for big days out in the fells though. 😉

Not ridden full suss for ages!

Bit soft really!

29er for me!

Ok must try harder to mince around rocky technical stuff instead of riding it when out. 🙄

I get more knackered riding the HT but I reckon a lot of that is down to the HT encouraging (and rewarding) harder out the saddle efforts. FS makes me lazy.

men ride hardtails............

I compromise with a Thudbuster seatpost on the "winter" hardtail, doesn't change the handling of course but is kinder to botty!

"Being able to plough through rocky/rooty stuff you'd maybe have to mince around on a hardtail"

Thats a big maybe ! MTFU and hardtails can ride the rough !

^ yup ive ridden [url= http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/6762007 ]this[/url] on a hardtail. granted not as quick as a full susser could've but still...

Agreed but I love riding my Dialled Alpine hardtail. Being a bit older and a bit heavier than some, I always pick my full suss bike for multi day epic trips though. Its hard to beat the fun of a hardtail on simple trail rides. The spring they get on jumps is great fun rather than having mushy suspension soaking it up. The lower maintenance factor is also a plus in winter. I have managed to go through lots of seat rails on my hardtail though...the last i broke was an SDG RL cromolly seat. Luckily I have a Thomson post on the hardtail which is super strong. I used to have a gravity dropper on it but that couldn't take the bumps 🙂

Much more prefering a hardtail at the moment. They need a bit more rider input that's for sure, but just requires you to get more involved working the bike with the terrain and trying to use them pumpy skippy jumpy flow skillz (which I don't have much of).
If you're riding a Gnarr mince tank, try going xc mincelight. The energy saved from pedalling a barge around can be redirected into the other stuff. 🙂

I had a Meta 5.5 2009 (yes, THAT year) which never failed on me, but I didn't like the idea of having it crack after a wallop. I transplanted the parts onto a Dialled PA and at first was shown just how much the Meta had spoiled me. This combined with going back again from SPDs to flats and my riding's had to change a lot.

They each have their place, I feel Albert is better suited to the windy wooded singletrack I have locally. Horses for courses.

Gnarr mince tank

I recently put together my old Kona Kula - and took it for a good spin yesterday. Such good fun, but aluminium hardtails are pretty hard on the ol' back.

You're right though - hardtails take it out of you a bit more. Not sure if it's just that you have to concentrate more, rather than just clattering through tech sections, or whether they're a bit harder work overall. I think that it's a bit of both. Having said that, everything feels faster on an xc hardtail. A good way to get the skills back...

...I can't imagine...

see, there's your problem. it's interesting that people see fit to use imagination to make claims about an activity that can only be experienced through its doing. just saying, like...

^ yup ive ridden this on a hardtail. granted not as quick as a full susser could've but still...

A man made rock garden with perfectly sized/spaced round rocks. It doesnt look rough at all.

Bikes are awesome.

Everything else is just trolling.

Carry on 😉

I'm a relative n00b but HTs seem to reward fitness a bit more. Even when I'm shot, I can clear steep technical climbs on my FS by clicking it into bottom gear and winching up, however my HT requires a couple of gears higher and some leg speed to get up, a killer after 4hrs on the rivet.

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float - Member
^ yup ive ridden this on a hardtail. granted not as quick as a full susser could've but still...

There is a post up there has more than a tinge of the minge.

Longer more sedate rides are better on a hardtail. Going downhill or across real countryside, roots, ruts, etc, is the job of a full suss.

A fairly fat tyre and 50-80% max stated tyre air pressure and comfy saddle choice can help with a hardtail.

I like both.

A man made rock garden with perfectly sized/spaced round rocks. It doesnt look rough at all.

not the best vid, but it was all i could find at the time. looks can be decieving

Ha ha.. what a fanny!! you'll be riding down steps in true STW style next

trolololol

I dont really know why people argue about this clearly a FS is a skills compensator and faster downhill than a hardtail. Clearly it absorbs more bumps and hits than a hardtail- I really dont see how you can argue this - well apart from the fact that this is stw
I can ride everything I ride on the FS on the hardtail if I wish but slower genreally especially rough/rocky stuff. Makes little to no difference at a trail centre though.
That link of rocky stuff just looked silly to me sanitised and safe rocky stuff is not my cup of tea but free choice and all that.

I ride all sorts of rough stuff on my hard tail. Drop off kerbs, ride UP kerbs. I even rode the steps beside the community centre on a hardtail. NO PROBS!

Its probably cos I'm hardcore though.

ive gone back to a hardtail, prince albert btw. after years on full sussers and it is completly differant, you really do have to pick your line better and on some fast decents i find myself all most sat on the seat trying to keep my back end on the deck and stop it sqiurming, and my legs ache like mad ...not sure its for me to be honest as it can be a bit rocky were i ride.

I don't seem to get any more aches from riding hardtail than riding full sus. Probably because I've destroyed all the ache receptor nerve endings I had to begin with along with the corresponding brain cells... 😉

Are people who find they get battered on a hardtail just trying to ride them like a full sus and speding too much time in the saddle and not enough off it?

I have a 160mm full sus and steel hardtail.

In my opinion, or at least in my case, I like the hardtail sometimes for the same reason I prefer the single pivot frame design on the full sus compared to the fsr design on my old Enduro. The charm of a ht is how it handles and how you get instant feedback from the terrain and rider input.

I agree that a full sus WILL carry speed better than a ht through the rough stuff, it shouldn't be about that, ride a hardtail because you enjoy it. If you haven't before then give it a try.

Wow, every decent vehicle on the road has full suspension, but you shouldn't bother on off road bicycles......C'mon, it's 2011 people

Sold my FS a few weeks ago. Steel 29er HT for me. Loving it. I certainly didnt miss the FS round Cannocks FtD today, the 29er was riding brilliantly. Not a fan of the FtD usually, but really enjoyed today.

If your getting a battering your riding it all wrong
I have at least 12" suspension when on the hardtail, it's in my legs
Hardly mince around things, look ahead and pick a line maybe, if that's mincing then I'd rather that than just blasting over things devoid of any skill
I like riding both the same, but there is nothing I wouldn't do on hardtail

Real "real men" ride a rigid with old skool cantilever brakes and still pass noobs on Full Sussers! End of the day its all about getting out and riding. I also ride a Spesh Stumpy FSR and horror of horrors a road bike.

Was lucky enough to borry a Titus Motolite for a few hours riding the Marin Trail. Lovely lovely bike. I can see why they call full-sussers 'skill compensators', totally. But they do allow you to ride harder and faster, with less penalties than a HT, that's for sure. Bewildering then that so many folk I see riding them are proper slow mincers... 😉

But coon't help wondering how well I'd do on my HT. Probbly not as quick, but I'd at least like to know that I am reasonably competent on a bike, and can handle most things on me HT, than have to rely on a full boinger. I'm sure I could ride it nearly as fast, and I dunno about more 'fun', but a FS is a nice thing to have, for sure. I'd need to be a lot richer before I contemplated buying one though, as tbh, a HT is more than enough for most riding, certainly all the riding I do. I'd feel embarrassed only ever riding the likes of Epping, Swinley etc only on a FS but to each their own, just enjoy it innit?

Only thing for me riding HT full time is that over rocky trails (not rock gardens) that require constant pedalling its easier to be seated on a full suss to pedal through it as opposed to be stood up on the HT ie more effort required. I can say without doubt that descending I can do all that those lads I ride with do on full suss- just drop the seat if its that steep and use the maintainence free suspension of arms and legs.

Skill compensator? perhaps a [b]skill magnifier![/b]

I do love my HT but my FS's lets me pop higher off lips, gain more grip in corners, smile more, ride longer and last but not least... keep spending hard earned cash.

Seeing as my FS is in dry dock licking it's wounds from Morzine, I had to use my HT for a blast around Cwmcarn. 1 lap later and I had to re-ajdust some internal organs!!!!

Totally forgot how tough it was on the bod.

Not to say it wasnt fun though.

I love my steel hardtail and full susser. Use the hardtail for 4x tracks and jumping but find the saddle feedback annoying when xc riding on it.
When it points down and gets rough i'm out of the seat anyway and so hardtail is fine, but riding along I find the constant feeling that you are being unseated pretty annoying.

I constantly vacillate between the two. Only got hardtails built up at the moment but have full sus frame in the loft as I know I will fancy a change at some point. 16 years of riding has done one thing for me though, and that's made me accept that I don't have to be going as fast as possible all the time, and as long as it is fun it doesn't matter what I'm riding....

I often forget to take the lockout back off the rear shock for descents so I might as well just ride a hardtail

i really can't be arsed riding a ht anymore. rode a ht(soul) almost exclusively for about 3 years, rode it in the alps and everywhere here so i don't feel that i have anything to prove. nowadays i just can't stand the things, being kicked up the arse by the saddle, coming home feeling beat up and knackered cos i've had to keep working so hard just to keep the momentum going.

as for skills compensation, that's just bolllox really isn't it. i wasn't any more skillful on a ht, i just avoided stuff or went slower over it and i firmly suspect that this is the same for 99.9% of us non riding gods on here.

You get used to whatever you ride after a few weeks. I switch from my full-suss to a long-forked hardtail when winter sets in (easier cleaning and maintenance etc) and although the first couple of rides are a shock to the system, I soon adapt and love the hardtail just as much.

Switching back to the full-suss is like getting in a new sports car though, definately adding 10-20% to my overall speed 😀

Love 'em both though, it's all good riding innit!

I wanna build my HT up (super light)!

every decent vehicle on the road has full suspension

I've been riding HT's, mainly cos i couldn't afford a FS, for the last 15 years or so, but I built my first FS at the begining of this year. I absolutley love it. My HT is a commuter bike nowadays but to be honest, and it could be lazyness but i just don't want to ride anything else off road now. I love the speed I can carry on the downs and the lines I can take. I'm not the best rider in the world but the funometer has gone up massivley since i started riding FS, and i used to have loads of fun on the HT.

Ride what you've got it's fun, FACT. And stop telling others that they're doing it wrong. They may not have the skills or the money but as long as they have a smile on their face, they're doing it right!!

Switching back to the full-suss is like getting in a new sports car though, definately adding 10-20% to my overall speed

Funny that, I feel the opposite way. When I get on the HT it feels like getting on something a lot sportier than my FS. That feeling of acceleration when you stomp on the pedals, the lighter weight, the sharpness, I just don't get that on my XC FS bike.

Horses for courses though as while that applies to the majority of my trail riding, when it gets really steep and rocky and I still go for the big FS bike.

I rode my Ti456 (with 140mm TALAS) for the first time in ages yesterday, round the Surrey Hills. Takes me 2.5hrs on the FS race bike, I was 10 mins slower on the hardtail.....was a bit slippy and wet and by the end I was definately more tired than I have been on the FS, did batter me a bit.

Thing is I ENJOYED yesterday on the hardtail, was great having the big (adjustable) forks on the downs, 140mm on the front and a bit of flex at the back, great fun. I'm def going to get a a dropper post of some kind though, moved the post around a few times during the ride, on the susser I can just set it and leave alone.

I like both.

every decent vehicle on the road has full suspension

Ahem.

Maybe for Germany.....have you not seen the state of our roads?
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/259228/

Can't really compare a FS race bike with a long travel 456, not really a like for like HT/FS comparison there.

Suspect over typical XC terrain with a good mix of ups and downs there is little to choose between a similar FS and HT. Looking at most XC races there tends to be a mix of both FS and HT bikes with rides going equally quick regardless. Obviously when things get quite a bit more gnarr relative to rider ability then the balance tips towards FS.

Switching back to the full-suss is like getting in a new sports car though, definately adding 10-20% to my overall speed

Funny that, I feel the opposite way. When I get on the HT it feels like getting on something a lot sportier than my FS. That feeling of acceleration when you stomp on the pedals, the lighter weight, the sharpness, I just don't get that on my XC FS bike.

Horses for courses though as while that applies to the majority of my trail riding, when it gets really steep and rocky and I still go for the big FS bike.

Maybe 'sportier' was the wrong word to use, but the FS definately alllows me to ride the local singletrack faster and more smoothly, carrying speed and maintaining flow better than the HT.

Love 'em both though, and as ADS678 said riding bikes is fun whatever you're on 😀

Does no one just go for pootles around the park? I do. Hardtail is perfect for that, WTB SS Prowler close block (sort of) tyre on rear.. nice and zippy..

FULL SUSS
FULL WUSS

Wish I was hard like you Grizzer.

FULL SUSS
FULL WUSS

You're provocative. I like that.

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Real men don't use suspension...or gears. I do though, two helpings of suspension and lots of gears, but I'm a pussy.

Get a carbon frame/rear end - loving mine 🙂

Luddites ... 😉

Love my Cove Stiffee but it lives up to its name. Its brutal on the old knees and back.

Don't understand all these comments about sore arses though. I only sit down on long fire road climbs or road sections. Rest of the time I'm stood up. If you're sat down on the rough stuff on a HT you're doing it wrong.

Don't understand comments about sore knees or back. Well.. I do, but it's **** all to do with frame stiffness and everything to do with rider (skills or physical) weakness

Have to say I don't know why I call the full sus a skills compensator because it's not really.. I reckon on the right kind of trail a hardtail will be faster than a full sus but it mostly depends on rider skill. Case in point I followed who I'm fairly sure was the "whistler hardtail video" guy (one of the only HTs in the bike park, all chromag stuff, great rider) down Dirt Merchant and I could not keep up on my freeridey full sus. He's so bloody quick and I think the HT helps on jump trails as momentum can be carried better. But it's mostly rider skill which I don't have enough of 😆