I've only ever ridden hardtail or fully rigid, I've ridde them from 87 to today. I've currently got 3 bikes in 2 continents and my favourite is a '97 Cannondale Beast of the east. So good I bought 2. I'd love to be involved in a feature to give a a clear British ridden , hardcore hard tail winner. Any hardtail or rigid from' 92 to 2020. Points for retro jerseys and pointless accessories.
Cindercone.
Given what Mr Rey could do with a Zaskar, I'd have thought this was the most hardcore of hardtails.
Doesn’t get much more hardcore than an Evil Imperial with super monsters, sporting a foot of travel... (not mine)
It snapped, obvs, but thats not the point...
Dialled Alpine. Zaskar is a good shout though.
Spooky Metalhead or Brooklyn Machine Works Park bike.
Both trendsetters in a similar timeframe in an anti factory / rider owned / BMX subculture way whereas the Zaskar under Hans Rey was a good frame but was very much part of corporate big bike company nylon uniforms polished image culture.
They both rode well and were purpose built for 'hardcore' riding that had started to branch away from XC style riding.
Legend has it that a Kona Hoss will break rocks before itself. Same goes for the early Orange Crush. So named because it will crush granite. Allegedly.
Can I vote both an alu and a steel? Ok then 😋
Alu: Marin AXC (Wildcat, Rocky Ridge, B17 etc)
Back in the noughties I sold my 04/05(?) Marin AXC (B17 variant) to a riding buddy, and he liked it so much that after a few years of riding it he bought another of those (same coffin-tubed) AXC frames (this time an 06) to save in store as a ‘backup’. He hasn’t needed the backup to date and still rides the old one today! I’ve seen it take some unintended punishment.
(Rando pic)
Gussets out
Bridge over rubbled slaughter
Steel: DMR Trailstar
Maybe not the most, but one of the best - the Azonic DS1. Stands up to scrutiny decades after:
Decent weight
Nicely made (For the money)
Discs
Good Tyre clearance
Short ST/Good standover
Damned good looking in polished alu
https://ride.io/reviews/azonic-controls-first-look/
Cove Stiffee
I broke 3 hardtail frames in a year and a half.
The stiffee survived 11 years with me. I only retires it as the chainstay were properly gouged from chains suck. Not the bikes fault, I didn't know you had to change chainrings when they wore out.
I had a ds1 and came to write that. Loved it.
Do they have to be old?
Cos I really like my Kingdom Vendetta...
The trailstar was the hardcore hardtail of the 90's but I had a Club Roost Stinger and loved it. The Curtis SuperX was awesome. I had a Blue Pig from around 2011 and it was a horrible, hateful thing.
My current bike, a Chromag Doctahawk is something else in the hardcore stakes, I don't think there are many hardtails as hardcore.
Spooky Metalhead for me. It was the first built for purpose, actual hardcore hardtail which launched a thousand imitations including the DS1, Trailstar, Chameleon, plus entire brands like 24seven, Identiti etc.
I can't think of another frame that changed the mtb landscape as much as the Metalhead.
The Zaskar was cool but it was still a generic XC frame shaped more like a road bike even if it was a bit tougher than average.
I reckon the original incarnations of what would go on to be the "genre" of hardcore hardtail was probably the Santa Cruz Chameleon and the Cove Stiffee.
Frame only, built up to the specific requirements of each individual rider.
The GT Zaskar probably gets a nod in there for being able to fit into that category. After that came all the off-the-peg models (like the Kona Hoss mentioned above) and then other niche manufacturers took it on for a bit - the Cotic BFe for example.
Did the metalhead predate the chameleon? From the components on that metalhead I'd say 98. Chameleon was available then already iirc.
Kona Chute must be in there. First one was 98 I think, I had a 2000(?), the first year they changed to the square Easton RAD tubing. The seat stays and chain stays were massive square sections with zero give, It had Hayes Brakes, a Marzocchi Fork, short stem, raceface cranks, big risers, and big tyres. It was awesome.
Don't BTR have an absolutely mental DH hardtail?
In terms of my genre defining the Santa Cruz Chamaeleon and the Stiffee both stand out. Always rather wanted an either.
Pretty sure a mate had an Orange Subzero that was an absolute monster.
Honorary runner up for those Marin axc frames as I had one... Although I think really the first gen with the tribal graphics.
Forgot about orange. Be rude not to mention the Ms Isle.
Did the metalhead predate the chameleon? From the components on that metalhead I’d say 98. Chameleon was available then already iirc
That picture is just from retrobike, it could have any components fitted. There's not many pictures from the period online sadly.
I've looked up the old Chameleon. It came out in 97 and it's very much a slightly beefy XC bike, not really in the same mould as the Metalhead at all.
I think there's a bit of confusion on here about 'hardcore' hardtails and 'versatile' hardtails which can do a bit of everything.
For me the first hardcore hardtails were covered in gussets, had BMX bb shells and were designed for dirt jumping and street riding.
Sharkattack.
That's a Bandwagon not a Metalhead.😎 *
A mate had a Metalhead around the same time a had a MK1 Chameleon with a disc convesion.
I ended up getting shot of the Chameleon and buying a Stifee. The square chainstays on the Santacruz were brutal.
*Not quite the same. Metalhead came first and had adjustable dropouts.
On One 456Ti (Lynskey Mk2).
Mine's still doing the business.
is the kona chute any different from the roast? I had one of those in 2000 for a few years, frame looks similar.
early specialized p3 (look at the top tube) or the dartmoor hornet (front triangle from their dh frame and just a backend welded on) also worth a look
Yeah 97 sounds right. It was sold as a do it all hardtail at the time.
Balfa Minuteman.
Yeah either the Cham or the Metalhead. at least the Santa Cruz didn’t split its gussets
Sharkattack.
That’s a Bandwagon not a Metalhead.😎 *
How embarrassing. I couldn't spot the difference on my phone screen.
I actually had a Bandwagon as I couldn't afford a Metalhead. I think they were £650 vs £400. Unfortunately it never got the use it deserved as I drifted off to BMX. When I came back to big wheels I had a Charge Blender which was ridden to death. I bloody loved that thing.
+1 for the Kona Chute. I had one the 1999 model.
This was my bike. Forks snapped around the frame but the frame was indestructible
Some great suggestions already (and my MK1 Chameleon was probably my funnest bike ever), but I think these deserve notable mentions:
T1 Barcode
DMR Trailstar. Doesn't hold up to modern geo but it's still a hoot.
Also need to remember that the Hardcore just meant it could be ridden hard thanks to "long" 110-130mm travel, not that it was impossible to ride uphill. Your Minutemen, Imperials, Tankasses etc. were all DH HTs and never intended to go up.
Orange MsIsle for nostalgia, had one in petrol blue with Psylo forks and hope brakes, was like riding a metal roof truss!
I do think the original Hardcore hardtail has to be the Santa Cruz Chameleon though, had one of those in red with the original Pike Coils, what a bike! It eventually died an honorable death, in a big stack coming down Y Wâl at Afan. Rock strike on the BB cracked the shell.
Whoa that Nicolai up there makes my ankles hurt just looking at it, can’t imagine what that was like to ride. Agree that the Metalhead was the one that started it all, but the stiffee was really popular a few years later, loads of them about back then.
A mate had a Zaskar with 100mm z1s and monster wide azonic bars that pretty hooligan at the time.
Always lusted after a dekerf implant although looking at it now I’ve no idea why, it’s absolutely minging.
24 bicycles PornKing and Le Toy, think they were on Sprung 5, being hucked down, and landing on subway stair sets?
Ah, now if you’d said jump bike/DS...
Dangerous Mike?
Dialled Alpine
Came here to say this. Or SC Chameleon.
These are the "most hardcore" hardtails I've had. Cotic Soul as best allrounder.
Paaahh - rubbish the lot of them!!
UR BIK IS SARACING
We all know - as proven by many a yoof on estates around the land - that Saracens were the most hardcore bikes around and were indestructible. 🙂
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Spooky Metalhead - still got mine albeit not built up - still got the Z1's that were on it as well. Loved that bike and it took an absolute kicking, raced DH on it, dirt jumps etc etc.
Crazy how short all these DJ bikes were, knees hurt just looking at them!
Behold. The Norco Sasquatch.
I had one with Z1 Bombers. I did not own anyone with them, sadly.
I'm a 29er rider at 6ft3 but my friend had one of these and it was the first 650b bike that ever tempted me!
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Stock photo, not sure about the orange wheels but that paint job is just amazing
I loved my P1, running 9 speed it was great for playing around in the woods or XC rides over the Purbecks
I snapped a zaskar and metalhead, both at the head tube, one JRA after loads of abuse and the other I hit a parked car 😂
there was a big scene of ridiculous hardtails for a year or so early 2000's
I had a blackmarket mob as well but that was more a pure DJ frame than a hardcore hardtail
definitely Kona Roast/Chute. I briefly worked in the workshop of 2nd level sport (old kona importer) in 2000-2001 and picked up a brown Roast frame and 2 of the black Chute frames for £50 each, they had been returned for minor warranty reasons. I still have the 2 chute frames and last I heard the Roast had been sold on a few times and was still going strong many years later. All 3 frames regularly used with long travel forks including Junior T triple-clamps and Psylos, Magura Wotan and others - all very "beta version" forks which took a lot of fettling to keep working but I guess they all were back then. Anyway the frames survived many of those forks, and trips to the alps.
