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Wow that rear Mudhugger really destroys the looks of that Pole. I'd do the same though. My winter hardtail is my rigid MTB daily commute bike.
I built last year. Brand X HT-01 frame for £100. Planet X el quappo i25 wheels. Maxxis semi-slick/race tyres f+r. 1x9. Exotic forks. The rest from previous 26" commuter.
Yes, but it's my summer hardtail too (though I put a rear mudguard for winter).
Loads of clearance, and a hub gear 😉
Hardtails are not just for winter 🙂
Yep! Love running a hardtail alongside the full susser. On One DeeDar frame, 1x10 SLX, X fusion sweep forks, Br[URL= https://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah182/Pete1982/69404999_10216839751640345_9155802722295873536_n_zpsoxr0hdvf.jp g" target="_blank">
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I bought a Voodoo Hoodoo for winter use last year and to see if I wanted a decent hardtail in my life again. The answer was yes so it's getting a few choice upgrades to make it more winter-resistant. A posh hardtail for summer use may also be planned.
Hardtails are not just for winter
Is what I was about to say. Just freshly greased bolts for winter.
Built this after I “accidentally” bought some boost 27.5” wheels from a PSA on here. Whole thing came in under a grand. Proper hooligan bike.
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Also building a Hello Dave. All components ready...
Had a look in the garage - more or less got everything I need for a 27.5 hardtail. Just need a nice frame in medium.
I've thought about a Winter Hard Tail loads of times. But in the end I can't possibly see how it's cost effective ?
I've got a 2017 Stumpjumper Carbon Comp.
To get a decent hard tail I'd have to spend well over £1000 and probably upgrade it.
This has got to be higher than paying for someone to service my rear shock and pivot bearings over many Winters!
All the other maintenance costs will be about the same.
This year the Summer and Autumn have been very Winter-like anyway. Nearly every ride I've been caked in mud since August. So if it is a very bad year like 2017 & 2019 have proven to be would I have to put my "best bike" away nearly all year round because there is mud ?
I must admit most of the time I feel like the Full Suspension is not providing much advantage over a hard tail in the Winter. I'm going much slower everywhere, as it's wet and slippy.
Even on hard packed surfaces (for example Cragg and Lee) I'm slowing down for puddles all the time!
Then there is the snow and ice, again not really beneficial for an FS.
There's the odd dry rocky section where it still comes in use.
It must be said the Hard Tail would also be useful as a secondary bike in case the FS is broke, so might be worth getting one.
But I'm thinking of getting an E Bike instead. And I really don't want more than two bikes.
Not really built but bought a Marin Bobcat Trail 5 last November for winter duties. Most of my riding over winter is canals and country roads so it’s ideal. And it has suitable tyres on. Like to keep fast rolling tyres on my main bike and decent all rounders on my Hardtail.
Dug my full suss out early this year (End of February) as it was absolutely bone dry locally then never became more than slightly damp till end of July. Now it’s a complete slop fest, even the canal has gigantic puddles everywhere on the section from Blackburn to Church. From Church to Hampton it’s a slimy mess.
Roll on spring.
I’ve thought about a Winter Hard Tail loads of times. But in the end I can’t possibly see how it’s cost effective ?
I’ve got a 2017 Stumpjumper Carbon Comp.
To get a decent hard tail I’d have to spend well over £1000 and probably upgrade it.
Youre doing it wrong.
My winter mountain bike for the past couple of years has been a rigid charge cooker singlespeed. Its cost me:
£120 for the bike
£0 new chainset from the spares box when i broke the megaexo one.
£20 chain and sprocket, chainring from the spares box.
£15 hub bearings. Got a new job and a new bike now so ive sold it and for 2 years riding its barely cost me anything.
Ignore the capitalist voice in your head saying that life isnt complete wirhout 110x15mm forks and an XD cassette. Winter bikes are about making do and mending, a place to use up all those 0.75% chains and that cassette you were convinced was too heavy or the wrong ratios and those unfashionable standards components like bars that are only 720mm wide, seatpost that doesnt drop, saddle thats not comfy over 3 hours but fine for being trashed onngritty night rides.
Even that dialled holeshot Ive built is entirely from spares that were too nice to give away but barely worth anything as bikes have moved on.
26" wheel with Hope bulb/xc hubs
Straightline chain device
Zee 11-36 10 speed
Straight steerer RS Sektors (spaced down to 100mm)
Pedals off my GFs old bike
Brakes came off a bike ive just sold with the oem brakes
Bar and stem unfashionable narrow/long
The only cost was £5.50 for 50 stainless M8 cap head screws, i needed one for the bottom of the fork! Even if i split all the bits on ebay i reckon it would struggle to make £200, but its worth way more than the sum of its parts (and if i fancied a trail bike could probably find a frame for peanuts).
Aye, sounds right TINAS.
My Parkwood has brakes i'd never even consider on another bike, the Shimano 315s with rusty levers, but i just don't care... In the same way i don't care that the forks are a bit squelshy on compression that i'd never allow on the T-130. But the HT is a different beast, it's the drag it out, use it, clean it, put it back kind of bike.
I think that depends on the reasons for a ‘winter hardtail’.
In my case it's simply a platform for the Mudhugger guards. They're pretty much a permanent fixture on the bike. I'm not remotely bothered about preserving some notional 'best bike', just keeping my butt as dry as possible 🙂
mending, a place to use up all those 0.75% chains and that cassette you were convinced was too heavy or the wrong ratios and those unfashionable standards components like bars that are only 720mm wide, seatpost that doesnt drop, saddle thats not comfy over 3 hours but fine for being trashed onngritty night rides
Screw that. Life's to short to ride shit bikes!
Carver 96er, Rohloff and some old fashioned skinny mud tyres. Same setup year after year.
Who is building up a winter hardtail?
I did once, in the dim & distant past, but to be honest I just don't get it. I mean it's not like you're gonna destroy a bike and it's associated components in a few months of cold wet mud as opposed to the warm wet mud that hangs about in summer, bar of course those 2 weeks in April when everything is dry due to being frozen and the 3 weeks in "summer" when it doesn't rain every day.
Bottom brackets are dirt cheap, chains too, brake pads - even expensive ones from Uberbike are a whole £9 a pair, tyres, well you just have them to suit the conditions and frame bearings, unless you ride something with utter shite installed from the factory or you jet-wash the shit out of your bike after every ride will last a winter or two.
Winter bikes are about making do and mending
But why? why ride part worn out stuff, when new stuff isn't even expensive?
Just dusted off the old Ti456 for this purpose to try and save the Yeti a little bit.
Last time I rode it was 2 years ago but enjoying it all over again. It's 1x10 with homebrew coil converted Fox forks. A lot of my winter biking is lower level woodland trails and this seems ideal. I will still wheel out the SB6 for shuttle days at Inners, etc during the winter months.
A hardtail is for life, not just for winter 🤘
Screw that. Life’s to short to ride shit bikes!
Depends if you think rigid singlespeeds are "shit", when the trails are deep in slop and they're they only thing still moving I think they're great!
But why? why ride part worn out stuff, when new stuff isn’t even expensive?
Again, depends on where you ride and your priorities. You can run a chain for a lot longer than 0.75%, it just wear away the teeth on the cassette so a new one won't run anymore. You can still run another 0.75 chain though. Shifting doesn't really suffer that much either as long as the cables are clean.
As for new stuff not being expensive. Again depends what you ride and consider expensive. SRAM 11s on my CX bike, happy to run that all winter, a cassette is £35 and a chain £15. It gets trashed but it's not expensive given the hours I put on it. The equivalent 12s GX on the MTB, there's no way I'd take that out in the typical 1 ride* and it's FUBAR conditions we sometimes get in the middle of winter. I mean even on a lunchtime ride to day it came this >-< close to ripping the mech off on a muddy bridleway. I like my lunchtime rides, but not at £80 a pop!
By all means, ride a nice bike all winter. I'd love to. But realistically my nice bike is a £1200 GX hardtail. Which is probably already 2nd winter bike by a lot of peoples standards. But I'd rather take something else out when it's properly filthy.
*THAT Gorrick 100, I still have nightmares, and still find lumps of clay stuck in the crevices under my car!
Well - sort of
Just finished what was meant to be the winter hardtail build and despite it being 80% second hand and 10% bits I already had its still cost upwards of 2K!!! Try not to think about it too much.
she is nice though...
Kingdom Vendetta LS with carbon wheels/bars, Pike 160 forks, hope cranks and brakes, SRAM X01 drive and a 180 dropper.
So much for the winter hack - I surprised myself on Sunday. took her out in the filth and didn't get upset. Have to remind myself its still a hardtail though and requires a different technique to avoid getting killed.
Depends if you think rigid singlespeeds are “shit”, when the trails are deep in slop and they’re they only thing still moving I think they’re great!
But this isn't really true.
I used to run a single speed (albeit with 120mm forks) and really enjoyed it. In reality on the trail, there's a tiny margin where an SS runs better than a geared bike in the clag before the restrictions of your one and only gear force you to either stall, or wheel spin. Then you're left without the flexibility of a geared bike and you're off and walking. This in turn curtails where you can actually ride. Contrary to popular opinion, I'd argue that the best time for a single speed is the summer.
If your winter bike is built up of a collection of worn out components and things that you've discarded but hoarded in lieu of other things you prefer, I get you'd definitely care about it less, which is brilliant from a cleaning and care POV (neglect IMO). I get how that can satisfy ones need for thrift and squeezing the last remnants of perceived value out of old tut, but that does little for your ride experience IMO.
Instead, I either sell stuff whilst it has some residual value, throw it out or stockpile it for kids bikes as they grow. I don't have a pile of 0.75% chains*. I mean, whats the point? The GX ones I run are 20 quid and last a year.
To me a winter hardtail is just an iteration of a 'winter bike'. Mud guards, appropriate chain lube, even more appropriate maintenance regime and kit chosen to be up to the additional wear. Its kinda the point I was making with my first post. My hard tail is my winter bike because it has mudguards, a steel chain ring and sintered pads and an up-rated maintenance regime. That's it.
*Actually this is only partly true. I keep two plus a newer chain on the bike. Experience has shown that my cassettes and chain rings are good for about three chains, so after they've all reached 0.75 I run the them in rotation until the shifting plays up or jumps, then change the transmission wholesale. In practice this is about every 4-5 years, since as you rightly say, after 0.75% there's still tons of life to be gained with decent performance.
At some point before Christmas I'll be turning this lot into a 29er hardtail. It won't just be a winter hack though.
Pike RTC3 29er 140mm
Magura MT5 and MT4 brakes
Rohloff Speedhub
Thomson elite dropper
Whatever other bits are in the sale
Yup. This is mine. Finally got a singlespeed mtb again after a year riding without one: I took a lot of parts from my old SS bike that broke in half and added more modern parts (like the bars as my old ones were the old standard diameter.
So :
On One Scandal
Niner Carbon fork
Enve carbon bars
RSReverb dropper
Old XT cranks
SLX brakes
Rolhoff rear chain tensioner
Very old Stans rims on Hope hubs wheelset.
That Brand X HT-01 frame (135 QR rear) is £75 on CRC right now. Absolute bargain!
Hey there,
I kept my 2002 853 chromoly rock lobster for winter. It's old school 3x9. I could replace it with a new 660b or 29 but hey it's good to remember the good old days 😉
The spec isn't entirely old school mind but a mix of new and old. I'm beginning to get worried mind that parts will get difficult soon but I guess with bike jumbles and such like I'll always find parts for an old 26 😉
BR
JeZ
My Vitus Sentier arrived yesterday.
Swapped out the SRAM SX cranks for some Truvativ Descendant cranks from the spares box (my god those Powerspline BB’s are heavy). Also found a 40mm Chromag stem which went on.
Bars, and saddle were swapped for some Burgetc jobbies and I’ve bought some composite pedals for it. Set the tyres up as tubeless too.
Had a quick raz around the village in it last night. It feels much bigger than my Scout despite being a similar size in paper. The Z2’s feel pretty good; glad I went for this over a bike with entry level RS forks. First ride out in it tomorrow.
As if on cue, or it overheard me talking about it. The SRAM mech on my cross bike is ever so slightly bent so it wont shift through the top three gears cleanly. I thought I'd got away with it!
Glad its not the GX!
I've a 45650b raw 18" going begging if anyone is looking for a steel 650b HT frame for this! Swapped it for a large on-one Deedar as it was a touch too short 🙂 Building tonight - pics later in the week!
I'm building mine up next week hopefully. It'll be a
Sour Crumble with Fox, Hope wheels and GX groupset. Can't wait. In the meantime I have a new Brompton as my current hardtail, I'm quite enjoying it.
2 hardtails, 2 rigid, 1 SS, 1 Fattie, 1 gravel (but there are fewer than 7 bikes). None have pimpy transmission or anything, so they all get used all year round. The fattie more in summer, unless it's frozen or snowy, it doesn't do brilliantly in slop and flings at least double the amount of filth at you.
The newer hardtail is slightly out of alignment and needs to go back, so I will be building a hardtail for the winter, but it won't be a winter hardtail.
Marin Nail Trail frame from the classifieds to keep me sane whilst I'm trying to work out what would be the best MTB frame for all my needs and greeds. The Nail will be build with the rigid carbon fork from the Genesis Tarn, occasionally with Manipoo Machette if I can be bothered to raid the shed, B+ wheels as I don't have a suitable 29er rubber, singlespeed fast.
First alloy HT since 11' - hopefully I'll be back on the Steel or Ti in a couple months time!
Stanton Switchback with a 140mm fork set up as a singlespeed. Not built for winter, just built for the craic. Probably not fast, heavily compromised but I really don't care.
I love it. Life's too short to be getting anal about mudguards and maintenance
Current incarnation of back to basics winter/dog run bike. As simple and maintenance free as possible (without going rigid).
My old BFe26 frame.
'zocchi 44s at 130mm.
Singlespeed
Cable brakes
No dropper
Tubeless (Butcher/Purgatory) on Flows
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I build up a summer hardtail and rode it twice, can I take one bit off, put it back on and declare I'm building a winter one?
If so, Ragley Bigwig mk2 with the Pikes off my Trailfox that I never got round to selling, a Bikeyoke Revive dropper, and some SRAM Roam 50 wheels which are completely wrong for hte bike, but were ridiculously cheap. Plus some sort of drivetrain, I forget which.
Also need to put the minion back on the front of the fatbike
I dig this out in winter. Usually when it's snowed. Think I've ridden it a handful of times over last couple of years. I really should flog it. Mk1 Blue Pig. U turn Pikes 140mm. 1x9.
Its a nice bike but I prefer riding the SS.
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Well I'm planning to.
I've a big dog frame on order, which in theory was nearly all I needed to build one from the spares pile. (new headset etc were expected)
Somehow it's ended up being new dt hubs, that I now need rims for even though I've 3 perfectly good sets of wheels already.
New to me factory forks in the wrong bloomin standard (genuine error, anyone want some none boost forks...) to replace the nearly new forks I have already in correct standard just without the fancy colour stanchions.
New cranks (my spare mtb ones are rubbish though), new bb, new tool for the new bb. The list goes on.
It's not been the cheap build I told myself it would be...
Just got mine out last week after a summer of aestivation (apparently the summer equivalent of hibernation).
It's an old Orange P7 in luminous green with sliding drop outs (it replaced a broken Chameleon) - £70 off the Bay
Rohloff hub
Tubeless 2.4 tyres
Old Fox 32s
It gets through and up pretty much anything. Occasionally think about getting rid, but it's worth nothing (minus the hub) and what would I use instead...
Bought, not built. But when a bargain appears you have to take it! All stock at the moment, but such a fun ride!
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Just back in from riding mine. Had an old 26" steel Saracen Zen that I used to love that I tried to resurrect last winter but it needed a full overhaul which I couldn't justify. Couple of months ago a mate mentions he's offered his 27.5 Soul to another mate for a bargain price so I jump on first refusal and get it.
Now got a bright orange Soul with Pikes running 1x10 with my old Guide R brakes and hideous Aldi mudguards and it owes me less than £500 with a spare fork still to sell. My T130 just needed a cassette and chain, luckily CRC had one in a sale but that's still £90, the whole drivetrain on the Soul was less than that. Had a real smile on my face too and felt I properly had to concentrate on trails I'd normally just cruise down!
Just finished - Marin Nail Trail with rigid carbon forks and 1x10 drivetrain, Magura brakes. Will be converted to the ss but I need a chain tensioner etc.
Dialled Alpine, Hope hubs with Nukeproof rims, Maxxis Aggressor /DHF 2.5 tyres, 140mm Lyrik, Hope M4 brakes and one gear.
Winter bike, summer hardtail and my year round commuter.
Does it count if I built it in July? It will certainly get more use than the full-sus over winter. Xl signal ti with 130mm revs. Finally got it tweaked to perfection and it's growing on me more with each ride.
Tempted I must admit to get a gooutdoors fatbike for the winter and beach bike 😉
JeZ