Alps on a Hardtail…anyone done this???

Off to do the Passportes and a couple of extra days in Morzine this year. This will be the 3rd year and previously I have hired a full Suss. Now, I have a 120mm hardtail and was wondering if it would be suitable. The event itself I should be ok with, it’s the stuff around Morzine and Les Gets (bike park) stuff I am not to sure about.
I rode it all ok on the previous visits but I would prefer my own bike rather than a hired one this year.

So, anyone taken a hardtail to these places and lived to tell the tale???

I’ve only been the once but the fastest guy in our group and the guide were both on hardtails, more the 140mm hardcore variety though. Wouldn’t fancy it myself, I’m too old and battered for all that but they were both flying, this was in Morzine/Les Gets

Mate did it on a rockhopper! He survived, more impressively so did the bike…just.

Trails at Les Gets weren’t that rocky for the most part. Wouldn’t have fancied it myself I must say.

TBH next time I drive to the alps I’m bringing my TR450 and my bfe. I’m convinced I can have an excellent time on the bfe (yet to be proven)..

Or at least learn something about riding.

The guides at trailAddiction are apparently using Dialled Alpines, so as long as it’s not a steep, fragile XC machine I think you’ll be fine. At least I really want to believe so since I plan on doing the same sometime in the future… 🙂

First year in les arcs I was on a fully rigid 29er which was interesting, last year I was on a hardtail 29er. It’s fine …

Yep, but a long, LONG time ago!

Will be doing the passports on either a soul or Bfe this year, after having a great time last year on my soul. Braking bumps can be a bit of a teeth rattler, mind.

Went to the passporte region last Summer on my bfe. I won’t do it again, I survived and even overtook people on dh bikes but it beat the hell out of me. All of the properly signposted trails are covered in braking bumps all over, it murdered my arms. The best trail we did was an off piste one that was quite bumpy but for the right reasons – roots etc… so wasn’t just a constant hammering of small bumps. I borrowed our chalet managers DH bike for our last day of riding, it was much, much more fun!

3 times
80mm merida
150mm sub zero
140mm 456, which was awesome.

You might be fine but the bike could suffer. Mate took his hardtail and his rear rim only lasted a day

Do it, it’s rad

[/url] Alpine Cal[/url] by DavidRMartin[/url], on Flickr[/img]

My mate did the Passportes on a 100mm Giant XTc last year. Beat the crap put of him, but he finished! Fair play to him, we were really hussling towards the end ‘cos I put us on the wrong lift and we were staying at the end of the optional Torgon section.

I did 2 weeks in the Alps including the Mega on my Evil a couple of years ago. It was good fun, but i wouldn’t bother with it again since I’ve got a FS bike. Alright if you’re fit enough but more fun in every sense on a proper big bike.

Having said that, I’d probably prefer an Evil over an XC-ish 120mm bike, but that’s mainly because of how good an Evil Sovereign is…

Done it a few times on my BFe.

Les Arcs – bloody marvellous. The fast stuff isn’t too rough, and the rough stuff isn’t too fast. The trialsy tech stuff is just brilliant on a dinky hardtail.

Alp d’Huez/Mega? Enjoyed riding the courses, but it was absolutely brutal. Wouldn’t want to race it on a hardtail, though – it’d be survival, not fun.

Morzine would be fun off the beaten track, but it’d be unpleasant if all you wanted to do was batter the DH courses(its been a few years since I’ve been there, and the braking bumps were notorious then!)

Yes – Cove Stiffee with 125mm Fox Vanillas

Cheers for the replys gents…it kind of goes along my thinking. I look forward to the trip all year and kind of want to maximise my fun, so I guess hiring a full Suss wil be the ticket.
My hard tail is a Cove Stiffee, not the most subtle bike out there.

Done it a few times at various spots. Dialled Alpine worked a treat.

Morgins, Alp d Huez, Swiss National and “off the beaten track” stuff were wonderful on a hardtail.

The Pleny hill had some absolutely brutal sections (that “10 percent” bit for example) and the Black runs at Chatel were really tough, again due to the braking bumps.

I used some big, fat 150mm forks rather than 120mm though. Just meant I could be a bit lazier when I was really tired and have more chance of getting away with stuff.

Its good fun, but if you want to go properly fast then I guess a downhill bike is your best bet. But since you;re even considering going on a hardtail, I’d imagine you;re a half decent rider, so you’ll still end up overtaking all the shite folk on the “all mountain” style bikes.

Yup. We did PdS on a Soul and a 456.

What Scamper said though – braking bumps rattle yer fillings.

Did pretty much significant parts of the PPdS circuit a couple of weeks after the PPdS. Plus other bits here and there.

I managed a few years ago on a hardtail with pikes set to 120mm. Was pretty hard on the body the first few days but got used to it, the bike also took a bit of a beating and went through a rear wheel in two weeks but was certainly still enjoyable!

I’d imagine you;re a half decent rider, so you’ll still end up overtaking all the shite folk on the “all mountain” style bikesdownhill bikes.

Big forks big tyres really. Les Arcs area would be more fun at times on a ht I reckon and when you get off the beaten track it’s just like the UK really. Just make sure you have some spare spokes 🙂

Rode a week out of Samoens on a Scandal 29er. It was fine. Bit rattly on the rocky downs but coped just grand 99% of the time. Just go a bit slower and enjoy it for longer 🙂

My Mrs did 8 runs of Pleny in a day on a hard tail, 100mm forks, v brakes at the rear.

She did miss out the 10% section and it was 1999 but still!

do it…

i’ve ridden at Livigno, Leogang, Saalbach, some of the DH around Bozen plus more-than-i-can-count trails on my HT and i’ve survived.

do it once, if you don’t like it do something different next time.

I did Morzine last year on a ht and was fine- I was more knackered at the end of the day but rode everything the boys did and got some major man-points from some random men on big dh bikes that I was following down when they turned around and saw I was still with them. Braking bumps will knock you around a bit more and if you suffer from arm pump easily then you’ll have to go a bit slower but there’s nothing that is of a technical difficulty it requires a full-suss and there’s certainly less to go wrong! (the year prior I did les arcs on a ht and I was pretty much the only person who didn’t have a mechanical!)

I bought a second hand sx trail and then sold it for about the same money when i got back

(that’s not 100% accurate but that was the plan )

Do an uplift day at a suitably rough UK DH track on your hardtail and see how you cope?

I did it on a BFe. Deux Alpes was good, Morzine was Ok but tiring with the braking bumps. It felt a little unsatisfying being limited by how hard you could hold on into easy corners rather than pushing yourself on the techy stuff. I hired a DH bike for one day (after a week on the hardtail) and it was more fun.

Did PDS on a prince Albert a couple of years ago. Excellent fun. Build up the arms before though. Those braking bumps hurt!

First couple of years I did the Alps on my Zaskar with 70mm up front and 1.9 tyres.
I’d be quite happy to do the Passportes on that setup but with bigger rubber. On a nice day you could do the Passportes on a CX. None of the big runs feature in the course.

I shall be doing this year’s on a 100mm travel XC FS, as I have done the last 5 times, and I’ve never felt under-biked.

2001 Passporte on a Pace RC300 with 80mm RC36’s

One of guys that came brought his fully rigid Trek 850. He got some funny looks of the lift attendants 😆

I did morzine and the passports last year and loved it, I was on a stumpy fsr and it coped fine, however I found it quite hard, arm pump ect, I said to myself next time I am buying/hiring a DH rig, just to make it slightly softer/easier! Having said that, there were people there on HT’s and they were coping fine, not something I’d do personally as I found the braking bumps painfull, but people do it all the time, so if your used to your HT then go for it

Morzine,Lake Tahoe and Whistler on a Hummer only bike I had .Whistler included stuff outside the park including Chilcotins via Float Plane .

I did Verbier once a DB Alpine with 150mm forks and didn’t die and also had a great time. However I have since been back on a full sus and it was just that bit more enjoyable and comfortable.

of course, if you’re on a hardtail doing the ppds you have to ride the uphill bits too.

Been on an Inbred, Howler and a Hummer. Did take a FS once ( a Foes) I broke it.

You’ll be fine!

If anything it will encourage you to find the better off the beaten track riding rather than the rough as f*** DH runs. However i had a great time passing some riders on full on DH bikes on some of the DH runs.

I spent a long summer in the tall and pointy bits of Europe. PDS, Chamonix, Provence, Garda, Slovenia, Pyrenees, Zermatt etc etc.

Did it all on a Prince Albert with 130mm Marz forks. Admittedly it had Saint brakes.
I did break a few rear spokes but that goes with the territory on a ‘core ‘ardtail.

What I would reccomend is that you alpify the hardtail, fit a short (50mm) stem, and wide (740mm+) bars.
Fit big as possible rotors front and rear .
Make sure your forks and brakes are completely spot on in terms of servicing and you’ll be sweet!

Enjoy!

I did the mega avalanche on a hard tail. I was one out of about three riders. It was great – I got cheers when spectators saw the hardtail.

I prefer full suss for all riding nowadays.

I’ve done Morzine/PDS a couple of times on a Planet X Armadillo (which was an absolute tank of a hardtail) with Pikes.

Bike stood up to it all fine and it was fun but a lot of the riding was pretty punishing and I felt broken after 2 weeks.

If I’d had a FS at the time I would have used that for sure.

Did 10 days in Morzine on my Hummer, no real problems but did have to rebuild my rear hub at the end of it.