My current fleet consists of:

26″ Soul, hope/mavic wheels, deore throughout (3×9), 120mm reba, 70mm stem, 740mm bars

29″ Scandal, formula/sun ringle wheels, deore/xt (2×10), 100mm reba, 70mm stem, 710mm bars

Soul is for trail centre/proper off road use, scandal true xc, bridleways, hills, mixed local rides, marathon events etc.

I rode FoD yesterday, blue & red, on the soul, it was good, I enjoyed it, BUT I had a go on a Bird Aeris for 5 minutes, and as much as I wanted to hate it, and remain a hardtail touting purist, it felt great, so plush, smooth, capable. I’ve only ridden decent full sus three times, never for very long mind you.

So, I’ve been thinking, I should try and wangle one into the fleet, but one will have to go, at least, I didn’t mention my genesis io ss hack, did I……….

With that in mind, what would you do? If I went for a say 150mm 650b enduro gnarrpoon loam shredding rig (I hope that’s the right terminology), what other bike should I go for?

I’m thinking 29er hardtail, more trail orientated than the scandal? Or put a slackset and some better wheels in it? Don’t think b+ will fit though? It would surely be a crime to sell the soul though? It’s got pretty nice wheels, and to try and find another might be hard, and bloody expensive in a few years when I want a cool, retro, nimble, flickable bike.

HELP!

Full suspension bikes are progress in the biking world, the same as hydraulic disc brakes and dropper posts. Why wouldn’t you get one?

Cost, extra maintenance, more things to go wrong……

I like an xc ride, but I also like techy stuff, and the prospect of retaining my vision and teeth through rough stuff.

They are different, all are good.

You ride (or you should ride) differently on an FS, and get different things out of it. My long travel bike smoothes out the roots and rocks, but this allows me to swoop fast through trails that I’d be bumping down on the hardtail.

On the fully rigid I get a kick out of powering up something technical working my body as much as my legs; on the FS I get a kick out of pinning rocky descents at warp speed.

But you need to know how to get the best out of them. Don’t do what I did and bomb down your usual rocky FS trails on HT – you won’t enjoy it. Don’t try and pump the bike through the corners either, it doesn’t work 🙂 Likewise don’t stand up on your FS and mash the pedals moving your body around – it doesn’t feel good.

I have multiple bikes but I try and make them as different as possible, so I get as wide a range of experiences as possible. No way would I have two bikes as simlar as those two.

Sell the scandal frame and sell the soul. Buy an Aeris or any other good 140/150 travel 650b bike and then get a Solaris frame and move the best bits over to that. Then you get two new bikes!

I think I saw you and your Soul as I was leaving yesterday. I did the uplift day on a Ragley hardtail and loved it….yes a full susser makes things easier but easier doesn’t necessarily equate to more fun.

I have a Giant Trance which is rarely used, partly as I’m waiting on Shimanos 11 speed XT stuff to come out but in reality the satisfaction I get from an uplift day on a HT is hard to beat….so much so that I’ve booked on at BPW again at the end of the month and its the HT that will be coming with me.

Obviously in an ideal world you’d have both but if I had to have one it’d be the hardtail.
Keep the Soul, fit 140mm forks, short stem and wide bars!

Grab a decent, second hand 26″ full sus bargain. Minimal outlay, maximum fun. Keep your hardtails as your “good” bikes and the full sus as your “dirty” bike. Choose a solid option an maintenance shouldn’t be an issue either.

Maintenance is bugger all. Full sus isn’t an itch, it’s faster biking.

Right then, if I say get a second hand 26″ frame + some new forks, plus what i don’t have in my spares box to build it up, what frame?

I sold my old 5 for £180 recently, seemed the going rate. Very reliable frame, bearings last ages. And it was brilliant. Something like that would work.

Orange 5? Simple to maintain, classic design, fun to ride.

Edit, great minds…

try some, what do your mates ride?

hardtails/gnarduro shredderz………..

it felt great, so plush, smooth, capable

yessir they’re all like that

Cost, extra maintenance, more things to go wrong

Hmm the moving bits at the back have a relatively easy life compared to the sharp end

But as a smartarse once said skill trumps tech. Depending on how good a rider you are a FS will make you a bit more capable in some places but brings with it its own problems not least of which are geometry changes and inefficiency

You might like it you might not notice just something to be aware of

I bought a full suss this year with a dropper post (previous 29er hardtail rider) and I think it’s made a huge difference to my riding and confidence.
I’ve also switched to flat pedals too. I now go down stuff that I would have bottled a few months back.

I admit that i’ve never been a great mountain biker but if technology can make up for skill then i’m all for it. Some people will tell you it’s less “pure” but if you applied that to other areas of life, we’d all still be driving Ford Model Ts.

I do it every few years….get bored of it pretty quickly and then sell it (anybody want a Codeine frame?).

Itches go away when the’re scratched.

Cost, extra maintenance, more things to go wrong……

^This.

I loved my Sub 5 and then ST4, but both cost extra shock servicing, and ST4 flawed (I bust it three times).

I cannot justify the extra cost of it at the moment.

My HT is *as* much fun, in all sorts of ways as a FS. I just wont be first to the bottom, I just may have more fun on the way 🙂

Did FOD uplift on FS, did BPW on a HT.
Happily do the same again, different things and great fun. Its about the rider not the bike.
Although choice is bloody great!

I was hardtail only and forever until recently, bought a knock down price Ibis mojo (1 1/8th & 26″), and you know what, it’s brilliant.

An itch well worth scratching.

26 inch wheel Nukeproof Megas are cheap, as are 26 inch Fives, also consider the 26 inch Ariel from 2012/13 when the brand relaunched….I had one, it was awesome and I’d still be running around on it now if it hadn’t been stolen!

Its about the rider not the bike

Define ‘it’

I loved my Sub 5 and then ST4, but both cost extra shock servicing

I spent so little on mine I can’t even remember. I upgraded the shock on the 5 a couple of years after I had it.. never serviced it, changed bearings once for a tenner, I think two lots of shock bushings – in 8 years. It needn’t be a big deal.

So where are these cheap fives? Not on here, pinkbike or eBay at the moment…….

I scratched the itch with a cheap Commencal Supreme 6 (1 1/8″ and 26″) recently and it’s brilliant for what I want it to do, which is bomb down a hillside. It’s ok for riding on the trails around here too, but I still prefer my HT for that sort of thing. As a quick and dirty itch scratcher (there’s a brill downhill about 5 minutes from us) the FS does the job but I could live without it if I had to. The good thing is that should I decide to strip it for parts they’ll all fit my HT 😀

“Don’t pump the hardtail through the corners”?!!

It’s a quicker pump than on a full-sus bike but hardtails are perfect for really pumping the exit. I really like how my hardtail and full-sus complement each other – one is a Soul with 140mm forks and the other a Spitfire (140mm travel) with 160mm forks.

It’s a quicker pump than on a full-sus bike but hardtails are perfect for really pumping the exit

Depends on the corner innit.

I loved my Sub 5 and then ST4, but both cost extra shock servicing, and ST4 flawed (I bust it three times).

I cannot justify the extra cost of it at the moment.
2 years in with my current Full Sus, shock service is easy and takes about 20 mins. Cost negligible. Nothing else over the HT in terms of maintenance.