Who here only rides Hardtails and why not full suspension? Been trying to convince my mate that I’m happy on a 100 mm Hardtail but he insists I NEED a Full suspension. I ride mainly Gisburn and local trails around Darwen moor which is nothing too harsh.

I think maybe when I get more skilled in riding then I’d like a longer travel Hardtail like 130mm.

I only have hardtails. Scott scale 960 and a fully rigid singlespeed. Got rid of my full sus as I mainly ride xc. Used my Scott at BPW and nobody died.
Had a Boardman FS but felt it was too much bike for the trails I ride. I’ve had the odd moment (at places like afan) where I’d wanted a bit more bike but 95% of the time I don’t need it.
Funnily enough, I’ve just had similar chats with my mate as he was in the market for a new bike. He got a hardtail in the end.

Only ever ridden hardtails, there is very little you can’t ride on a hardtail. I like really technical riding with plenty of rocks and roots. I took a single speed hardtail to the Alps and rode everything my mates on DH bikes rode.

In my case, I only have hardtails because…

1/ I feel that a FS would lure me into riding beyond my (meagre) capabilities
2/ The extra maintenance costs/effort involved doesn’t appeal to me
3/ I have enough trouble hauling myself uphill, without having a heavier bike.
4/ At the moment, n+1 bikes would require n+1 sheds
5/ I’m having plenty of fun with my hardtails, thanks very much.

In my case, I only have hardtails because…

1/ I feel that a FS would lure me into riding beyond my (meagre) capabilities
2/ The extra maintenance costs/effort involved doesn’t appeal to me
3/ I have enough trouble hauling myself uphill, without having a heavier bike.
4/ At the moment, n+1 bikes would require n+1 sheds
5/ I’m having plenty of fun with my hardtails, thanks very much.

I’ve gone back to hardtails, mainly because of maintenance and also where I live (southeast). I got a bit fed up with play developing in bearings and bushings etc…

If you are keeping up with your mate on his FS then you are likely more skilled and fitter and having approximately 28.3% more fun 🙂

Has your mate given any reason as to why he thinks you need an FS?

Ive owned a couple of full sus In the past, but I find I get just as much enjoyment from a hsrdtail, im no slower than my mates on full sus snd just cant see the point.
However I do find my seft lusting after I nice full sus trail bike whyen Iread the mags – im sure its all clear marketing and peer pressure.

I sold my hardtail and only have two FS now, one short travel 29er for races, and a long travel 26″ for the rest.

My reasons were:-
– I was faster and more in control on the FS, as I could pedal over obstacles, and had my back wheel in touch with the ground for more of the time
– The FS are only 1kg heavier, but I accept are more expensive to buy and maintain
– I bu@@ered up my back doing 100k and multi-day races on my hardtail, as after a couple of hours in the saddle I was too tired to lift my butt for every bump and jump. If you’re younger or fitter this may not be a problem – yet!

Couldn’t afford as good a bike if it was a FS and my riding capabilities don’t really warrant one anywyay.

Every winter I convince myself that I don’t need my FS, then in Spring I ride it again and realise I do! If I only used a HT then I’d be more than happy with it though.
Although we had a couple of days in the Lakes recently and I wouldn’t have enjoyed the descents half as much on my HT.

At trailsy 29er HT does everything I want for where I live and what I want to ride. Any limits are mine not the bike. It kicked a**e at BPW, I got a little shaken at Afan, don’t care. CBA with FS maintenance, I’ll keep the cash in my back pocket and if I ever ‘must’ have an FS I’ll rent.

I currently only have a ht, well a rigid singlespeed, having just sold my geared ht. When I buy a new bike it’ll be another ht.

I’ve had a few fs bikes but I’m just not as keen, they feel inefficient. I know it isn’t really the case and even if it was I’m not exactly an xc racer. It only takes the slightest amount of bob on a climb and that’s it, I’m looking for reasons to get rid.

Have a FS but not ridden it for over 18 months. But then I do only pootle around Surrey XC stuff 🙂

For balance. I say that FS owners benefit from owning and riding a HT. I would not contemplate snowdon, highlands, Lakeland passes, Sierra Nevada, alps etc on my HT.

I’ve been riding hardtails for ever and I’ve only finally cracked and ordered a full-sus because my mates and I are doing more uplift days in gnarlier places and I’m not tough enough to enjoy it as much on the hardtail. But I’m very happy (and not slow) on the hardtail for the riding you describe.

However, another of my mates has also been riding a hardtail forever and we’ve been trying to persuade him to get a new bike for a while – not because it’s a hardtail but because it’s a year 2000 GT with the geometry you’d expect from that era – and he’s had too many over the bars crashes on it – if it had a more downhill friendly head angle and better forks and decent brakes (like my 140mm Cotic) we wouldn’t have said anything!

I’ve only ever ridden a HT and I love it, so I’ve never felt the need for a different bike, except on a few occasions of riding something steep where I felt I was going to go over the bars.

Yeah the narliest thing my bikes will encounter is Hully Gully at Gisburn. My mate’s 10 seconds quicker down there but on the Smoother Hope line he can’t get near me as I can acclerate out of the berms quicker. And my local riding is mainly woodland stuff, tight and twisty, sometimes rooty. And Darwen moor and Rivington which I seem to manage ok on.

My ideal bike maybe after next year would be a 130 mm travel Hardtail in any wheel size.

Have a 29er HT and a FS (Trance x2) the FS has been hung up on my wall for 6 months as I prefer the 29er.

you aint competitive in enduro races, but you do get mega kudos.

TBH, there are only a couple of spots at Gisburn where you might appreciate a FS bike. It’s an XC trail centre – a short-travel hardtail is the perfect bike for the rest of it.

You should be able to break your mate’s spirit on the climbs anyhow, then tell him he really needs a hardtail…

FS smooths out the hits so the rider goes quicker seems a circular argument to me, so what? May as well get on the road bike and ride asphalt at 60mph.

Reduced fatigue, less back stress, better traction on climbing, pinging out of bends, bigger hucks, they’re all potentially bona fide benefits that make sense to a lot of people, fair enough. My bikes are getting simpler nowadays, if I can’t ride, I’ll walk.

Who here only rides Hardtails and why not full suspension?

I can only justify one bike at the moment, for the majority of my riding I don’t feel I need an FS, and given the Pennine grinding paste I often ride in and lack of time for maintenance, I don’t think I’d be able to look after one.

Having said which, when I win the lottery, I shall be having a Banshee Phantom:

When I got back into mountain biking a few years back, I looked at getting a full suss, but after a bit of deliberation ended up with a hardtail, with the idea that I’d add a full suss to the fleet later on.

Then I ended up building another, more all round hardtail.

Then I bought a road bike.

And to be honest, I have no urge whatsoever to buy a full suss any more. I think I would buy every niche bike going before I got round to buying a full suss. But then I don’t ride a lot of big stuff either.

There was a ‘test’ in one of the mags recently of timing on a steep loose climb. FWIW (not much to me but I don’t dispute the conclusion) the journo concluded short travel FS beat long travel FS beat HT fairly conclusively.

As with all the wheel size debates, ride what makes one happy. That’s what were here for.

I think I would buy every niche bike going before I got round to buying a full suss.

Yeah, I’d love to try a fat bike, Krampus and so on. My money would go that way first.

Though someone I ride with has one of those new carbon Spesh FS 29ers, I can’t deny it looks good.

Doesnt sound like you need one… but is always nice to have another.

I probably ride my Soul more than anything else tbh…but that may all change on my pike endowed bandit waiting in the back of the garage out of the wifes sight 😉

I wish I never got a full sus because it’s hard to go back to just riding HT after. They just feel unbalanced and weird in comparison. Way better for jumps etc though. I just have to run the forks quite hard otherwise it feels wrong.

I’ve got a 120mm hardtail, I love the simplicity. I ride it pretty hard and sure I’ll get beaten down a rocky run, but on most other stuff it’s brilliant, loads of pop, very responsive, and most importantly it’s fun! If I had a FS I’d spend half my time worrying about rear shock setup and getting too much grit in the bearings.

Interesting thread, speaking as someone who owns a SC Nomad Carbon but has just built up a Ragley Blue Pig (with 150mm travel forks)as a ‘2nd’ bike. I am bowled over with how capable the hardtail is and, actually on the downs, feels very similar to the Nomad. I also ride Gisburn and on my first outing on the hardtail set PB’s on the Hope line and Hully Gully line compared to times I had set on the Nomad!

However there were times on Hully Gully where if I hadn’t been clipped in I would have been off over the ‘chattery’ bumps. Also fatigue is a factor (as someone else mentions), you can’t have a crafty sit down to stick a few pedal strokes in half way down a run on a hardtail otherwise bruised buttocks will be the outcome!

I love both bikes and in an ideal world – have one of each! However if this isn’t possible, can I justify the price difference of the frame for the Ragley over the Nomad (approx. £250 verses £2500!)? – no not at all!

I got rid of my last full sus when I got my Dialled Alpine years ago. I can’t think of a time when I had regretted the decision. I’ve currently got three hardtails of varying travel, which seem to cover all the riding I am ever likely to do. At some point I will try and reduce that number but, despite the best efforts of my LBS, I won’t be going down for full sus route in the foreseeable future.

I ride my hardtails 80% of the time, my FS only gets out probably once a month if that. 95% of surrey/hants trails can be done on a HT, only things like Swinley, Afan, BPW would make a FS more fun than an HT.

Might be a useful bike to have, and allow a bit more rough stuff to be ridden, but for the rare times that happens, can’t be bothered with the additional maintenance / setup.

2 hardtails – one with sue. forks and gears, one rigid and SS. Reckon I can manage /most/ things on these.

But how much of my riding is limited by what I have – don’t know for sure.

Had always had HT and FS but decided earlier this year to get rid of them both and get a slightly more able HT. Most of what I ride (west of Scotland natural stuff) is ideal on HT and in the previous year I had only ridden my 5 a dozen times. Also, in my late 40’s at an age where not really wanting to get more air/raddness.

No regrets.

Three of my bikes are full rigid and some are full suspension.
None are hard tail with suspension forks.

only having one end with suspension just doesn’t work for me or my riding style.

Then again I’m just weird 🙂

5 Mtb’s here one rigid, 3 hardtails and a full suss, If I had to go one, I would keep the full suss 😀

One of the hardtails was to have a lighter bike and reduce the wear and tear on the full suss. The others just sort of came along in an attempt to make some of the less demanding local trails more of a challenge.

I’ve got both, depending what mood I’m in I like both, but it’s not a matter of need..
Let’s face it, you don’t need lots of things, but it’s nice to have them when you want.

khani – Member
I’ve got both, depending what mood I’m in I like both, it’s not a matter of need..

so much this… 100mm 29er hardtail and a 160mm full sus, in the right environment both are simply awesome bikes

there was always a stigma attached to early full sus, that they were heavy and pants and pedalled like crap and handled like jelly, so I was never really interested in parting with large amounts of cash for something rubbish..

When I eventually got around to trying one recently (a modern Trek) I thought it was heavy and pants and pedalled like crap and handled like jelly

I’m aware that the technique is slightly different for riding a full sus, but I don’t have the time or money for experimenting with it

You probably just rode a crap one yunki. A properly set up one feels so much better than a ht. Depending what kinda stuff you ride, anyway.