Evening all,

I ride a hardtail and always have.

If I were to have the use of a FS bike for a weekend would I need to modify my technique to avoid being tossed off my borrowed ride by the newly (to me) bouncy back end?

Current bike is a Krampus with a 120mm fork, potential loan bike is a Giant Trance, riding is XC.

You can remain seated more of the time.

Helps if the FS has a dropper. Hadn’t ridden mine for a long time and rode it without dropper, felt a bit pointless, and saddle felt too much in the way, much more so than on the rigid bike without a dropper. Disclaimer: I’m useless at suspension setup!

You won’t be tossed of (snigger), nothing bad will happen. It does take a while to learn to get the best out of FS though so all you will notice at first is it being smoother.

There is no difference in technique. A fs just absorbs more of the effort. Stand always when depesending. Hardbacks are easier to jump on but slower on rough stuff and turns

IME, time spent riding on a hardtail translates to getting even more out of an FS.

Interesting question. I have only ever ridden a hardtail and tend to try and keep the back as light as possible over rough stuff. With a FS is there more of a “plow straight through it” approach?

avoid being tossed off

Dont worry, riding a FS will make sure you go soft🙂

The main difference for me to adjust to(and it doesn’t take too long) swapping between my hardtail and 165mm travel bike is pre-loading timings for hopping etc.

It has been a long time since I rode a HT, I sold it and have just ridden a FS for ages now, so its easy to forget what the difference is.

I know that the FS requires more maintenance though.

On most routes a lot of it is so smooth that it wouldn’t make a difference.

On techy climbs I found it was better on the FS. More chance of getting to the top without a dab. On rough descents the FS is faster.

I started crashing a lot less often on the FS.

Some say the HT is faster when in the “standing pedalling” position on climbs but I don’t think I noticed the difference

I think having a dropper post is probably more important than having an FS instead of a HT ? That seems to make a bigger difference on descents.

nteresting question. I have only ever ridden a hardtail and tend to try and keep the back as light as possible over rough stuff. With a FS is there more of a “plow straight through it” approach?

Only if you want too but preserve your technique and finesse as you’ll remain a far better rider. Some of my lot wouldn’t last five minutes on a hardtail as they ride like rhinos.

The fs will probably feel a bit harder work if it’s pedally terrain, but other than that it’ll make your ht feel sh*t when you go back to it.

The Trance isn’t lls etc so you mostly won’t notice much difference – just don’t stand up and try to crank up hills.

There is often talk of HT’s being faster than FS’s on climbs but I’ve not felt this at all.

In group rides the fastest people up the hill are always the same regardless of whether they’re on HT or FS.

Your knees are no longer springs and you wont have to be so carefull where you point it. I have both and use both, if I could only have one I really dont know which I would keep. They are all good fun, enjoy!

Make sure you set the rear suspension up properly otherwise the experience could be crap. Basically set the sag. It needs to support you.

Then just ride.

What scienceofficer said.

Going from a full suss to hardtail requires a bit of adjustment sometimes, but the other way round just makes it easier so should be fine.

I flip flop between a long travel hardtail and a 130/140 full suss. Love them both but as you’d expect v different riding experiences.

Be prepared to be very underwhelmed initially by full suss. I was years ago when I got my first one. It just seemed to dampen and dull everything. I think it takes a while to learn where to pump and pop. That and tune the rear.

I’m a recent FS convert and ride exactly the same way (badly) whilst paying less attention to line choice. I find myself constantly thinking about the rear shock though. Is the sag correct? Rebound? Should it be doing that? God knows why, but I can’t stop myself 😕

A good hardtail shouldn’t be under estimated. IMHO FS isn’t better than a HT just different. The hardtail would have taught you good technique if you did not crash often. Enjoy both. 😉

With a hadtail you have a choose lines, on a fs not so much, you can just ride over everything.

Your knees are no longer springs and you wont have to be so carefull where you point it … They are all good fun, enjoy!

Pretty much this, even on something with not much travel you can just plough over/through stuff. It’s taken me ages to get the hang of riding a FS (a dropper helped with this!) after years on HTs. Manuals and hops are timed slightly differently- manuals seem to ‘float’ more, which is nice because it makes me look ace, but hops are a little more tricky because I’m not always sure I’m fetching the back end up or just squashing it down and rolling over whatever I was trying to hop over 😆

I’d cleaned my full sus and not ridden it in 9-12 weeks maybe longer, riding my hardtail 130mm HT chameleon absolutely loved it, getting faster times and great at Leeds urban bike park on jumps and berms, and survived Wharncliffe downhills
i did 2 laps of Cannock red/black last Thursday and I was ruined, nothing left mentally and physically,
I badly Damaged my bars on chameleon Saturday morning so got the full sus out Saturday evening and went for a testride out as the wife did a 30 min jog, it felt weird as chuff.. really weird and I thought what she this all about

Sunday rode it to langsett up cutgate to trig and back
and my word it’s so much easier on the lower back and just leisurely pedalled away, pb’s all round hardly any dabs
and then the descent was just smooth and flowing , did a few extra 100-150m climbs on way back to my mates..
I Felt really refreshed after 45km ride Sunday,
took it out Monday to a local jump and it damn near took off

In summary riding a sketchy back wheel hardtail (and sessioning the jump lines) seems to have improved my skill, and is really enjoyable, but so is the full sus, hardtail are perfect for winter night riding in slop with less cleaning requirements and can be just as fast.

Good technique on a hardtail in my amateur opinion is transferable to an FS bike. For me FS bikes just increase the options for any section and decrease fatigue on rides.

They make some lines more possible both up, on flat and down. I can ride ride faster and harder over obstacles – although I am someone who selects lines rather than just bludgeoning trails to death.

Cornering for me is also faster as I can really push the bike into the bend – especially with any positive camber.

I do think that good hardtail skills are a real enabler on an FS bike, you will have learnt so much to increase comfort and control and I believe that generally just makes you a better rider full stop.

One caveat though, adjust the suspension to your weight and riding style so suspension doesn’t just compress fully at the first sign of a bump or doesn’t move, or damping is so poor that rebound is super slow and never returns or is like a pogo stick, or compression damping is so still you get hand fatigue or blow though all your travel on the first bump.