Hi.
What do you think for the South Downs way and similar rides? Full sus or hard tail?
Seems there are so many opinions out there it might be that there isn’t much in it. If it helps I am a strong climber and a bit of a wus on the descents plus am a reasonably good road rider that suits distance.
Cheers

I ride a 29er FS for all non fat bike rides, that saying I’m officially old now as I’m 40 in a couple of months.

If you are not racing then a full susser all the way. Your body will thank you for it the next day. If you are racing then it depends on the type of course. If it’s relatively smooth then a hardtail if it’s lumpy a full sus. That’s what the pros do…..at least the ones who have the option.

I’m fs all the way on the south downs way. If it’s remotely dry the continuous bumps are painful! That said, some folk swear by cx bikes. If it’s been wet and so soft ground maybe but it’s OK on cx, but personally for the most part then I go FS.

either really, whatever you feel most comfortable on

if you go full-suss make it a light short-travel one, the descents on the SDW (and thereabouts) aren’t amazingly technical and there’s a lot of climbing

I do SDW every year. I’ve done it full sus, hardtail, rigid.

For me the weight gain and efficiency of the hardtail over the full sus is definitely worth it. Never again on the rigid. Never…

Id go hardtail 29er as well.

Short travel 29er FS every time. Beginning to think there is little point in hardtails unless you’re a world cup racer, and even then its debateable.

Rigid singlespeed in the winter though! That place gets really claggy and it destroys bikes.

My fatest time for SDW was on a SS CX – in summer when its smooth there’s little need for suspension IMO. Depends on whether you’re trying to do it quick or in comfort?

I’m tempted to have a bash on the rigid fatbike this summer if I get a go when it’s dry. 4″ Jumbo Jims roll pretty well, soak up the cobbles and hoofprints in the baked dry mud.

29er 100mm FS was my bike for BHF Southdowns in a day-100 miles and 13 hours! and this year.

Short travel 29er FS every time. Beginning to think there is little point in hardtails unless you’re a world cup racer, and even then its debateable.

Money, half decent FS bike is a lot more than a half decent hardtail.

Anyway, i am finding the 29er superfly faster and only a little less comfy than the 26er Topfuel it replaced. Did 90miles on the ridgeway last summer and wasn’t too bad.

Money, half decent FS bike is a lot more than a half decent hardtail.

Can’t argue with that, but then a cost was not part of the original question was it.

I know the FS V Hardtail question can probably never be empirically answered but for me, in my riding, in my experience the light weight short travel FS is more comfortable and more efficient than a hardtail could ever be. This all equates to a faster ride and makes short FS the bike of choice for marathon XC.

Tallboy. Mine knows the way all by itself. Its not fast though, never beaten 10.5 hours for a single.

What about a Trek Procaliber or the BMC softail?

Awesome advice…. I’m still on the fence. Went out on the NDW yesterday on a 12.5kg cube 27.5 HT. Looking to upgrade to a 29er Canyon Exceed or LUX. Looking at 9KG vs 10.5KG. So only 1.5KG in it, but I am looking to try and hit BHF SDW 100 as hard as I can… also 40 very soon and realising that youth was definitely wasted on the young! Canyon do claim to have a lot of compliance built in to the tail of the Exceed, but of course they claim that, everybody promises the world don’t they!

My biggest problem is I have never ridden a full sus and dont see an opportunity to have a crack at one either so this is mailorder trial!

SDW I did on a 29er HT, Ridgeway Double on a 29er FS. The Ridgeway is faster with less climbing and the bumps which you hit faster add up.

I did the SDW on a Bullit with supertacky high rollers

don’t do that

I’d definitely go short travel FS (whatever wheelsize). But I’m old and my body ain’t what it used to be.

Or my fat bike

I’m 40 and have done it twice on hardtails with 100mm forks and 2.3″ tyres. Perfectly fine. Yes there are a few knobbly sections but they’re far outweighed by smooth bridleway. A mate did it on a CXer in the wet – he vowed never again!

I’ve done it at a leisurely pace on a FS meta 5 with a dropper.
It was comfortable, but a bit draggy.

I’m eyeing up opportunity this year to give it a bash on a rigid SS.

From the ridiculous to the sublime…

DrP

I did the SDW on a Bullit with supertacky high rollers

don’t do that

I did it in a day on a 45lb Cannondale Gemini, 6″ travel front and rear and supertacky high rollers (I did pump them up to 40psi).

don’t do that either

I did the Meta too, i think it was a 5 running Nobby Nics…. it was OK 🙂

I did it on a Giant XTC29 which was faster but a lot bumpier….

Something in the middle of them 2 i think is the answer.

I too was on nobby nics…

Are we the same person? Are you my internet persona?? 😉

DrP

Age is only a problem when you use it as an excuse!

Pasture ground cut up by hooves then dried out is probably the worst ground to have to cover. As others have said, choose the bike for the most common type of terrain: The YD300 has about 500m of technical ground, there’s no point in using a DH oriented FS as it’s unsuitable for the 120Km of road and 120Km of vehicle track elswhere on the route, even walking the hardest descent only costs you a couple of minutes in an event lasting 30hrs.

There’s a huge difference in riding a bike off-road for a few hours vs riding that same bike for 100 miles or most of a day. A bike might be fine comfy for short rides but any (and I mean any) shortcomings in your setup will be exposed on the longer rides. My HT, as initially setup, was fine up to about 100Km then was painful. It took a few long rides over the course of a year or so to get everything right.

To the OP: if you are on a FS now then use that, it will take you a while to get used to riding a HT over long distances. If you are on a HT then consider that first then if you think it’s not for you get a short travel FS, something like the Salsa Spearfish, aimed at this sort of thing. An alternative might be a ridid or HT with Plus sized tyres to take advantage of that softness of ride.

Not as far as i know sir… although if i recall from the Commencal forums, we did both have the Meta about the same time too.

weeksy – Member
I did the Meta too, i think it was a 5 running Nobby Nics…. it was OK

I did it on a Giant XTC29 which was faster but a lot bumpier….

Something in the middle of them 2 i think is the answer.

You mean like a 100/90mm travel 29er XC FS 😉

Beginning to think there is little point in hardtails unless you’re a world cup racer, and even then its debateable

Rigid bikes feel much nicer to sit and pedal on, they don’t move about. IMO, that is. Just put sus forks on the Salsa hardtail, considering going back rigid. Even though it’s rocky where I live!

You mean like a 100/90mm travel 29er XC FS

Yeah, like the Spearfish i’ve owned and sold twice now 🙂

From how you rate yourself, rigid SS. Yes, you may well walk some bits but that is a good thing, time to eat, rests some muscles and saves some energy.

Rigid bikes feel much nicer to sit and pedal on, they don’t move about.

Nicer is obviously subjective and some people may prefer the feel of a FS, but the OP does mention being “a reasonably good road rider”. As someone who was a roadie for many years before switching to offroad in later life, I’d agree that a rigid bikes feels much better to me. Beats the crap out of me on a long bumpy ride though 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/wsL537]Ridgeway double[/url] by [/url], on Flickr

122miles and 11hours in I felt fresh enough on this to do the next 50miles 20minutes faster. The ‘fish is perfect for this sort of thing.

100mm HT + ThudBuster was my pick for SDW-in-a-day, and would be again.

Canyon do claim to have a lot of compliance built in to the tail of the Exceed, but of course they claim that, everybody promises the world don’t they!

A lot of the 10.9mm claimed “compliance” comes from the seatpost IIRC. Probably a decent frame but also well marketed.