In particular an SC Chameleon.
Done it in years gone by on a superlight and a 5 spot but in recent years and cutbacks in the cycling I own a (very good) hardtail.

I know what to expect in terms of terrain just wondered if others do or have done on a HT.

not just any hardtail – these are played and recommended by none other than the internet’s very own … Hora 8)

Les Arcs very doable on a ht – as proven by the trail addiction guides who do it all summer long. I’d not last 2 days, mind.

Yup done it on a HT. If I went back I’d take a FS.

I’d say anywhere else in the Alps take your chameleon…but Morzine…no fun on a hardtail. Hard and super rutted, super brake bump land.

me in les arcs with the white room last summer. ace fun. 😀

Did it on my Cove Hummer, some bits very harsh but easily doable. Still loads of fun.

Rode around portes du soleil (including morzine) this summer on a prince Albert. You won’t keep up with your fs mates and the braking bumps will hurt you bad, but you’ll still have loads of fun. I’m going back again next summer with the same bike so it can’t be that bad!

First time I went on a Rocky Mountain Equipe. Hard work at time plus pleny of punctures. Following years on a SC Supelight and made all the difference. That said sure ya Chameleon would be just fine, assuming you have got appropriate/matching tyres, breaks,fork etc

I know it’s shocking to say but get a USE suspension post. I got one that was pretty much new from eBay and it’s excellent if you want a little comfort without the weight. I was riding a carbon frame with a 31.6 seatpost that was stiff as a telegraph pole and about as comfortable (now on a 29er Scandal with a 27.2 post and the difference is night and day).

It’s never going to replace a FS but by the end of the week you will be thanking me. They are coil / elastomer also so nothing to really go wrong with them. I only put mine on the bike when it’s going to get a beating or some serious mileage is on the cards.

Morzine…no fun on a hardtail

nonsense, it’s great whatever the bike! just float it through the braking bumps 🙂

yes you can have fun on a hardtail………but you will have even more fun on a fs.

i took my HT to Verbier this year and although i had a good time, when i hired a fs for a day it was much more enjoyable.

on a hardtail you will get beaten up whereas the fs will be much more comfortable.

spindi – Member
I know it’s shocking to say but get a USE suspension post. I got one that was pretty much new from eBay and it’s excellent if you want a little comfort without the weight. I was riding a carbon frame with a 31.6 seatpost that was stiff as a telegraph pole and about as comfortable (now on a 29er Scandal with a 27.2 post and the difference is night and day).

It’s never going to replace a FS but by the end of the week you will be thanking me. They are coil / elastomer also so nothing to really go wrong with them. I only put mine on the bike when it’s going to get a beating or some serious mileage is on the cards.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-carbon-use-xcr-shokpost-272

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My mate took a HT(with a sus seat post) and I took a Trance X. He enjoyed it and even did Plenney but he spent most of the time on his front wheel.

I’d go back but with much more travel, as mentioned in previous posts it is full of ruts and brake bumps. I was using every last mm of travel but it was still so much fun.

The XC stuff there is amazing but I can’t help but think the red and black runs into Manzine (cos is a total man fest) and Les Gets would be so much more fun on something with at least 140mm back and front.

Just my view

I know a whole bunch of people who have ridden HT in Morzine. You WILL survive Pleney DH, but a HT bike will excell on all the many miles of XC heaven to be found out there

Myself and some mates went to Morzine in 02 – all on hardtails(with….v-brakes, no less !) – but we wound up mostly doing all xc stuff, which they were fine for – ready didn’t need full-sus, particularly since we did a fair bit of riding up at times, as well as down…wouldn’t be that much fun on the dh runs tho’.

LOTS of trails to be had on the VTT trails- something for everyone. For instance instead of going down the Mont Cherie (sp?) descent just keep going past the start and along the ridgeline/the tops. Magical.

Plus you are used to your hardtail and how it rides.

Take your HT and hire a full suss for a couple of days whilst you are out there for variety.

you’ll be fine, been out there with people on hardtails who had a great time (variety of skills levels too). maybe not best choice for hucking off any drops/doing owt crazy. chameleon would be my choice hardtail for it anyway, have fun! 🙂

imho etc…

the marked trails will be no fun at all on a hardtail, unless you like being shaken to bits by braking bumps for 8mins at a time.

there’s loads of fun, ‘natural’ singletrack trails around Morzine (Portes Du Soleil), where a hardtail will be almost perfect.

just follow the ‘VTT interdit’ signs…

I did a week in Morzine/Les Gets/Chatel last year on a Orange Crush. It is possible, and was a great laugh, but would be more enjoyable on a FS/DH bike.

Some routes are better than others though, the ones down into Les Gets and Morzine are the most bumpy.

I hired a DH bike (Santa Cruz Driver 8) for a day, and it was much better, and less tiring than the Crush.

Definitely still worth doing though, you just wont be as fast as everyone else.

how about going somewhere else? – you say you’ve already been to the PDS – there’s more to the alps than Morzine…

I did All the DH runs at Morzine on my Cove stiffee, 150mm travel. It was good at first but then after the 3rd day I was after a FS. – Hands and arms rattled to bits.
Got he Santacruz Driver 8. Worlds apart!

Was good to ride both though.

I’d stick to all the hidden (in the woods) off-piste steep tracks if I had to ride a hardtail there again.
I actually prefer a hardtail to my DH bike when it gets proper steep (as long as it’s not too rocky)

Took my 456 to Morzine in July, used it for the first day then hired a Froggy. It was the blisters on my hands that did for me, as well as the braking bumps. There are plenty of fantastic XC trails but even they have got very long descents and being out all day for several days doing bigger scarier stuff than you are used to means only a Johnny Concrete type will get by on a hardtail.

GW’s right, it depends where you ride in morzine. on the run of the mill, gulley run type of trails, a chameleon would be great. just stay of the main DH runs that are usually heavily braking-bumped. there’s loads of good XC trails that are fun on the chatel side too.

FS is a better bet generally but i’d be happy out there on the right hardatil, done it before and would do again.

I´ve had no problems in Morzine and i´m shite on a bike.

Not gonna lie, its bumpy on a hardtail in the Alps. But also alot of fun!

i went on a hardtail and buy day 2 i was utterly shattered. Not doing it again! This was just lift accessed runs though (not DH courses) so virtually no chance to sit down and have a rest. Also, everyone else was on full-sus bikes and i got quite competitive which was probably a mistake.

How fit are you ?

I spent a couple of months there a few years ago and only used the chairlifts once. There are LOADS of tracks that haven’t been munched to death by fat lads with heavy bikes and braking arms like Popeye. But obviously these are well away from the chairlifts and involve climbing…

(I had both types of bike with me IIRC)

There are LOADS of tracks that haven’t been munched to death by fat lads with heavy bikes and braking arms like Popeye.

This.

Does make me laugh watching the locals skip past the Fat Northern Lads whilst riding their skinny tyred 80mm hardtail race bikes, wearing all the protection roadie lycra affords….

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-carbon-use-xcr-shokpost-272

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Not me. I’m keeping mine for the rough stuff / enduros. I got the standard one from eBay ages ago for £40! Loads of people have an opinion of them without really trying one out. Most noticeable difference was on braking bumps and the general 1-2cm high trail chatter. Nice for the enduros cause it just lets you sit down for more of the course.

Nope it’s me selling the seatpost! 🙂

Done it for the last two summers on a hardtail, its good fun. You’ll only really suffer on the main Les Gets track cos of all the braking bumps (all the way down)

Pleney is ok apart from the berms out in the open which are always very rough

I found stopping for a couple of minutes half way down sorts you out.

Im not a great rider but theres some unbelievable shite riders out there, you wont be slowest down the hill (unless your unbelievably shite)

Just make sure you have some dual ply tires, some decent forks (the bigger the better really) and some good brakes

I used some 66 RC2X’s the first time on my hardtail, and they were great.

I used Z1’s last year and they felt a bit weedy.

mate of mine spent a day on the DH tracks on a HT and, whilst enjoyed it, would have ben better off on a FS.

I spent the same day there on my HT doing a couple of the DH tracks and lots of the xc single track. i found the dh tracks dull (probably cos i was being held back by having a 120mm HT), and the rest of it fantastic.

I spent a total of 7 weeks in the les arcs/la plagne area this year with bikevillage, and as ever, the HT was perfect.

I’ve just moved to morzine long term, and plan on keeping the HT tbh, as the DH tracks just don’t appeal.

in summary, totally depends on what type of trails you plan on riding…

SC Chameleon, Morzine. Got some issues? That’s bound to hurt. Anything is possible but I would pick the best tools for the job. If I lived in the Alps I would love to ride my hard tail but on holiday you want luxury not to prove a point. If you are riding the right trails then a hard tail even one as brutally uncomfortable as as Chameleon but then there will a lot of trails that you will not be fully enjoying.

There are LOADS of tracks that haven’t been munched to death by fat lads with heavy bikes and braking arms like Popeye. But obviously these are well away from the chairlifts and involve climbing…

Hels – lots of the best DH tracks in the PDS (just IMO obviously) that happen to have zero braking bumps are accessed from the main DH spudder lifts. I’m kinda glad there are loads of shite worn out official DH tracks, it keeps the good more natural tracks free of the type of rider you so elequently describe and in good nick with minimal maintenance from the locals/savy riders.

i’ve never understood this avoiding braking bumps just cos you’re on a hardtail – that’s part of the fun! i love the wheel-sized holes on la pleney. also, the braking bumps regularly get filled in and smoothed out by local trailbuilders.

I’ll dickwave and say I’ve been there with a fully rigid. (And a hardtail and two FSs.)

It’s just as much fun on any of them. More suspension mainly just means you can go longer without being knackered – by mid afternoon each day of pumping rigid forks through rocks I couldn’t brake anymore, but that’s nature’s way of saying you’ve caned the calories so hit the tartiflette and the lager early 🙂

last time I was in Morzine the Pleney was so bad I peeled off halfway down onto an off piste track and never rode it again in the fortnight I was there – there’s nothing fun about braking bumps all the way down a simple fast DH track even on a DH bike.

Im not the worlds best rider and I HATED Pleney with a passion. Only the last bit(s) through the trees/under the tunnel are fun. Blasting down a wide open bumpy track aint fun in my view. After all we are singletrack riders aren’t we on here?

Pleney is dull; even when it is running well (e.g. the morning after being skimmed) it is still dull. Chavannes is the same. Big wide motorways with a few badly thought out sloppy bits under the trees. Much the same as GW, we rode Pleney once, same with Chavannes and then used the lifts to access other trails off the same hills.

Chameleon78, if you are asking whether you should take your hardtail to the Alps or beg/borrow/steal a full susser then I would definitely say the latter. For a ‘laugh’, we took both our DH bikes and hartails out a few years ago. The hardtails didn’t see much use.

If, however, you will only ever have the one bike and are weighing up whether it is worth going to Morzine at all because that is all you have then yes, you should definitely go and whilst you will get a fair bit more beaten up than when you’ve been in the past with your 5 Spot, you should also have an idea of what trails will be better suited to a hardtail. If you don’t, you could always get a guide for a day and try and be specific about the trails you would like to ride.