Was out on Saturday morning with trail_rat, took my hardtail as my full sus needs some work but what a blast some of the local trails are round Scolty on a hardtail.

…you CAN do everything on a HT

You can do most things at Swinley on a Boris bike 😉

Have a 26″ SS HT as THE mtb. I like SS but can see how it holds me back a bit when I race. But I really only want one bike for all my riding. Whenever I borrow Teen1’s Trance, it just feels soggy compared with the HT. Fast when you point it downwards, but soggy.

Maybe a short travel 29er is the one, maybe a VERY short travel (carbon seatpost ~0.5cm).

s’all bikes so all good.

Puts weeksy on the list of people who rely on springs, not skills, to get down a trail.

I’d wheelie all over you on my Alpine…..

Fähigkeiten statt Federweg…..

LOL, I DID all of it on the cheap HT, I didn’t die, didn’t crash, didn’t have any issues. The fact you can do something, doesn’t mean you have to.

I can motorbike to work in the rain… but I take the Mondeo 🙂

weeksy – Member

However, why in Gods name would you want to… I mean, really ? Unless racing, finite speed is completely irrelevant isn’t it ? It’s all about fun and comfort

Comfort aside, all this is exactly why I have a bad-ass hardtail. Generally goes slower, can be more fun. Mostly it’s just different. Bikes are ace!

Every time I ride my single speed rigid bike on my local trails I think “this is the perfect bike for this”. Every time I ride the same trails on my full susser I think “this bike is even more perfect”

Basically this for me. A rigid SS is remarkably competent unless you are wanting to climb several thousand meters up 20% gradients every day. Going full sus to rigid singlespeed isn’t too daunting. Going rigid singlespeed to full sus is more relaxing and makes a bit more sense for riding faster but is less engaging.

Basically, all bikes are awesome. Buy the one that fits best and it most practical to live with. 😀

Went over to a SS steel 29er several years ago.
Twice since then I’ve convinced myself that I needed a FS bike in my life. And twice I’ve built up FS bikes to test this theory. 🙂

Both got stripped & sold after 2 or 3 rides.
Missed the HT too much, each time I rode the FS bikes.

wwaswas – Member
I tend to take the view ‘it’s all bikes’ and ride whichever one I feel like on any given day.
I have as much fun and enjoyment riding my rigid singlespeed as I do my 140mm FS. There’s certainly more challenge with the former, particularly on trails I know well.
People ride for all sorts of reasons, if you’ve found your ‘the one’ bike that’s great but diversity of choice is good too.

Same here.

I’m lucky in having both options but think that it’s too quick a judgement to do one ride on a £500 HT to dismiss HT as an option all together. If I have ridden the FS for a while and go back to the HT it takes me a week or so to get used to it again and to get the best out of it (or it to get the best out of me). It’s more involving on the trails and that way more fun & if I’m riding it right it’s not at all uncomfortable. When I look at the mileage at the end of the year it’s normally done twice that of the FS.

why do I feel the need to reply to these posts?

Anyway,

out of 9 ish ‘proper’ MTBs I’ve owned, only one has been a FS. A Spesh Enduro. A very posh bike.

The reason I went back to hard tails is that speed / excitement are relative. Using a car analogy, go-karts at 30mph feel very fast. Short wheelbase, sharp handling, lack of fancy suspension and your arse 1″ off the ground. A Mini at 50 on B roads feels bloomin’ fast too, for similar reasons. A Ferrari, Lambo. et al at 90mph on the motorway would, I assume, get boring.

Battering (and that certainly describes my style of riding) my way through roots, mud, rocks etc on a hard tail is more challenging, more difficult and more fun. At a slower speed than I could on a full on DH bike, I’m riding on the edge (my edge, not the bike’s) and I love every minute of it.

It’s closer to what got me into riding in the first place decades ago with terrible geometry, awful suspension (once it arrived), bad brakes, shifting, tires… each ride was an adventure. My favourite ever ride was a night ride with lights that would barely be good enough for a commute by today’s standards. We had to drag our bikes for 1/3 of the ride as the gears were mudded-solid but it was fantastic! Even limping home where the v brakes had worn the braking surface so badly, the sidewall of the rim popped off was exciting.

Easier ? better

Was it not laterally stiff yet vertically compliant?

It’s closer to what got me into riding in the first place decades ago with terrible geometry, awful suspension (once it arrived), bad brakes, shifting, tires… each ride was an adventure. My favourite ever ride was a night ride with lights that would barely be good enough for a commute by today’s standards. We had to drag our bikes for 1/3 of the ride as the gears were mudded-solid but it was fantastic! Even limping home where the v brakes had worn the braking surface so badly, the sidewall of the rim popped off was exciting.

You are making me feel nostalgic!

Hardtails and rigid bikes have their place but for me nothing beats the pure video-game style silliness of just pointing your full suss bike down something steep and rocky and letting it do it’s thing.

I’ve ridden a hardtail down most of the stuff I ride now so it’s not a case of not being able to do it.

Can’t help feeling some of you are trying to artificially inject some excitement into your dull trails. 😛

I’d happily ride a HT (if I had one) at most trail centres though.

I think it depends on the HT. I hated them for all the same reasons a year or 2 ago, but went an bought a second hand Ti hardtail and its a revelation, nothing like as harsh and uncomforatble to ride than previous ones I have tried

Agree with the OP 100%. I have fully rigid and HT but virtually every time I ride one of them I wish I was on the FS. It’s not that I don’t like a challenge or different styles but as I ride FS most of the time I find getting bounced around on the saddle an unnessesary chore. Rigid/HT are for pub trips, booze runs or canals these days for me.

Mate of mine got caught up in the whole HT’s as fashion items a few years back and chopped in his FS. He’s just switched back and admits he missed FS on most rides.

grum – Member

Can’t help feeling some of you are trying to artificially inject some excitement into your dull trails

That’s definitely what it feels like, enduro racing and rattling it down the world cup route 😉

Apart from the pumptrack you couldn’t pay me to ride a hardtail, or fun hater as they’re known around here.

I’ve got both and enjoy riding both but I do find once I start to tire, I find it harder to maintain speed on the hardtail than on the bouncy big. The big thing for me though is the bouncy bike generates much more traction on climbs which is great when they’re a bit loose.

I went from FS to HT a couple of months ago when I dismantled my El Guapo and built up an Evil Soveriegn.I will be the first to admit that it’s not as fast or smooth in tech situations (I live in the Peaks) but it is way more FUN! In my mind this is what biking is all about and I may never own another FS.As for being cheaper I’m not so sure as it has got me eyeing up Shans ECt.

1. it’s swinley, if you found it uncomfortable there, you’ve no hope anywhere else.
2. are you a sit in the saddle spinning away 99% of the type of person?
3. me personally, something like a stanton slackline is the most fun type of bike at swinley, well most trail centres, fast through the turns, makes the most of every lump for gaps along the way, good for getting the power down, maybe plenty of cheeky power wheelies and manuals, perfect.

Whatever floats your boat though, it is only bikes.

Wheel size is more important than suspension

deanfbm – Member

1. it’s swinley, if you found it uncomfortable there, you’ve no hope anywhere else.
2. are you a sit in the saddle spinning away 99% of the type of person?
3. me personally, something like a stanton slackline is the most fun type of bike at swinley, well most trail centres, fast through the turns, makes the most of every lump for gaps along the way, good for getting the power down, maybe plenty of cheeky power wheelies and manuals, perfect.

Whatever floats your boat though, it is only bikes.

I’m not always a sit in and spin, although since moving to FS’s a few years back I admit I am a more sit and spin kind of rider. When on the HT (650B by the way) at the weekend I did spent a large majority of the sections standing up, simply because they’re horrible sitting down.

I’ve ridden hardtails at Afan, Cwmcarn etc, but I’d forgotten just how horrific and clattery they are.

They do wheelie/manual/jump I guess better, but part of that is that my AM is a bit of a tank lol.