Are there many hardtail riders in the series? I’m thinking of giving it a crack, sounds like a laugh.

Is there a separate category so hardtail riders can get recognition for their awesome skillz? 😉 Not that I expect to anywhere near quick enough you understand.

Anyone that has done an event on a hardtail care to share their experience/give me any tips?

I did (half of) the inners round on mine… Despite what it said on the website there was no hardtails cat, wee bit disappointing tbh but since I ended up a DNF it didn’t really matter!

Not an awful lot else to say about it tbh, one of the inners stages was a disaster on a hardtail (massive rubbish pedal down the red route climb on a rubbly surface, so really hard to carry speed, just thoroughly unpleasant and not fun at all) but other than that it was fine, makes things a bit tricker obviously but it’s just riding your bike.

The rest of the time, it’s just basking in the adulation of your peers, overtaking people on a hardtail feels awesome, and it’s a perfect excuse when someone passes you 😉 Got some good chat and a couple of big cheers from bystanders.

One of those bystanders was probably me. 😆 When I’m heckling and see a hardtail rider I normally shout something hardtail specific.

Which round(s) are you thinking of doing? Hamsterley would’ve been really good on a hardtail (shorter course, smooth trails), Inners not much (my back would cave in somewhere near Plora Criag I imagine)

I’m in Birmingham, so I’m really considering the rounds that are within a few hours. Eastridge would be great but I’m off up to the Lakes on holiday that day.

Does seem disappointing that there isn’t a proper category for hardtails, are they really such a rare sight?

Does much overtaking happen during an enduro then, how far apart to be start each stage?

Does seem disappointing that there isn’t a proper category for hardtails, are they really such a rare sight?

Does much overtaking happen during an enduro then, how far apart to be start each stage?

– yup, barely saw any at the round I did this year.

– yes and no. More likely to have overtaking issues in seeding, then hopefully not so much in the main race

Well, you’ll see me as I’m doing some of them next year!

winch – Member

Does seem disappointing that there isn’t a proper category for hardtails, are they really such a rare sight?

Does much overtaking happen during an enduro then, how far apart to be start each stage?

I think there was 5 at inners.

Overtaking… Well, in theory it shouldn’t happen much, UKGE is seeded with 30 second gaps. But in practice, it does happen a fair bit- people crash or have moments, sometimes you get folks who had a really good or really bad seeding round and so are a bit out of the running order. Or, sometimes the seeding round’s just not that representative, I caught my 30 second man in about a minute in stage 2 at innerleithen, probably because the seeding was on well built dh and trail centre trails, all flat out but the 2nd stage was proper inners enduro swamp-o-gnar.

Not all enduro events are seeded though, most I’ve done it’s just a gentlemanly “You look a bit fast, want to go first?” Super-keen fast people tend to be at the front of the mob though anyway.

I’ll be at Eastridge on my BFe this weekend. Should be (almost) ideal.

Rode the Dyfi round last year on my hardtail, wasn’t too bad, but far from the best tool. All the stages were flat out, moto enduro trails so get a bit clenchy at times. There were a fair few hardtails though, mainly Cotics actually.

andeh – will keep an eye out for your bfe, I’ll be at eastridge on my ti slackline. Did mondraker gravity on exmoor on my slackline, no probs with bike choice and some of the trails were pretty rough!

The hardtail category is “unofficial” but exists. There are always some at every round but not too many… more chance of a podium! 😉

I’ll be Hardtailin’ at Eastridge, on a red rockhopper (niche!). I’m looking forward to it allthough I was at Eastridge this weekend and kept getting bogged down on the flatter, rougher bits. Raced the Sauze D’Oulx superenduro on it a month ago, they had a proper hardtail cat, let us on the podium and everything.

There was an unofficial hardtail cat in the past, (last year was very kindly sponsored by Cy – £50 for the winner of each round and a Bfe frame for the overall winner. Unfortunately, Cy couldn’t make the rounds and none of the organisers were particularly interested in keeping tabs on the hardtails at the rounds I was at (with the exception of Eastridge last year, when Dan Stanton stepped up with a pen and paper and sorted out a podium), so it was always down to the riders to sort out. There’s not been one this year.

I did Inners, Dyfi and Eastridge last year, and Afan, Hamsterley (all on a Soul) and Dyfi (on a Slackline) this year. All brilliant fun and anywhere between 5-15 hardtails at each round, everything from 4x bikes to XC 29ers. Didn’t get an entry for this weeked – and I’m gutted about it!

No specific hardtail tips really… You’re always going to be slower over the rough bits, so I just try and be smooth there and then really get on the pedals on the gentler stuff and make up time. You seem to get battered a bit more through the day too.

Overtaking – I’ve generally had no problems overtaking, although I know others have. If you have an ok seeding run, you’ll have few problems and you’ll probably not be passed either (unless the guy behind you crashed on his seeding…). If you seed badly, you’ll have to pass people. The only time anyone’s not let me by, he crashed after about a minute or so anyway.

It’s basically just a shed load of fun no matter what bike you’re on.

Stevede- how’d you find the ti slackline for enduro? Was the rear quick release a detriment?

Otherwise.. I’m going to be riding ht at any and all uk enduro/dh I can get too! 😈

Qr is fine mate, I finished 35th overall out of 250 odd at the mondraker enduro, that was pretty tech, the bike took it in its stride. I race dh on it too, racing the sw champs on super tavi at gawton in a few weeks.

Thanks for all the responses, I’m sold on giving it a go. Am I right in thinking Eastridge is the last round this year? I guess that gives me winter to get used to my new bike!

Last of the UKGEs but there’ll be other events, tends to be winter series etc. Not sure where you are but there’s about to be an announcement for a scottish 6-race series, and we’ve got the fair city enduro in perth and a no fuss/dudes of hazard one in november coming up at kinlochleven (which, personally I would not choose to do on my hardtail! Constant sharp-edged rocks, lots of flats and dead wheels last year)

So who else did eastridge on their hardtails then? Spotted a few, shame we didn’t have an unofficial category.
Andeh – were you on the blue or black bfe? Was great fun on the slackline, just about managed a top 50 in masters, stage 3 nearly killed me, thought it would be a good stage being pedally but the bumpy bits really tired me out! Stage 1 and 5 were my favourites, looking forward to doing some more next year.

I was camped next to Steve ^^^ all weekend so I can attest to the fact that he didn’t die. And that Ti Stanton is a lovely frame…

Ha ha cheers Pete and congrats on your series win. Shame we had to head straight off after the racing but a drive to Cornwall and work today meant we couldn’t hang around for the fun 🙂

Cheers. Yeh, shame you couldn’t stay. I only had a few hours but because it’s me I only had a couple of ciders and I was dizzy. Top party, though. Hopefully see you next year. 🙂

Steve, I was on the blue BFe. I think I chatted with you a bit on one of the climbs.

BFe was good, rear tyre wasn’t :/

Yeah I chatted with you for a bit, you said you’d had a bit of a mare, shame mate. Surprised by the amount of punctures all round, I must’ve been lucky – was tubeless on maxxis exo minions. Hope to see you and the bfe at some more rounds mate.

Put a million PSI in the back tyre, forgot about the front one

Was having an ace time up until that point, the back of seniors is clearly the cool place to be. Hopefully bump into you guys next year

Yeah, had a horrible start with a puncture in seeding and then a fairly bad stack on stage one. Still, enjoyed myself once I loosened up a bit.

Back of seniors was where the party’s was at! I didn’t realise you’d punctured Dave, I thought you were just running up the hill 😀 ace meeting you lot anyway, I’m planning on doing more of the rounds next year.

I rode my hardtail at 2 enduros (not uk) this yr, nice sense of a challenge 🙂 but agreed on having to run the rear tyre super hard to prevent pinch flats which equals even less traction but more SPEED !!!

I was running 24psi in the front and 26psi in the rear on minion exo’s (dhf and dhr2) tubeless on Flow Ex’s and managed fine. A lot of flats over the weekend from all riders not just the hardtailers and dropped chains and killed mechs.

I’m almost definitely going to give tubeless a go now, well, once I’ve used up all my existing tubes 8)

Tubeless isn’t without it’s shortcomings but the positives outweigh the negatives, particularly riding that sort of stuff, pinch flats on the rear being the obvious thing you avoid (unless your really unlucky). Give me a shout mate if you need any recommendations on tyres, I’ve tried most!!!

I just used my normal setup- tubeless and butcher controls or conti barons, at mid-20s, wee bit higher for really rocky stuff. But that’s what I use for all this sort of thing so it’s well tested for me, ymmv. Maybe if I was fast it’d work less well 🙂

Big part of it is the course though- like, inners enduro for all it’ll have rocks in, is usually fairly forgiving, they’re not that sharp edged. Pinchflats possible obiously but not that common. But, the common stages can be incredibly slippy when wet. But then, you could go up and do the dudes enduro at kinlochleven and it’s still soaking wet but far rockier, outright mud is relatively rare so you might want tougher tyres but probably not mud tyres. And so on.

The Hans Dampf/Rubber Queen combo I’m currently running should tubeless up fairly easy. Stans rims shouldn’t be hassle either. The main reason I haven’t before is the faffing involved….plus I do like to swap tyres about a fair amount. Seems worth it though for extra puncture protection, grip, and to save a good couple of hundred grams from each wheel.