At the risk of causing offence to people, I’m not sure the Willow is all that. I have heard a few bad things about them.

I know a lot of mountain bikers and I don’t know anyone that owne’s a Golden Willow?

If something feels right you will know, whether your riding is adapted to it or not.

I’ve always hated full sus bikes.

Got a Spearfish last month and it’s amazing, doesn’t feel all squishy and horrible out of corners like everything else I’ve ridden. And I’m not just saying that as I ride for Salsa…

GB

yep, Bionicon and/or Golden Willow get’s mixed reviews
I think this example had weak damping on top of it
I am not going to judge FS by that experience and will keep test riding
not so much in the next weeks, though
will update as soon as I have new insights 🙂

Back on my hardtail after my failed 1st attempt to fall in love with full-suspension:
oh the joys of snappy acceleration, clear flow of trail information, direct response and playful agility! 🙂
Makes you feel like a rider not a passenger.

A couple of bike events later this year will give me more opportunity to test more bounce, friends offered test rides on a Rocket and a Demo ( 😯 ) -> I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile in a parallel universe I ordered some nice Velvets to give the Soul a stiffer front end.

i ended up changing from a hardatil to f/s around September coming from a bmx background I wanted short tt, snapy, chuckable,short back end for manuals but enough to take the sting out of launching off every little kicker I can find on the trails yet not squat under pumping corners, I ended up with a giant trance 26er chose the 16″ as 18″ felt to wollowy put some 130mm forks on and I have to say I have no intrest in changing any time soon it really is a sweetspot to ride anything

Brief update for those who still care:
– rented a Giant One-Forty 800 during holiday trip
(old model with simple pivot layout, new ones seem to have some sort of VPP)
– liked it a lot for its “no-nonsense-just-works-and-doesn’t-annoy-me” way of dealing with things
– suspension firmed up uphill, liked that
– didn’t make me want FS but didn’t put me off either

Maybe more interesting:
Punta Ala in Tuscany is a good place to combine bike and beach holiday with the family.

Update:
Did Pass’Portes du Soleil on my hardtail. Couldn’t be bothered to test full suspension there. But took away a very clear steer that it’s worth going for something further afield from my hardtail. Because my hardtail is that good. And because the other bike needs to be substantially different to make any sense at all.

More negative travel suddenly makes a lot of sense after this kind of territory.

hock, like you I’ve been a hardtail rider for 10+ years. I ‘ve a Single Speed spot with rigid carbon forks that just rocks.

However, I’ve just purchased a Zesty 214 and I have to say it’s awesome. climbs really well and is awesome fun on the decents. I always struggled with full susers being too slow but the Zesty has lots of zip and given the right input can beast singletrack. I love it, though I’m still riding hardtail more whilst its dry and fast out there.