Why do people call them 'hardcore' hardtails….

…. if they’re only going to ride around trail centres?

Seriously, where did this ‘hardcore’ label come from?

from a time when all hardtails tended to be xc race bikes with 80-100mm of travel.

putting 120mm+ forks on a hardtail built to take them was hardcore…

To distinguish them from normal hardtail bikes, and thus create a whole load of new potential markets. Wouldn’t want people racing XC on the same bike as they use on their days off now would we.

Hardcore could also be said to be a good description of the surface material used at some trail centres…

How do you know they are only going to ride them around trail centres?

DO NOT FEED THE TROLL

i guess it sounds catchy, ‘rad’ and distinguishes them from steeper angled, lighter, shorter travel hardtails. i always used to call it my ‘muck about bike’ and still would if i had one.

i still think ‘full susser’ is the crappest sounding thing ever though

Hardcore makes it sound teh awesome.

One of my bikes is “hardcore” but I refer to it as “the white one”.

Depends what trail centre and trail, don’t it!?

Still leaning towards XXXC as a better description, with that many X’s it must mean something good.

One of my bikes is “hardcore” but I refer to it as “the white one”.

I tend to just talk about ‘the bike’ as a catch all term for whatever I’m going out on for any given ride – that way my wife doesn’t start asking questions about why I have to have a black one, a green one a white one and a red one.

I reckon most people don’t buy a bike that’s perfect for trail centres, they buy a bike for whatever else they ride.

Some people only have one bike for Alps, DH, Mountains, Pootling and Trail Centres. If I went to Coed Y Brenin etc I’d have to pick from my DH Bike, a 160mm hardtail or a 140mm singlespeed. Perhaps the singlespeed wouldn’t get me too many sneery comments on forums, but the others aren’t the right tool for the job.

I’ve ridden the DH bike round CyB last year as it was the only bike working, was hard work, good fun, probably got me a few funny lucks from the people I was overtaking, but that’s just how it is for me and lot’s of other people.

I’ve got an Emo-Core bike.

It shouts a lot and refuses to tidy it’s room.

Mines orange. It doesn’t get more hardcore than that!!!! Or is that ‘visually offensive’? I forget. One of the too.

Mine fits the description perfectly. Ultra-rigid hardtail with a slack head angle, 140mm forks, two rings and a bash guard. Short stem, wide bars, Tractor tyres.
I think of it as the perfect ‘North west of England’ bike. Or ‘oversized BMX with gears’. Its not been near a trail centre

I’ve got no idea what the head angles are on any of my bikes, I’m not even sure of the fork travel without checking, I think it’s 80mm on one and 100mm on the other.
I did 630km on them last month though.

Has anybody ever heard somebody say “hardcore hardtail” in real life though?

It’s just in magazines and on forums that people use the term isn’t it?

‘oversized BMX with gears’

Sums up my Trailstar perfectly 🙂 I am guilty of riding it mainly at trail centres like Cannock though!

The term is used for bikes varying from longer travel XC to DH/jumpy bikes:

Mine has no rear suspension, the Black Flag logo on the headtube badge, does all its own repairs, eats a strict vegan-only diet and gets in fights with fascists, hippies and similar bikes at gigs.

Thus it is a hardcore hardtail.

Next question.

Minor threat?

A straight-edge hardcore hardtail. A touch more niche than thou.

No hydroforming man

Shame you edited that Northwind, I liked it

😉

Yeah, I decided straight after the post it was probably a bit too obscure considering that it wasn’t actually all that funny either

One of my bikes is “hardcore” but I refer to it as “the white one”.

Racist.

Its something a marketing man invented so that people who are actually mincers would buy a bike that makes them feel that they’re a much more gnarly rider than they actually are. Dude…

This was my hardcare hardtail… and that’s what I openly called it.

DH kit transplant and mostly Messiah proof, weighed about 34lbs though.

Also Hardcore punk music reference since it’s a Minuteman 8)

Its something a marketing man invented

at the risk of showing my age – the term was invented before the bikes were on sale. GT zaskar?

I like to ride my fast in a circle with lots of HCHTs – then rush into the centre arms flailing.

XXXC definitely seems to be the preferred term. Not just for the hardcore hardtails niche but more for the way of life that surrounds this hardcore way of riding.

There’s a way of life?

The only lifestyle reference i can see applied too it is the “I-can’t-be-arsed-replacing-all-the-bearings-on-my-expensive-pampered-full-suss-as-they-get-ground-to-pieces-by-peak-district-mud-so-i-built-this-for-the-winter”

Is that niche enough?

jcromton – are you in marketing?

I’d have thought so-called All-Mountain full-sus bikes are better suited to trail centre riding and posing.

at the risk of showing my age – the term was invented before the bikes were on sale. GT zaskar?

At the risk of showing my age too, I can’t remember calling my Zaskar a ‘hardcore hardtail’ in 1996. It had risers and long (for the time) forks.

So it was something a marketing man invented. Before than, hardtails with big forks were just that. My Zaskar was. My mk1 Chameleon with the first set of 5″ Bombers in the UK was… It was around 2000’ish that they suddenly became ‘hardcore’.

In fact, maybe it wasn’t a marketing thing. I suspect MTB media had something to do with it and the industry jumped on…

So it was something a marketing man invented

TBH, I get the impression that the bike industry can’t afford marketing people who are that good.

More likely the MTB mags as you suggest eh?

This was my hardcare hardtail… and that’s what I openly called it.

I had one like that with Pace forks and Hope brakes!

The only lifestyle reference i can see applied too it is the “I-can’t-be-arsed-replacing-all-the-bearings-on-my-expensive-pampered-full-suss-as-they-get-ground-to-pieces-by-peak-district-mud-so-i-built-this-for-the-winter”

Yes. that’s me. Also suits the shorter distances i ride in winter.

I suspect MTB media had something to do with it

i definitely remember ‘hardcore hardtails’ in MBUK. think the term stated around ’97. i had a steel tequesta (with flames) – couldn’t afford a zaskar on paper round wages!

Because it’s a good example of alliteration?