Hard Tail vs Full Suspension?

[fullStack]

daily driver no....

but I love a hardtail on trails like this...


ID rather ride a hardtail than not have Tubeless tires, or modern Geo.

Nice vid. That's very similar to the trails I get to ride out my garage door. I'm on a Fetish Fixation with 38X19. I think I might be the only guy rocking a 26" hardtail single speed within a 50 mile radius.

 

[oldschoolskier]

I went from a non-suspension to a hard tail.

The hard tail took care of the jarring when riding in the handle bars, the hard tail also didn’t lose power stroke do to suspension. If power stroke isn’t the important and suspension is than the hard tail isn’t the choice.

No matter what you ride there are advantages and disadvantages from each. Choose the system that meets the majority of your riding requirements, that way the biggest comprises seems the least important and appear to be advantages.

 

[CalG]

I've had the same GT Richter steel hard tail for better than 20 years/ It's all I need or want.

A "better bike" isn't going to make me a better rider, or give me "all day endurance". I know my limits.
I'm only capable of having "so much" fun ;-)

A note to add, My youngest son, working this summer at a bike shop, waiting for snow to fly at Kirkwood, just built his "dream bike" Selling off his $6K full suspension "Zoot skoot"( I don't know what he built last time, but it was "full featured") , and built a hard tail. Long travel up front he described.

He compared numbers on sprung and unsprung weight, and found out it was really his fat butt that was the big difference.

Oh, He is NOT FAT. In fact his diet worries are eating enough.

 

[Josh Matta]

Even though you may have taken my last post as pro hardtail...which to be honest I like them subjectively on really choppy up and down trails.

and FS bike is almost always objectively better, especially if you learn to stay seated and pedals ovals over rough terrain.

My wife when she switched to FS was suddenly able to ride trails that gave her fits on her hardtail, so in away her skills stayed the same and the bike let her become more capable with less hike a biking.

I have both a long travel hard tail SS 29er with a dropper, and 6x6 27.5. If you havent ridden a FS, for long enough period of time toget use to it you ll never like, but if you havent see how fun and playful a modern geo hardtail can be your missing out as well.

 

[Josh Matta]

Gawd damn dude you ride a 2 to 1 single speed? Back when I was racing 100milers on a SS I was normally running 34x20 on a 29er....... no one racing competively runs gears that hard on a SS.

 

[fullStack]

Gawd damn dude you ride a 2 to 1 single speed? Back when I was racing 100milers on a SS I was normally running 34x20 on a 29er....... no one racing competively runs gears that hard on a SS.

Yeah 2:1 is perfect for my local trails which are all rolling. When I hit other trails in the area with legit climbs (500+ feet per mile) I'm either deep in the "pain cave", or walking sections.
Speaking of pain cave, 100+ miles on a SS? That's impressive. But I'm a sprinter, not an endurance guy.

 

[Lorenzzo]

Hard to beat suspension bikes these days as all-arounds. But agree with @Josh Matta. I still maintain my Voodoo Hardtail. For certain situations I just prefer the feel of the hardtail. A little more core involvement and connection.

 

[martyg]

Even though you may have taken my last post as pro hardtail...which to be honest I like them subjectively on really choppy up and down trails.

and FS bike is almost always objectively better, especially if you learn to stay seated and pedals ovals over rough terrain.

My wife when she switched to FS was suddenly able to ride trails that gave her fits on her hardtail, so in away her skills stayed the same and the bike let her become more capable with less hike a biking.

I have both a long travel hard tail SS 29er with a dropper, and 6x6 27.5. If you havent ridden a FS, for long enough period of time toget use to it you ll never like, but if you havent see how fun and playful a modern geo hardtail can be your missing out as well.

A FS will, under the vast majority of conditions, be more efficient.

First sentence of the article, "The term “better” is so vague as to be meaningless."