[theboy]

Just wondered if there are any mountain bike riders out there? I used to have a full suspension Specalized bike and rather stupidly i sold it. Now i am thinking of buying another but wondered what people think are best hardtail or full suspension. If it helps i live in a area surrounded by hills

 

[weSTie]

full suspension all the way specially if youve got big hills to race down be a bit harder to get up them but its worth it havent been out on mine for years got a specialized fsr in bright green used to be out on it most weekends in the peak district until i found performance fords

 

[Kiteboydave]

Depend what you want from it, I switched to a full suspension as I was travelling to Wales and doing a week in the Lakes every year and found that the full susser worked best and enabled me to ride a bit longer as was less stressful on the body. However locally we have a few hills and a DH track but I found my first full susser a Giant Reign was overkill, yes 6 inch travel front and rear was great but I was only using it for myabe 10% of my riding. I then swapped to a Scott Genius which has a three way adjustable rear shock plus three heights on the forks so I can adjust the style of the bike to where I am riding and was the best decision I made. I can lock out the rear to have a hard tail or full 5 inch travel or 3 inch at the back, pain to set up but once the pressures are right in the shock and absolute joy.

BUT i would still love a hardtail for when I fancy a challenge as full sussers make you lazy, a HT needs skill to ride quick, to get the right lines and personally are more rewarding than a full susser.

 

[STIOM]

I went from a hard tail to a full sus, 'Giant anthem x2' for the money it's awesome! Down hill there's such a difference! Im pretty slow down hill to be fair but up hill im like a rocket, i thought the full sus would hider me but if anything it's better!

By the way i did the end2end last year for the first time, i highly recommend it

 

[Kiteboydave]

Anthems are great bikes, came very close when the Reign went, very good specs for the money and about all the travel you really need unless you want to hit the big stuff.

 

[cre0108]

QUOTE(theboy @ 11 Feb 2010, 08:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Just wondered if there are any mountain bike riders out there? I used to have a full suspension Specalized bike and rather stupidly i sold it. Now i am thinking of buying another but wondered what people think are best hardtail or full suspension. If it helps i live in a area surrounded by hills

To be honest you need both and a road bike to be sure. The best bike might be the Specialized epic this is full suspension but act like a hardtail. I race my epic for cross country stuff but if your looking to just have fun going down hills then a proper full sus is the answer. If you provide more details then can give more advice mate.

Chris

 

[robj]

I just got back into biking this year after a 2 year break, the Gian range of bikes are all awesome and there is some great deals still about.
I ended up buying a giant reign X1 as i do enjoy a bit of dh as well as sloggin' it over the hills, also taking out to the apls this year, cant wait.

Have a look on 'paulscycles' for some amazing deals on last years stock, i ordered mine from there and the service was first class, recomended indeed.

 

[chrisd]

I switch from my Full suspension Giant Trance which was more for X-Country to a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert. Its got a little more travel than the Giant and also uses a remote brain for the rear shock which works really well. Locks out the rear until it detects a bump then opens the shocker. Has the best of both worlds. The only downside to a fully open suspension setup, is they are hard work on the old thigh muscles when on flat ground. They make up for it coming down though

 

[Lemming]

If I could only have one bike for everything it would be a light small-travel full-suss like the Anthem X2. (Well... obviously the X0 if I had the cash...). Or possibly one of the Boardmans- excellent VFM. The lightness for climbing and handling, the full-suss for simple enjoyment on descents and comfort on all-day rides.

But bike garages are an evolutionary thing so you end up with different things for different reasons! I seem to have ended up with a full-suss trail bike for centres and having fun locally (Commencal Meta 5, 140mm), a light geared hard-tail for all-purpose local riding (Scott Reflex- bit stiff though) and a singlespeed hard-tail which is fine for all my local stuff, Surrey Hills included, and I find I ride it nearly all the time now (Dialled Love-Hate).

An Anthem would still fit in there nicely between the Scott and Meta, but with a small bundle of joy on the way finances can't stretch to it just now!

But a decent rider on a decent hard-tail can still ride anything bar the biggest drops. Couple of mates (both with Cotics incidentally which may or may not be something to do with it!), have used them in anger where I'd personally only take a full-suss (black trails at Laggan & Golspie, and the DH trail at Cwmcarn).

What I would definitely say is if you can, test-ride the bikes before you buy. Preferably head-to-head. Best thing I ever did. You end up a right bike critic though- it really amplifies the differences between them. I tried a Heckler, Yeti 575, Marin Wolf Ridge & Meta 5 which on paper all have similar amounts of travel but use it in really different ways. Should have tried some different bikes in there too like the Orange 5 and Lapierre Zesty.

What-ever you end up getting, as long as allows you to enjoy riding the most, that's what counts

And while we're on the subject of riding, here's a clip from a trip to Scotland 2 years ago... (select 480p for better quality)

 

[theboy]

I have seen a Giant Anthem X4 cheap one at £1400

lol that i like. Giant also do one at £1000 which has longer travel suspension but i prefer the look and weight etc of the Anthem. Local club goes out and owner of local bike shop has a anthem so i think i might try get a practice go on his.

 

[theboy]

Good video by the way. Looks like you boys can ride

 

[DurhamLad1973]

I used to ride Marin, great bikes. Never had a full suspension, just rox on the front. Was a great bike as you`ll find with all the Marin range.

Had to sell my about 2 stone ago, but would love another one, and to get back up to Hamsterly Forest again, happy days.

 

[theboy]

yeah Marins are great bikes but there full sus range starts at £2000

 

[DurhamLad1973]

QUOTE(theboy @ 14 Feb 2010, 07:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>yeah Marins are great bikes but there full sus range starts at £2000

Thats why I didnt have one.

 

[treborrobert2]

I loved my hardtails, ooer

had dozens of them, 3 Orange's, a trek, marins, a couple of GT's, gary fisher, specialised, claude butler, saracens, konas's a Scott and probably more.

My dream bike though was a Klein Adroit in Koi carp faded orange (search google images) they had beautiful paintwork and all cables ran internally, I'm salivating now thinking about it. shame I'm 40 now with dodgy knees and tennis elbow

 

[DurhamLad1973]

QUOTE(treborrobert2 @ 14 Feb 2010, 07:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I loved my hardtails, ooer

had dozens of them, 3 Orange's, a trek, marins, a couple of GT's, gary fisher, specialised, claude butler, saracens, konas's a Scott and probably more.

My dream bike though was a Klein Adroit in Koi carp faded orange (search google images) they had beautiful paintwork and all cables ran internally, I'm salivating now thinking about it. shame I'm 40 now with dodgy knees and tennis elbow

Im a fully paid up member of the dodgy knee club.

 

[marcobz]

To get a decent full suspension bike you'll need to spend around the £1000 mark or just over. This will get you a decent brand with reasonable kit, for the same money you could get a highly specced hardtail, which will also be much lighter. The Mongoose Teocali Comp is a decent bike with 6" travel at a good price, but maybe consider one of the Trek Fuel EX range. These start at £1250 and all of the range give a very good ride, they have 5" travel so very suitable for most UK riding. The full sus bikes also compensate for some poor line choices when decending and help to keep you going in the right direction

The single pivot bikes offer good reliability but the multi-linked bikes generally offer better climbing ability as the axle path can be adjusted to give better traction.

 

[treborrobert2]

QUOTE(marcobz @ 14 Feb 2010, 10:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>To get a decent full suspension bike you'll need to spend around the £1000 mark or just over. This will get you a decent brand with reasonable kit, for the same money you could get a highly specced hardtail, which will also be much lighter. The Mongoose Teocali Comp is a decent bike with 6" travel at a good price, but maybe consider one of the Trek Fuel EX range. These start at £1250 and all of the range give a very good ride, they have 5" travel so very suitable for most UK riding. The full sus bikes also compensate for some poor line choices when decending and help to keep you going in the right direction

The single pivot bikes offer good reliability but the multi-linked bikes generally offer better climbing ability as the axle path can be adjusted to give better traction.

Skills are best learned on a rigid bike or hardtail

 

[marcdavid]

Used to have a hardtail but now have a full susser as I do free riding

 

[Lemming]

A sub-question would be- what's your preferred way of transporting a bike with your ST- hatch-rack, rook-rack, bike bag, boot protector or just chucked inside mud-and-all!