@@CoolBoy-nl7qy Looks like i’m a lady. They are nice to plow through rough dh trails and harsh trails in BC but hardtails are always fun to pick lines or if you want some fun.
I'm 42 and I just started getting into mtb. One thing I find consistently off is the "smiles per hour" metric. People are always talking about getting as many smiles per hour as possible, but I never seem to get more than 1 smile per hour - mainly because I never stop wearing the first one I put on as soon as I hit the trail!
used my hardtail going to work, commute , long rides and trails uphill/downhill.. man this workhorse is so versatile and capable, that made me realize I don't really need a full sus bike.. thank you ht for bringing me so much fun and real joy in life.. Hardtails forever.....
You forgot the other option with hardtails- Singlespeed! Just built up my Ragley Big Al as a SS and its like learning how to ride a bike all over again!
My Chameleon R was a tough decision to make (cause of price), but after I started riding it, modding it, I fell in love, and never had buyer's remorse! 150mm Fox 36 on the mullet setup, plus a 40mm rise 760mm Spank 35 bar, and large Deity Deftrap flats + quick rolling, tough 2.6 Schwalbe Hans Dampf and a cush core out back, this thing became a total blast in both black tech and on jumps
Modern 29er hard tail trail bikes are just so hood, so fun, so versatile, and a great value mine helped me fall back in love with the sport as someone who has been mountain biking for 36 years and was getting kind of turned off by the complexity, costs, and in general just the culture around modern mountain biking. Peels away all the BS and takes me back to why I love the sport, and puts the emphasis on the fun, not the gear. 🤙
I love my hardtail and I’m glad you mentioned the rear tyre because I’m considering what to put on mine and was thinking enduro tyres front and back. I know they add weight, but I prefer the ride of harder walled tyres than xc, too soft for me.
Here's another thing you can do: Since hardtails force you to learn skills better, but are less forgiving (so are scarier to send big), try to get a hardtail and a full suspension bike of similar size and travel, and then equip them as similarly as possible: same grips, same bars, same pedals, same seat, same crank length, same fork travel, and stanchion size, and similar damper level, etc... with some luck, they will feel quite similar (aside from the rear squish), and so as your skills in the hardtail grow, they can more directly translate into your full squish riding, and as you grow more comfortable on bigger jumps, drops, etc, you will start to feel more comfortable doing them on the hardtail too.... Go back and forth frequently (every couple rides or even every 1-2), and you'll start noticing both more.skill and confidence on both! If you plan to ride both in the same day tho, I suggest starting with the squish bike til you warm up and get limber. Lol. Last.time at the bike park I did this, squish during the AM, got familiarized more with the trails, then hardtail after lunch when I knew the lines to take and such a little better, and then hit em all. GREAT DAY!
I went from a quiver of FS bikes to a Torrent S1 with a 160mm fork, though designed for a '150'. I did this to better preserve the stock geometry for my type of riding due to Sag. Picking the right and high-quality fork is even more important IMO... I think you need to do more setup in order to get the ride charisterics right to make sure that front wheel always stays planted for the type of riding your doing, while doing its best to maintain geo. With a 160, I get a little bit more travel that let me add more progressitivty via a volume spacer OR in my case with DVO more oil, which allows me to dial in more off-the top, while keeping me higher up in the travel, and hence preserving geometry better.
So stoked when I got my Full Suspension, and now 9months in. I rode a hardtail with half the front suspension of my bike. i couldn’t believe how much fun and actually controllable it was. For sure Full Suspension is faster in tech and gnarly, but most of the speed is actually from your OWN suspension, bodt position line choice etc
I don't mind a hardtail every so often but they don't like me Only because I have such extreme bad back So it's a full suspension for me And just this weekend I did a 160-mile bikepacking trip to West Branch from Cleveland Ohio
Shouldn't have watched it. It has made me want nukeproof.😅 Definitely agree it is a very versatile bike. It has also reminded me of my early mtb days when I used my bike mostly for bikepacking,so I might also try come back to it from time to time . Great video.Thanks Blake, you do a wonderful job.
Was at fod last Thursday, 3.5hour drive and broke my mech hanger within 5 minutes messing about in the car park so had to go chainless all day(10hours). Pumping a 170mm enduro bike certainly gave my arms and shoulders a workout, 1st time in years I actually managed to leave my nephew for dust, instead of me lagging behind trying to keep up with him.😂😂😂
I ride my hard tail exclusively now. I ride my Husky 250TE when I want to feel like I can plow over anything. Full suspension just sucks up to much pedal power and makes my ride to padded. It doesn’t feel right
I just went to my local bike shop to buy a specialized hardtail and the lady goes “oh hardtails aren’t meant to be ridden on trails, why don’t you try one of these” and proceeds to show me a 8,000 full suspension bike😂 as a new mtb rider I just said “I want to learn the fundamentals and not use full suspension as a crutch and develop bad riding behavior based on having full suspension” but in reality I ain’t spending 8 grand on a bike. I’ll get a car for that.
There are some trail/enduro style hardtails on the market, the Canyon stoic or the mondraker chrono dc come to mind also the nuke proof scout of course. I tend to just check on 99spokes to see what options there are
@@ViorelSnap Well, I've only got an SR Suntour XCM HLO (coil) on my bike as of now. Maybe I'll be able to put a Manitou Markhor or an RST F1RST on someday.
@@elias.f. I put RS Recon 140mm on my bike instead of 100mm suntour coil. The difference is night and day, the bike is much more confident on the trail now
Before buying any new stuff: Is your suspension dialed in correctly? What about tire pressure? Not enough pressure in tires, fork or shock can also easily result in a sluggish feeling.
Get a a frame a size smaller. Modern geometry made bikes longer for stability in high speeds but sluggish and less playful. A shorter bike is gonna help solve sluggishness.
Have you got any tips to share with the hardtail community? Have you ever tried bike-packing? Let us know in the comments 👇
Hardtails are sick
Innit
Hardtail: looks good, looks clean, very fun, simple.
Hard tails are for men while full suspension is for ladies.
@@CoolBoy-nl7qy Looks like i’m a lady. They are nice to plow through rough dh trails and harsh trails in BC but hardtails are always fun to pick lines or if you want some fun.
I'm 42 and I just started getting into mtb. One thing I find consistently off is the "smiles per hour" metric. People are always talking about getting as many smiles per hour as possible, but I never seem to get more than 1 smile per hour - mainly because I never stop wearing the first one I put on as soon as I hit the trail!
used my hardtail going to work, commute , long rides and trails uphill/downhill.. man this workhorse is so versatile and capable, that made me realize I don't really need a full sus bike.. thank you ht for bringing me so much fun and real joy in life.. Hardtails forever.....
You forgot the other option with hardtails- Singlespeed!
Just built up my Ragley Big Al as a SS and its like learning how to ride a bike all over again!
I'm actually building up my first custom bike, a nukeproof scout, thanks to Blake
We hope you enjoy it!
I’ve just built one myself. Absolutely loving it.
These videos with Blake and hard tail are simply the BEST. ❤
Currently racing my local downhill series on a hardtail and its so sick
More Hardtail content please! You guys need to team up with Steve @ Hardtail Party.
My Chameleon R was a tough decision to make (cause of price), but after I started riding it, modding it, I fell in love, and never had buyer's remorse!
150mm Fox 36 on the mullet setup, plus a 40mm rise 760mm Spank 35 bar, and large Deity Deftrap flats + quick rolling, tough 2.6 Schwalbe Hans Dampf and a cush core out back, this thing became a total blast in both black tech and on jumps
I ride a hardtail to work everyday and home via as much off road as I can. There’s loads of fun to be had on bridleways and byways.
Modern 29er hard tail trail bikes are just so hood, so fun, so versatile, and a great value mine helped me fall back in love with the sport as someone who has been mountain biking for 36 years and was getting kind of turned off by the complexity, costs, and in general just the culture around modern mountain biking. Peels away all the BS and takes me back to why I love the sport, and puts the emphasis on the fun, not the gear. 🤙
You mr blake are the reason I bought a Nukeproof hardtail lol I love it and it always gets the best comments from other riders
I love my hardtail and I’m glad you mentioned the rear tyre because I’m considering what to put on mine and was thinking enduro tyres front and back. I know they add weight, but I prefer the ride of harder walled tyres than xc, too soft for me.
Just switched over from a trail tire to a maxxis dissector super soft DH what a difference.
Ive got a trek 7000 hard tail. It will be around 20 years old i bet. Love it. Been an awesome bike.
Here's another thing you can do: Since hardtails force you to learn skills better, but are less forgiving (so are scarier to send big), try to get a hardtail and a full suspension bike of similar size and travel, and then equip them as similarly as possible: same grips, same bars, same pedals, same seat, same crank length, same fork travel, and stanchion size, and similar damper level, etc... with some luck, they will feel quite similar (aside from the rear squish), and so as your skills in the hardtail grow, they can more directly translate into your full squish riding, and as you grow more comfortable on bigger jumps, drops, etc, you will start to feel more comfortable doing them on the hardtail too.... Go back and forth frequently (every couple rides or even every 1-2), and you'll start noticing both more.skill and confidence on both! If you plan to ride both in the same day tho, I suggest starting with the squish bike til you warm up and get limber. Lol. Last.time at the bike park I did this, squish during the AM, got familiarized more with the trails, then hardtail after lunch when I knew the lines to take and such a little better, and then hit em all. GREAT DAY!
I went from a quiver of FS bikes to a Torrent S1 with a 160mm fork, though designed for a '150'. I did this to better preserve the stock geometry for my type of riding due to Sag.
Picking the right and high-quality fork is even more important IMO... I think you need to do more setup in order to get the ride charisterics right to make sure that front wheel always stays planted for the type of riding your doing, while doing its best to maintain geo.
With a 160, I get a little bit more travel that let me add more progressitivty via a volume spacer OR in my case with DVO more oil, which allows me to dial in more off-the top, while keeping me higher up in the travel, and hence preserving geometry better.
So stoked when I got my Full Suspension, and now 9months in. I rode a hardtail with half the front suspension of my bike. i couldn’t believe how much fun and actually controllable it was. For sure Full Suspension is faster in tech and gnarly, but most of the speed is actually from your OWN suspension, bodt position line choice etc
I love my hardtail, I have a Ironhorse Warrior Race and it’s actually my only transportation, that’s how much I love it.
Hell yeah to bikepacking on hardtails. side note folks out in the PNW always riding after the rain and sometimes in the rain if it's lite and no wind.
Yes! You have a kickstand on your bike! (I get flack for that but find it too useful to abandon.)
Love my steel hard tail, 2,6 tires in winter mud, and 45 mm tires for gravel in the summer👌🤘❤️
My dream hard tail would be 29 in the front and 27.5 in the rear with 160mm travel and the frame is a category five bike
Just bought my first bike in about 12 years. I went all out and got an aggressive hardtail but kind of wish I purchased a down country bike.
Hardtail XC and Trail are good, with kickstand mount, EVEN BETTER!
Nukeproof Scout, bike for everything
I love my hardtail and I take it down trails, bike packing. and on the local pump track.
Great video 😃 Hardtail is good to start with 😎 bikepacking , No I've never done it but something I will definitely do in the future !
Love my roscoe9! Just scratching the surface with it.
The bike i currently have is a hardtail and i just when dirt jumping and it’s so good 😂
I don't mind a hardtail every so often but they don't like me
Only because I have such extreme bad back
So it's a full suspension for me
And just this weekend I did a 160-mile bikepacking trip to West Branch from Cleveland Ohio
Shouldn't have watched it. It has made me want nukeproof.😅 Definitely agree it is a very versatile bike. It has also reminded me of my early mtb days when I used my bike mostly for bikepacking,so I might also try come back to it from time to time . Great video.Thanks Blake, you do a wonderful job.
Was at fod last Thursday, 3.5hour drive and broke my mech hanger within 5 minutes messing about in the car park so had to go chainless all day(10hours). Pumping a 170mm enduro bike certainly gave my arms and shoulders a workout, 1st time in years I actually managed to leave my nephew for dust, instead of me lagging behind trying to keep up with him.😂😂😂
😅
Love my 290 kraken blue scout its my all arounder. Its like my hilux pick up truck a master of none but can definitely go anywhere.🤘☢️
Love hardtails. For me personally they're better than Full suspension.
The only problem i have with my ht is the two pairs of bent descendent cranks that i have .If you send it hard enough stuff like this happens
i love hardtails , but i would preefer an enduro full suspension
Is Trail building in the UK a bit of a different art than the USA given the assumption that UK conditions are going to be wet all the time?
God i miss my FS😮. Hammer that HT. 🎉
😝😂🤣🥰
How do, i was just wondering what tyre insert you where using? Cheers
Sick bike but what happened to the stick. The standard is a thorn in my eye. Or is it just me 😜
you really got a kick stand mounted on your hardtail?!😁
Tbh dint really know that HT was so good, thought FS was king…..I am wrong now looking to get a HT.
Nice bike stand
Sick vid
Saw you guys at FOD today!
I ride my hard tail exclusively now. I ride my Husky 250TE when I want to feel like I can plow over anything. Full suspension just sucks up to much pedal power and makes my ride to padded. It doesn’t feel right
Versatility and cost!!
I do wonder about suspension on the front end of a hardtail, I have mine locked out mostly even off road,
Why
Scam
Watch enough Blake's videos you will go buy a hardtail. I did.
Noooooo Blake😮
A sidestand??????????😂
Never expected to see a Ständer on Blakes ride...
Hardtail bikes are best
If that nukeproof wasn’t yellow at that spec i would already own one lol
Well, I think I've just been sold on my next N+1
What saddle is that?
I just need to replace my stock tektro brakes and some rotors then I'm all good. I'm not gonna replace anything on it (yes, I swear on it😂)
I have my fat bike setup for camping but mostly for hauling pizza on the front rack but at least I'm honest.
We all need some pizza transport 🍕
Y did u install a kick stand??😂
Curious to know what type of helmet are you wearing?
Blake's wearing the Smith Forefront 2 helmet 🙂
tell more about your hardtail now i see your using side stand.😁😁😁
Send it down dyfi x
I just went to my local bike shop to buy a specialized hardtail and the lady goes “oh hardtails aren’t meant to be ridden on trails, why don’t you try one of these” and proceeds to show me a 8,000 full suspension bike😂 as a new mtb rider I just said “I want to learn the fundamentals and not use full suspension as a crutch and develop bad riding behavior based on having full suspension” but in reality I ain’t spending 8 grand on a bike. I’ll get a car for that.
My work commute is about 17 feet, but I can pretend and ride during lunch.
Tempt the gods, ride straight into those muddy, messy, thorny trails. Less to clean out afterwards. 😅
160mm fork on that hardtail?? The problem with the HT/XC bikes I own, is the front fork is 100mm and I bottom-out every ride.
As a fellow 100mm hardtail rider, I can confirm it bottoms out everywhere lol
There are some trail/enduro style hardtails on the market, the Canyon stoic or the mondraker chrono dc come to mind also the nuke proof scout of course. I tend to just check on 99spokes to see what options there are
So interesting, I'm still learning jumps but I've never bottomed out my fox 32. I guess I need to send it harder LOL
@@ViorelSnap Well, I've only got an SR Suntour XCM HLO (coil) on my bike as of now. Maybe I'll be able to put a Manitou Markhor or an RST F1RST on someday.
@@elias.f. I put RS Recon 140mm on my bike instead of 100mm suntour coil. The difference is night and day, the bike is much more confident on the trail now
what can i do when my bike feels sluggish
Select faster rolling tires or a lighter wheelset. If that doesn’t work.. get a lighter bike.
@@joshuaallswang8016 ok thanks for the Feedback my whole wheelset with casette, Discs, tires etc weights around 6 klos
Before buying any new stuff: Is your suspension dialed in correctly? What about tire pressure? Not enough pressure in tires, fork or shock can also easily result in a sluggish feeling.
@@anonymmc2764 ok thanks i will try it
Get a a frame a size smaller. Modern geometry made bikes longer for stability in high speeds but sluggish and less playful. A shorter bike is gonna help solve sluggishness.
Just because it's a hardtail doesn't mean it needs a kickstand
I see a bike stand… 🤯🤣
I wonder how many “your fork is backwards” comment there will be 😂
❤👍👍👍👍👌👌👌🚴♀️
Kickstands are not hardcore, Blake.
Hard tails for men, full sus for ladies.
Who the hell is choosing the music now? Its friggin awful!!
Hardtails sucks ✌🏻
Full suspension sucks!🤘
@@joshuaallswang8016 😅👏🏻
Man iim so upset with myself for not buying this bike ur riding it’s so beautiful