Hello. Not too long ago I had the same questions. Instead of asking I decided too blow alot of cash and figure it out on my own. Well, needless too say I did learn alot. I started with a gary fisher hardtail. That was satisfying for about two days. Then I moved up too a giant vt 2 softail with 130 mm rochsox fork and a manitou rear shock. That lasted 2 weeks before I altimetly blew out the rear shock, ruined my cassette, twisted my chain, bent my front rotor, bent my outer chainring, and destroyed the rear derailure. Now I have a 07 brodie zealot with 6 inch travel. This bike kicks ass. Its more of a freestyle downhill bike. I have short rear derailure, bashguard ( a must) and rear rocksox pearl 3.3 w 6 inch travel. If you want too push the limits a little, I highly recomend a frame with alot of travel. Much better. Good luck.
i have 2 hard tails and a soft tail and i like different ones of different types of riding. i perfer my gaint renier (hardtail) for most xc riding and riding around town since the streets beat up my road bike but i perfer my softtail for riding freestyle down hill and rock hopping as wells riding on trails with lots of rocks. One thing that you have to keep in ming is money. a good hard tail will be about 1/4 cheaper than a good full suspension bike. if you wan to spend the extra money you can get a full suspension bike where you can adjust how much travel the shocks have.
You should go with a FS bike. Save some money and get a good bike. I have had a Rocky Mountain Element for 6 years. I also ride a Brodie Gigilo. I would find a bike with a 4bar suspension design. They are the most stable and have the least amount of flex. The best thing to do is get a good frame you can always upgrade your components as needed. Brodie, Rocky Mountain, Titus and Santa Cruz are great companies and they are not Nazis
It all depends on the riding you do, but these days i only have a rocky mountain element 10 (FS) and loved it. it actually made my loop about 5% faster
I would consider a hardtail faster for XC but a full suspension will reduce the fatigue factor and I agree, it all depends on what type of riding you do.
Well, back when I was about 10 I took my old Schwinn Japanese knock off (it was called a Renegade), yeah this was about '77. And put a Motorcycle looking seat on it with the "new mx bars" that were just starting to come out. And this was my first foray into off-road with a hard tail. Front suspension came along (fast forward about 15 years) and I bought a steel hardtail, Gary Fisher. Blew that one up in about a month. Then bought a Klein Attitude, full XT group, with an aftermarket Rock Shox Judy. (pretty yellow). Then the "full suspension" craze hit. I couldn't find anything that I felt was fully suspended that could climb worth a poot. So, I continued to march with Hardtails. (fast forward about another 11 or 12 years) And now fully suspended, DH/FR/Lite FR/ 29'ers/4X/XC GAHG, it's enough to make anyones head spin.
My personal preferences for rolling singletrack is still a hardtail, front suspended. (fewer parts to break, lighter weight) I do own a fully suspended Cannondale Prophet(highly upgraded) Complete XTR components.
I haven't quite decided if the 29'er thing is a good idea yet or not.
The point to all of this would be this. What kind of riding are you going to be doing? If you are going to be doing 15M drops on the North Shore Bike Parks, then you would likely want a fully suspended 45lb. + DH bike.
If you prefer contact with the ground, and very little air between your tires, and are looking for something to ride all day(as opposed to a 14min. adrenaline induced thrill ride) Get a hard tail, front suspened (usually can get something like that under 24lbs.) The important point to note here is this. Riding a big, heavy DH/FR monster all day will result in blown out knees later in life. Not to say that the DH/FR bikes aren't fun, just saying its not really pratical for an epic all day ride.
I find the Prophet strikes a reasonable balance between XC/LiteFR capabilities (tips the scales at about 26-27lbs. can handle some pretty big hits)
Having said that, I still do frequently ride a Hard Tail.
The good news is that there are alot of options out there now vs. 20-30years ago.
The bad news is that there are alot of options out there!
Trying to dial in what will work for you can be a monumental task just to evaluate and understand what will work for you.
Ultimately I believe that the Hard tail and fully suspended bikes are valid applications in off road riding. There has been a significant amount of improvement from all of the high end manufacturers in the arena of fully suspended bikes (my Prophet climbs like a friggin goat) It comes down to a matter of deciding/knowing how agressive/passive a rider you are or think you will be. And the type of terrain that you ride in your home area.
Hit me up if you have more questions, I'm glad to help.
Here's my take I have ridden all kinds of bikes from road bikes to BMX and Full suspension to hardtails. The Choice is based on the user. For instance I prefer a hardtail, I do go down hill off of mountains at what you would call somewhat extreme conditions. I did this first with a full suspension, but because of how I transfered my wieght when I land and also when I dirt/rock jump it slows me down and screws with my control over the bike. When I use a hardtail, there is more power, it has more agility. Honestly I think full suspension is a safe guard for people who can't handle the terrain there riding. There bike handling skills do not suit the area in which they ride. So yeah if you don't really know much about how to handle big rocks and trees. I'd go with a fs, but if you do and you want more accuracy, speed, and agility. Go with the hardtail. I prefer GT and Giant
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