Hardtail Vs Trail Bike | Which Mountain Bike Is Better?

What is better for everyday riding? A full suspension trail bike or a hardcore hardtail? Blake Samson and Rich Payne are back to put the two most common styles of mountain bike to the test! From fire road climbs to downhill sections and even ride a pump track! 🤘

What do you think is best for your everyday riding? A Hardtail or Trail Bike?

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[stforksandadream]

You can tell it’s going to be a good one cos Blake is on a hardtail

[rosthouse]

I love how it's always super competitive with these guys and at the end it's "There is no right bike, only the one suited for yourself. Have fun!"

[massiveattackdrop]

I love my hardtail. I would like to have a trail bike. There is another barrier to trail bikes...the price.

[rizqiramadhan]

i would sign a petition to bring hardtails week back,

[maciek]

Blake is the reason why my next bike will be a hardtail again :D

[MT-wnpl]

This is my hardtail/full sys take. I loved my Raliegh Tokul hardtail. I had it for years and beat the crap out of that bike. I'm 240 lbs and that bike took me through everything, I went through tubes and rims haha, that's about it. It reminded me of my old skool BMX days, I felt confident on it, I knew what the back end was going to do everytime. I normally rode street and light allyway trails for YEARS. I didn't really have a riding buddy so I just kept it local, and for me, that was mostly to and from street stuff with the occasional trail. But I DID harp on it.

Last year I got a camper, and so we started going to other places that were more "trail oriented"....and for a longer amount of time. Two days of riding trail vs maybe an hour of city riding on my hardtail previously. I have an old lower back injury from college football, plus like most hardtail guys, I was super curious of the full sus setups, but the thing holding me back was price. I finally got ahead enough to purchase a full suspension Giant Trance at my LBS. It's so much easier on my back, I instantly could ride for HOURS longer in the trails when we went camping and I had a riding buddy. It does take some getting used too, but if you have any kind of back injury or are older than 25, you would benefit in this area.

To sum it up, and this is just my opinion. If you are younger and an aggressive rider that likes air (possibly coming from a BMX background like me), keep your hardtail and know you won't get much benefit out of a full sys, actually you will probably regress. If you don't have that many riding buddies....you probably won't be riding long enough sessions to truly justify the cost either. We all know the larger the group, the longer you are out there! But on the other hand if you are older than 25 (I'm 33) and/or possibly have a back injury of sorts, a full suspension bike will serve you tremendously, regardless of how much you ride. Also, if you do have a lot of riding buddies and go out several times a week, I do think a full sys may be the option to keep you going longer. Also, if you're just the weekend warrior, and maybe dust the bike off in the spring to go out and ride once or twice a month, keep the hardtail regardless of age, you simply won't use it enough to really see any benefit listed above.

I think full suspension bikes were created to keep us older dudes as relevant as we were when we were younger smashing the hardtails. They keep us on the trail as long as a 23 year old me on a hardtail. They are also created for that niche, special rider, crowd that, regardless of age is riding for a living or something and can justify buying, maintaining, hauling around, and switching out both types. This also doesn't apply to the uber rich guys and gals who, frankly, it doesn't hurt their pocketbook as much to have a bunch of bikes regardless of how much it costs. But neither of the above are my position, and I understand yall might be in a different position.

[erikaslt]

I have both. Depending on my mood. I pick up either the hard tail or the full suspension. Hard tail will out climb the full suspension and possibly on some jumps. The full suspension is amazing on technical long down hill trails. The hard tail is used less energy to pedal. Like I said, to each is own and each bike has its pros and cons. Quick edit, the hard tail will climb better on a rooted area. As you will less likely get pedal strikes.

[jean-philipper-m]

I own an hardtail and thought it was limiting my ride. Was thinking of switching to trail or Enduro but since I've seen all the stuff Blake can do with an hardtail I now know that's is definitely not my hardtail that limiting my ride hehe!! Thanks Blake for that!!

[domfluin]

Love my hardtail. So much, I just sold my full suss to help fund my second hardtail. Just fun to ride.

[mtb_dirtworx_sa]

Would we love hardtails of Blake was on the trails bike....


Hardtails are the best, and the GMBN team are simply just awesome.

Blake and Rich you guys put a great show together no matter what!!

[nodrog]

I've got full squish rig aswell, but my hardtail gives me a bigger smile each time i ride it.

[garmenacantilado]

Just bought my first bike I’m 30 my son is 8 we are having a lot of fun riding into to us, unknown trails and witnessing. The intense time and sweat riders put in for a smile on the dial

[slugbug]

I love the sketchy-ness the hardtails bring hardtail for the win everytime.

[ekims_echoes]

I fully acknowledge that full squish bikes are faster in many - if not most - mtb races, but I'm not a racer and I just have a blast on my hardtail. The wallet-friendly nature of hardtails is certainly a bonus.

[MrMegaPerez]

I have a hardtail trail bike with 27, 5 + size tires and I’m very happy with it :)
(Treck Roscoe 7)

[DK-wrnd]

I started mountain biking 2 years ago and really like my Chromag Stylus hardtail, but I am getting a mid-travel 27.5 trail bike. You can ride almost 95% of trails with a hardtail, but in most of the cases, it is slower downhill and offers less margin of error.I learned a lot on my hardtail, but aggressive hardtails are likely to shine more as second bike for highly skilled riders.

[sickmak]

I really like the way a hardtail climbs and handles. A hardtail with good geo and aggressive tires is plenty of bike.

[garethlewis]

Hell yessss HARDTAIL all the way 🤘🏼
Love this content on what a HARDTAIL can actually do!!!!

[eric]

I use to love hardtails but FS bikes are just so good nowadays I can't imagine going back. Every time I hop on a hardtail I have fun for a bit but doesn't take long and I want my fill squish back.

[adammikesaliasfreshprince]

I build my custom hardtail and it´s amazing guys, I totaly understand why Blake loves hardtails so much :) .