Can A Hardtail Be Faster Than A Downhill Bike?

Today we are riding two bikes that are at completely different sides of mountain bike tech and worlds apart in performance! This is a hardtail Vs downhill mountain bike!

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If you could pick one of these bikes which would it be? Are you team hardtail or team DH bike? 🤔 Let us know 👇

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[gmbn]

If you could pick one of these bikes which would it be? Are you team hardtail or team DH bike? 🤔 Let us know 👇

[jeffreydzialo]

Keep up the hardtail content! Would love to see a video covering two different sizes for a given rider, and the benefits/negatives of upsizing/downsizing

[dakshrokadia_MTB]

blake's always shredding his hardtail, nomatter the competition

[myraptorhardtail]

Just proves once again that a hardtail can do it all. No monetary excuse for not getting out on the trail. 💪🤙

[nowrideyourbike-nyrb]

That's why I love hardtails, pretty much yo can do anything with it, any type of rides will do such as long rides, bike packing, jumps, trails and downhill, unlike the suspension that you're limited to what it can only offer and it's more expensive and lots of maintenance to do. 🇵🇭

[richcrompton]

The winner is the viewer. Watching you guys shred is always a total pleasure. I am a hardtail guy, but can fully appreciate the DH bike is the weapon of choice when heading over the knarliest terrain at warp speed! Awesome!

[yengsabio]

Blake representing us in the hardtail category, sweet!

Lots of love, cheers, & mabuhay, from my end--the Philippines! #RideOn #KeepBiking

[TheSamwhyte]

Would love to see Blake shred on a retro hardtail from the 90s…
Narrow bars with 100mm stem.
26” wheels.
Canti brakes.
No dropper.
GMBN - I’ve got several old steel Konas up here in Edinburgh if you wanna borrow one for such a vid - so no excuses! 😜

[daviddetweiler]

+1 to the hardtail in my book. only a few seconds slower than a bike thats mighty more expensive, and you can still go ride it around your local trails or do other things. You wont find the downhill bike anywhere other than somewhere with lift service!

[pawel-xm]

Hardtail and full sus, love them both

[junka]

Both Neil and Blake just look at home on their respective bikes and being on something you love to ride inspires your confidence and contributes to your ride being better.

[vrwgqq]

Not going to lie, Neil looked great out there! SMOOTH

The trick to hardtail speed is speed. Limiting the braking, rolling through the chunder, braking bumps and washboarded sections is the only way to lessen the overall impacts and allowing the compliance of the frame to handle the oscillations. The rest is then technique and using the 8 inches of travel that is your legs is key.

By technique, its impartive that you drive in the 'modern' aggressive way. Alot of arm and hip bend to weight the front end and ride that bastard like a pogo-stick. Lean on that Fork and pump with those legs. Its up to you to get smooth out that track and get the most speed out those rollers and landing.

The best way to be 'fast' and to avoid impacts is line choice BUT even moreso is to just be brave, let go of the brake, compress, jump and clear obsticals. Try not to case ;)

As to the bike itself - Geo of course is #1, #2 is a good stout fork with good travel that is properly tuned to be progressive, and doesn't turn your bike into a see-saw #3 frame compliance. It goes without saying brakes and wheels are ALSO incredibly important, and especially so with a hardtail.

[edward]

Intersting - now add in climbing and see what happens. Sadly for most of use we need that bit too! Neil's lorry might not be as friendly slogging up a two-mile fire road...

[crankshoptv]

Depends who and where. I'm mostly interested in why Blake is running 175mm cranks 🤔

[Justkeepshredding]

I’ve been a bit worried about my scout when riding semi gnarly black runs, but this video makes me feel safer now.

[adrian_veidt]

Blake on a unicycle or a Walmart bike made from shopping carts will probably be still hella faster than me. 😅

[thescerigai]

if you prefer going downhill, a dh bike with a dropper and wide range gears is a comfortable and sustainable do it all bike

[RalphBrooker-gniv]

2007 I did Les Gets 1 & 2 (Steve Peat won the World Championship on 2 I think in 2005) on a Turner 5-Spot. Lyric with Avid Code stoppers. I shredded a few poseurs on SC V10s. I rode flats. Always flats since MTB moved away from XC, early 1990s.

Would love to see you have swapped bikes and a rerun.

[judechandler]

As the person who put down the fastest time in all categories on the black stage 3 of the Malvern's enduro on my 2014 26" vitus sentier hardtail, a hardtail can be fast AF on the right lines. Never selling mine.

[metalheadfarmerrugbypunk]

I am going to be racing hardtail for DH this summer, we will see how this goes 😂