Full Suspension Vs Hardtail | What's More Fun?

Full suspension or hardtail, which is better? Or is there even a better bike? Neil and Blake find some properly rough trails around Fort William and see if the hardtail can keep up.

Blake loves his hardtail, but Neil is a little sceptical. On rough trails, though, does Neil have the right idea with his high-end full sums, or is Blake’s purist approach the way to go?

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[gmbn]

If you could have JUST one or the other, which would you choose? 🤔

[af]

Haha calls a £1700 bike not premium. Ouch

[nickmundy]

In my opinion The bike doesn’t make the fun, it’s what you choose to do and ride that makes the bike and mountain biking fun in general

[matthiasweidenholzer]

Not everyone can afford a full suspension bike but I really enjoy my hardtail!!

[polishguywithhardtospellna]

Obviously HTs are more fun and obviously because I can't afford a full ha ha ha
Edit: wow! So many likes. Last year I got a crazy deal on 2019 Trek Fuel EX7, sold the hardtail for quite good money. What a change, banana on my face each ride :-D

[klimeji]

Blake said it: on hardtail you are closely to the limits, so sometimes it pushes you out of comfort zone. But trail I've tried, fullsus feels boring quite often. Therefore HT is for me more fun.
But its subjective.

[lordskrubb]

I honestly find riding the very rough stuff on a hardtail more fun than scary. Either that or I'm just really out of my head. 😂

[matt-belc]

This is actually making me consider selling my full sus and going back to hardtail 😂 I kind of miss the feeling of barely being in control 😅

[williamkeys]

Your poll should have a button for "Both". Different horses for different courses.

[JustinKlazinga]

Everybody here is going for hardtail. I have had both and am just a casual rider, don't have loads of time to practice and get really great at riding. I just want to go fast as I can downhill for the thrills. When I sold my hardtail and got a full suspension, all of the sudden I could go so much faster and have way more fun on the same trails for not too much more money (mine used cost around 900). Totally worth it in my case.

[richardkaz]

I have a $350.00 ALDI/Polygon manufactured 29er hard tail 120mm Suntour, all alloy, discs and Acera 2x9 group set. I didn't want to spend $2500.00 on something I might not like doing, that was almost 12months ago. I have got my moneys worth 100x over. I ride with a group that have full carbon $6-10k and I do a pretty good job at mixing with then on the downhill and flowy twisties. Admittedly the up hill climbs I struggled, but less now. Only cost has been for a new seat post and a set of clippins. The important thing is to have fun.

[nekomeido]

A friend laughed at me because I ride hardtail but than I laughed back when there were climbs 😂

[slimelord]

I will ride a hardtail until the doctor forces me to go full sus

[joeocarroll]

Just got back from an all day mountain bike ride on my hardtail😇

[imperialhenchmen]

I love my longtravel fullsus bike just because I can hammer down ridiculous stuff without having to worry about grip or staying on. BUT I actually want to have a hardtail for winter because it's easier to maintain and you can learn important skills like line choice and smooth riding which will make your riding on the fullsus even better.

[LightMonkeyHD]

I'm definitely fun of both. Each one has it's own uniqueness to it. I love how rowdy a hardtail can be in a rocky downhill.

[aidenmoorfield]

Picked up my new 2018 giant fathom 3 hardtail yesterday so much fun

[muhammadlutfi]

Yo, you guys said £ 1600 bike isn't premium?
So what about my hardtail that i got for just £150 ? Garbage? 😂. I have tons of fun with my cheap hardtail tho.

[denzilfryer]

Hardtail! I rode a Trek Stache today and it was an amazing bike! Never thought a 29+ bike would be so nimble and fast! Did a 4 foot drop onto flat ground and it handled it so well! Wheelies and manuals are so easy too on that bike! Please do a feature on 29+ bikes. I think they are the future!

[sixstanger]

Most of what I've ridden on my HT has been rooty forest trails. Took a little time to get used to how jittery the bike can get, but it definitely feels well within the HT's capabilities. However, this weekend my buddies and I went on the road to ride at a mountain park where the trails are very rocky (many places similar to 4:17). About 800 feet in elevation change and one long 3 mile descent trail. Everyone in my group rides full sus. I gotta say that this was the first time where I felt like I was starting to push the limits of my bike. My bike is a XC setup, and anytime the rock got loose on the trail the whole bike started getting squirrely. I could handle climbing up and over rocks better than descending them, I think. Honestly, the biggest problem apart from bike control was the punishment on my arms. That long descent was literally the first time I've ever had to stop on a DOWNHILL simply because my arms were cramping up and I couldn't hold on to the bars anymore.

Either way, there's no denying that a full squish is going to have the upper hand on that kind of terrain. It was a real eye opener, but I don't think I'm going to get rid of my HT --- out of the dozen or so trail systems that I've rode, only two of them have really felt like they were bordering on being out of my bike's league. Besides, my HT always obliterates those full squishes on climbs :)