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Hardtail versus full suspension bikes
Struggling to pick between a hardtail and a full sus? Read up on the pros and cons of each here.
Choosing a cross country race bike used to be simple – it was a case of fat tyres, rim brakes and hold on for dear life. Then front (hardtail) and rear (full sus) suspension came along, making life more fun but the process of purchasing your dream bike more confusing.
It’s a commonly held belief that the hardtail is dead – but make no mistake, both styles still have their place in modern mountain biking. Read on to see which might suit you the best.
Focussed simplicity – the case for a hardtail:
Hardtails offer a simplicity that full suspension bikes simply can’t compete with. Having only front suspension enables bike manufactures to make hardtail frames incredibly light. Scott recently released its 2017 Scale hardtail, with a frame weight of just 849 grams. That’s over a kilo lighter than most modern full suspension frames – and in a sport where weight matters, that’s a serious chunk of change.
With no moving parts like bushings, bearings and pivots, a hardtail is also far easier and cheaper to maintain. This is especially telling if you live in an area where mother nature takes her toll, as all that rain, mud, salt and sand can work its way into your moving parts, which can be expensive to replace.
You only have to go back a few years to find hardtails that were incredibly light but also harsh and unforgiving. Things have now changed, with manufacturers working their magic on carbon frames, adding some compliance and flex where you need it most. It doesn’t compete with proper rear suspension, but definitely takes the sting out of the trail. Companies like Focus, Trek and BMC all have hardtails with added comfort and compliance, so they’re a good place to start looking.
Canondale's F-SI hardtail
© Bartek Woliński/Red Bull Content Pool
It’s clear a hardtail will suffer on the descents compared to a fully sprung bike, but take an honest look at where and what type of riding you do. Many people don’t have the luxury of huge gnarly trails to ride everyday, so a hardtail could be a valid choice for someone on more subdued terrain. And if you like rides where the climbing is measured in the thousands rather than hundreds of meters, the feathery weight of a hardtail should have you flying up the trails.
Hardtails offer a simplicity that full suspension bikes simply can’t compete with.
Finally, there’s nothing like a hardtail to bring on your overall riding skills. Without rear suspension, the margin for making errors on technical terrain becomes much smaller. This causes you to think extra hard about line choice and body position, which will only help your overall riding in the long run.
Bicycle technology at its best – the full suspension bike:
A quick look at any modern full suspension bike reveals plenty of features that make them faster and lighter than many hardtails from only five years ago.
Full suspension will give you the confidence and handling a hardtail never could.
The weight penalty is comparatively small compared to what it used to be, with most full suspension frames being around a kilo heavier than a hardtail counterpart. Unless you’re an elite racer, this makes little difference when factoring in the fun and comfort of rear suspension.
DT Swiss X313 rear shock
© Bartek Woliński/Red Bull Content Pool
Full suspension bikes used to suffer from poor pedalling performance, but those days are well and truly over. Manufacturers are now offering front and rear lockout at the flick of a switch, turning your full sus rig into a mean pedalling machine. Even if you prefer not to use the lockout, the linkages and pivots are now so efficient, you’ll hardly be loosing any energy with the suspension fully open.
Cross country riding is only getting more technical and this is where full suspension bikes really shine.
There’s also the simple fun factor of riding a full suspension bike. That rock garden that had you terrified on a hardtail now becomes a fun feature to barrel over. Struggling on that off-camber root section? Full suspension will give you the confidence and handling a hardtail never could. Cross country riding is only getting more technical and this is where full suspension bikes really shine.
Full suspension bikes aren’t cheap, so if your budget is tight, you may get more bang for your buck from a hardtail.
Full suspension bikes aren’t without their issues though. As mentioned earlier, they’re far more expensive to maintain due to all the extra moving parts, and that’s before you factor in the initial cost of purchase. Simply put, full suspension bikes aren’t cheap, so if your budget is tight, you may get more bang for your buck from a hardtail.
Despite what the marketing hype tells you, there’s no one size fits all when deciding between hardtail and full suspension. Hardtails may be seen as old school, but they’re a reliable, proven technology, whereas full suspension bikes are exciting, versatile machines, that may come back to bite you with cost and maintenance.
Just remember to take an honest look at the type of riding you like and will be doing before making that all-important purchase.
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