Hi! I'm looking for advice or opinions on full suspension vs hardtail with lower back pain. I've been living with chronic lower back pain for almost 7 years now. 4 years ago I was barely able to complete a 45 min spinning class but stuck with it as running was (and still is) not an option. This year I tried mountain biking on a borrowed Giant Boulder and have been really surprised how well my back seems to cope. If I'm careful I get very little if any spasm following a ride. So far so good. I've been riding jeep track and a little single track fairly regularly for about 3 months now but still take it quite easy (no big jumps etc). I'm looking at buying a new bike now and would like to know if anyone has any hands on experience riding full suspension vs hardtail with lower (L5,S1) back pain as a result of ruptured disc? I don't have any experience on a full suspension bike. Is it worth forking out the extra cash for rear suspension or would the money be better spent on a better spec HT? I'm 192cm tall, weigh about 98kg and don't have any aspirations to be the fastest or to win any races. I'm riding a Large (21 inch) Giant Boulder that's seen better days (it's also too small) and I'm happy doing 1 - 2 hour rides with a mix of jeep and single track. I'm considering a Giant Anthem X 4 29er but for the money I can find a very good spec HT 29er. If moving to a full suspension has solved or prevented any further lower back pain issues for anyone please tell me about it. Thanks Justin
