Are Hardtails dead?

[ians H2Sport]

Ordered this for my daughter who will be racing in the youth age cat this year. At a body weight of 42 kg it makes sense to go for a hardtail. As we couldn't afford R140k for the SWorks (that's just nuts), we opted for trading basically everything except the frame for upgraded parts. With a HA of 68.5 and an estimated bike weight of 8.5 kg all in, it is a no brainer, HT it is. It was interesting how many bike shops pushed a dual sus, I suppose it is what they have to sell. The bike is being built this week, cant wait to see it. Only downside (for a girl) is the colour. That SWorks is beautiful, maybe one day...... 

[CY1970]

Love my HT. 

[Shebeen]

I have had some really sweet dualies but been on my HT for nearly two years the longest I have ever owned a bike by far.

With wide rim's, fat rubber and a dropper this bike is playful, nimble and fast. Doing 100km rides is so easy it feels like cheating on this bike.

 

I will say the frame makes a huge difference in comfort and stability. I had the Rocky Mountain vertex 990, Spaz stumpjumper, silverback storm, Niner air9, Cannondale FSI, SANTA CRUZ HIGHBALL and the Scott scale.

 

The FSI is a race weapon, under 9kg and comfortable. ☄

 

The Niner felt like it wanted to kill me every time it got a little bumpy they should sell those with a mouth guard

 

The Highball can be built to be a serious trail machine not the most comfy but strong like mother Russia

 

I liked the Spaz till I read the owners manual low weight limit and where it lost completely was in bold NOT FOR JUMPING.

 

The Scott to me is the best all round each of the other had something I disliked.

 

The best of a HT low low maintenance and easy cleaning/servicing

so which one are you riding now? The rm?

[Shebeen]

Hardtails here, reports of my death have been grossly exaggerated

[Long Wheel Base]

Still own 2 HT. A 26" and a 29er, both Alu frames. I have ridden a anthem quite a bit and it is fast and fun but I just love my HT. I am never going to win any MTB races and don't have the budget for a Dual sus. I also do majority of my training on my MTBs so for me, my pocket talks and a HT just makes more sense. I have XT on both and the rest of the components are not bad so it does help with reliability etc which makes it easier to enjoy. Last thing you want is to always have shifting or braking issues, doesn't matter what frame or wheel size you have it will just make the experience forgettable.

[Jewbacca]

I think the days of referring to MTB's in general has changed.

 

With the massive changes in geometry and big splits in definitive types of mountain bikes 'the hardtail' has 2 very distinct categories now.

 

The standard XCM/XCO geometry hardtail is very much alive BUT it is sold mostly as low end model 'beginner' bikes OR (as indicated) super expensive top end race machines. Very little in between these days.

 

Then there are the boutique steel options, owned by aficionado's, usually sold as a frame only option and built up with love and care with Pikey Hope Bling and 4 pot brakes. 

 

Mostly these days these are 'hardcore' hardtail enduro machines with long, slow, slack geo and a penchant for hooning.

 

The market for these is small. It definitely exists, BUT, a lot of these bikes are built and ridden to death as opposed to being in and out of the classifieds through different owners.

 

This means the actual seller market is tiny and not a sustainable market locally for a business. 

 

Fun oriented hardtails are great for winter slosh riding in horrible euro winter. We don't really have that here either.

 

So no... not DED, but just a market that isn't always pushed or sustainable locally.

[SwissVan]

I got a Gravel bike now that I ride more than any of my previous MTB's - does that count as a fully rigid?

Yes, like your road bike it’s 100% rigid

[CY1970]

Just ask Oli Munnik, having done both the Epic and Attakwas on a HT  

[Andymann]

I wanted to upgrade my Alu Scott 940 Scale and had the same problem - no decent Carbon HT's available with the spec I wanted.  So I  brought a Carbon HT frame in from China - It cost me R5000.  I took the seatpost, bars and stem from my Alu Scott 940, as well as the XT cranks and RD.  Bought a set of used XT brakes and an XTR FD (for dirt cheap because everyone is going 1x), and a really decent Reba RL fork (because everyone is going Boost and the frame is non-boost).  Throw in a few odds and ends and I have a really nice HT for around R12k (obviously excluding the R16k I paid for the Scott in 2016).  And I really enjoyed building it.

 

It's a really aggressive frame, so takes some getting used to, and I can't comment on the durability because I have only ridden it a few times, but so far, so good.....

[MORNE]

and I'm just here riding my fully rigid steel hardtail rolling on 29x2.6" rubber (with tubes) and  32: 11/36 10 speed... pondering if I should try a 11/28 road ratio cassette next haha. Hate the 11-13-15-17 jump on most wide ratio cassettes.

 

point is...you forget about suspension after a few rides if you dont have any and just get on with it. 

[reteid]

i hope not because if ht is dead i am a necrophiliac

[Long Wheel Base]

Yeah that alloy frame with the absurdly upgraded spec, that was a good one

And baggies with button up shirt IICR? That dude has fun on the bike and is fast at the same time.

[Long Wheel Base]

i hope not because if ht is dead i am a necrophiliac

Had to google this word.............

[Rigardt@Scott]

Yeah that alloy frame with the absurdly upgraded spec, that was a good one

 

I believe he did the Ata this year on a stock standard one, unlike that custom build for Epic.

[Nestus]

I love my hardtail.  Bought a new 2020 merida big nine slx last year December as i upgraded from my old hardtail.  Also, it was all i could afford, i dont have the moola for a full suspension bike.  Yes there are techie sections you can't ride the way you want and need to choose your line, but for me it is about having fun, spending time outdoors and fitness.

[Blackheart]

Depends on the hardtail (cos there's hardtails and hardtails..).

I'll take any excuse to show this off

My only MTB now is this steel Niner, I use it for long events (100 miler etc) and for blasting the singletrack around The Cape. I had two other Niners, an Air9 RDO which was lighter and a Jet9 RDO which had 120mm/90mm. I'm a few secs slower up the long climbs than on the carbon HT and faster downhill than on the FS. Overall faster all round. It's more comfortable than the carbon HT but way more forgiving and it's more direct and responsive than the FS but just as capable. I sold both other bikes, as the ROS made them redundant to me. Admittedly, the spec is quite high end which helps keep the weight down, it's now at 12kg ready to roll. 

The spec, to those interested:

Niner ROS steel frame

SRAM XX1 Eagle

RS1 fork

Tune hubs

AM Classic 3834 rims

Maxxis Ardent 2.4

RS Dropper

Fizik Tundra2 carbon

Niner RDO carbon bar and stem

Formula Cura brakes