Mountain Biking - Hardtail Freeriding

I have come to the realization that I won't be able to afford a decent dually FR bike. How's freeriding on a hardtail working out for y'all?

Can you do 10 footers and big stair gaps on a hardtail repeatedly w/o having to replace a rear wheel every month?

Can you do 10 footers and big stair gaps on a hardtail repeatedly w/o having to replace a rear wheel every month?
Hells yes. Just get decent wheels. Sun MTX and above on the rear works great. I've got a buddy that rides a .243. I've known him for about 6 months, we're good friends now, and I've never seen him break anything serious. Although, he did shatter a pedal trying to do nosetaps over barriers (he missed and crushed the pedal on it.)

He'll probably never break his frame and hasn't had any serious problems with his wheels. He has a single track up front and a deemax in the rear. Drop off (04 at 130 mm) fork, FSA cranks, and big tires.

Aluminum frames will break over time if you do drops over and over. But who cares when you get a new frame from warrentee? :D

Norco's shore hardtails are good too. Go above the bigfoot though.

No I can't...not with a cheap hub...

Well I bought a Giant stp 2 (its a hardtail) about a month ago and ive been abusing it you can say, jumping sets and stuff but its fine. Had to bring it in once cause the rim was a little bent nothing major.

Don't know, the Trek manual has 4 classes, 3 being hardtail with front suspension and 4 being full suspension. Not sure if the warrantee would support freeriding with a class 3 bike, but I'm just a newbie to this, so who knows?

Hardtail freeride is great but is alot harder than on a fully. Living in Chicago I do a bunch a "jibing" with my p3; it has 150mm up front, burly a$$ double tracks, and saint cranks. If you are going to get into it just make sure you have strong cranks/bb and bombproof wheels. And just because it is a ht does not mean that it should be light, my p3 weights all most the same as my sxt.

I do 17 footers on my Kona Stuff. If you want a pic just ask.

I do 17 footers on my Kona Stuff. If you want a pic just ask.
Drops?

Nah, gaps, if that is what he was talkin about.

Nah, gaps, if that is what he was talkin about.
Ah. Yeah 17 foot drop would be a lot for that little thing :rolleyes:

I think the most I've ever done is 6 or 7 feet. I don't really like shore - afraid of heights. lol

Ah. Yeah 17 foot drop would be a lot for that little thing :rolleyes:

I think the most I've ever done is 6 or 7 feet. I don't really like shore - afraid of heights. lol

Same thing for me. But I huck myself of stuff anyways.

I ride rigid freeride, but my bones want me to get suspension NOW, lol!

No really...that ish is hard on a pimp.

I do 17 footers on my Kona Stuff.
That is easily possible, you just need a really good tranny to take all the force. Now 17 is kind of high, but I know that if could be done on a hardtail, without putting to much stress on the bike!

17ft drop I was talking about.

You could do it on a hardtail. Like a Banshee Morphine for say.

A Morphine would be a really good choice. A friend of mine has one and he hucks everything...I've seen him do 15ft+ drops on that thing. He has a Mag 30 on the rear so it hella strong. Along with a Fox Van 36. Something like that would be perfect for what you discribed.