Mountain Biking - soft tail VS. hard tail

ehat are the pro-cons of a hardtail versus a softail bike? Next summer I'm getting a new bike and would like to hear some suggestions from you guys, I don't have lotsa money, so I was wondering what you guys would recomend? I just ride some fairly easy trail no real drops jumps just really bumpy and pretty fast, in the forest. Thanx

It all depends on you. Hardtails tend to accelerate faster, and climb better, but are really punishing on bumpy stuff. Full-Sus is quickly closing the gap with hardtails as far as acceleration and climbing ability. Really, unless you are a hardtail fan or retro-grouch, I see no reason to buy a hardtail. A friend of mine recently bought a Santa Cruz Superlight, and now he can ride 3 times longer than he could on his hardtail. The type of riding you described doesn't really call for a lot of travel, so I would look at Fisher Sugars, Trek Fuels,Giant NRS, and Specialized FSR's.

Welcome FSR :D

I`m with Fubar on this one, my first bike was (is) a hardtail, pretty good climber and very solid.
But on bumpy singletracks it was a disaster for my back! , i could nearly ride without pain, so i decided to buy a FS.

So far, it goes pretty good, no pain in the back and i can ride longer and faster, the bike is a bit heavier but it gives me lot of comfort!

Todays FS bikes are light and stiff and save you a lot of energy, so if you want to invest in your sport, go for a bike with a proper design, like the bikes Fubar mentioned, don`t waste your money on some cheap cracky FS bike, it gives you probably no advantage against a super hardtail!

Good luck with your choice,

ok, well I don't have much cash too spend so what do you think would be a good low price chassis, I'm thinking like a Trek 80, Judy fork, fox airshock, V brakes, deore derailers????what do you guys think

The Trek FS design is becoming very popular because it(supposedly, I have know experience with them) is a good design. I don't think the Fuel 80 would be a bad choice. The Giant NRS 3 is about 1000 to 1200, at one of the shops around here it is 1090. I don't know how upgrade worthy either of the frames are, and that is the only snag can see with either frame. The Fisher Sugar 4 or 3 are reasonably priced FS rigs also. I think that the Fisher 4 and 3 use Cane Creek rear shocks instead of RockShox, go to MTBR.com and read what people say about the Cane Creek, I can't really say anything about it. If you can afford something with a Fox Vanilla on the back that would definetly be the way to go.

I'm not trying to start anything... and I could be way off base seeing as since I don't own a duel suspension bike, but I feel like I must throw in my 2¢.

If you're not doing downhill, crazy free-riding or have really rocky trails (like me in Central Jersey--sure I'd like to try downhill, but I don't have any hills! (or $5K to spend on a downhill bike)) I think you'd still be better of spending your money on a hard-tail.

I'm not saying that good, modern full-susp designs can't get just as fast/light/good/whatever as a hard-tail--it's just that for the price you can get a much better component mix.

My Trek 8000 is an awesome bike at around 25lbs with Rolf Satellite wheels a Judy SL fork and LX & XT components. For the same price (around a grand) you'd get a full suspension bike with Alivio/Deore components, heavy wheels, cheap front susp, and the thing'd probably weight over 30lbs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but except for the occasional person who lucks out when some bike store owner is liquidating merchandise to pay off his bookie, I've never heard of any decent full susp bikes for less than $1500.

Of course if money is no object I probably wouldn't even only own a hard tail (who am I kidding? I'd have a $6000 hard tail and a $6000 XC full susp, not to mention the free-ride and dh bikes)

Anyways... just thought I'm give my thoughts. BTW, "soft tail" is slightly different from full suspension. Regular full suspension has a pivot, while soft-tail is pivotless. See the Trek STP bikes, Moots TBB or Ibis Ripley bikes for example. And for some reason soft-tails are extremely expensive, despite the fact that they have less parts. Don't ask me.

Like I say, some like Hardtails and some like FS. Its six of one, half a dozen of another.

Just got a catalogue from Price Point last night. They have a '99 KHS Soft tail on Clearance for about $160.00. A decent build kit (LX and XT) and a decent fork(many on clearance), you could build this frame up for right around a grand!

If I were looking for a soft-tail, I would spend a little extra, get the full XT kit ($900) and a Marzocchi Z-2 (On Sale-$275) and end up with a race worhty, trail worthy, all around great bike for under $1,300.00

Just my $0.02
L8R G8R:p

Oh I thought the rear suspension on a bike could also be refered to as a soft tail with out specifying any special suspension system. Well I probaby would buy a hard tail like a specalized rockhoppe or hard rock. Though I will just buy my dad's '99 FSR(hence the name, since it the only real mountain bike Ive ever riden) it has XT/LX derailers/shifter, Judy C fork and a rock shox rear shock(I don't know what kind it is I never really bothered to check;) ). For $850 cdn or $454 usd. But thanx for teh help any way.

a2psyklnut: That sounds like a good deal, but if you don't have the time and or knowledge to put together a bike from scratch (and I'm assuming a first time bike buyer would not) this isn't an option... or there really isn't much savings after you pay someone to put it together.

FSR: Sounds like a good deal also. I think used bikes are the best way to go when starting out. Save your money for when you really know what you want.

As for soft-tail... i guess you can call it anything you want. There aren't any rules per se, but this is how I've always heard it used.

Welcome to the forums FSR!

Yeah, good luck with the choice of bike...there's alot of good advice above.

Rich :)

if you go with a hardtail, look into steel and Ti. Obviously, Ti will be expensive, but steel and Ti give a much more 'forgiving' ride when compared to aluminum. Ti kind of takes away the weight penalty of steel while leaving the good ride.... It's all what you want to spend I guess. I started on aluminum, rode a Reynolds 853 steel frame for a while, and now ride a Ti Moots RigorMootis. I experienced less back fatigue with the steel and Ti than I did with the aluminum (though I also rode more now than before and I am in better overall shape now...) ahh. what do I know... ;):)

BTW, most of my riding is on hard singletrack. I like speed and controllability. I like to climb (wow, I can't believe I just said that! ;)). I was going to buy a soft tail when I was looking to build up my bike, but I yielded to my irrational fear of "too many moving parts" and "what will the pivot point be like in 5 years"...etc....

to each his/her own...

Hi Rigor, and welcome to the forums,

I like the look of Moots bikes...how do they compare to Seven's and Litespeeds?

Cheers

Rich

The Giant NRS 3 ($1,000) uses the same frame as the NRS Air ($3,200). This means that you can start with the NRS 3 and add better parts to it as the old ones wear, or as you have money in your pocket.

I ride an NRS 3 frame I bought off eBay. Without going into all the parts I put on it, it weighs 25 lbs. race-ready. I consider that very competitive with many, even most, hardtails, and I have the bonus of FS.

Originally posted by Rich
Hi Rigor, and welcome to the forums,

I like the look of Moots bikes...how do they compare to Seven's and Litespeeds?

Cheers

Rich

IMHO, I think they are all great bikes. I am a little foggy on the details, but I think that they guys who started Seven (or was it Merlin) used to work for Moots... Anyone else know the story? Anyway, Litespeed makes a great bike. I don't want to start a flame war on my first post, but I will say that (again IMHO), Litespeed represents the Mass-Market high-quality Ti bike, Moots is the original, Merlin is a Moots spin-off (but has a few subtle differences that I don't care for), and Seven's are pure customs (the only other Ti bike I would rather have).

If you can find a full suspension with a rear shock that you can lock out I would go for it. If weight matters, I would probably go with a hardail. I always rode hardtails, so like anyone else, i feel more confident on what I'm used to. I would say try them both out, and get what you can afford, and live with until (like all of us) you can afford your dream bike.