Originally Posted by
Wingsprint
There is a lot of very good advice in this thread regarding the bike and the "engine".
I don't see how the question regarding times for a full suspension carbon bike vs a hardtail can be answered. There are too many factors.
As far as your current bike- There might be some unlocked potential there.... you have stated it is a 29er aluminum hardtail without a dropper post. Tell us more about the bike. Brand & model? What fork? Are you running tubeless? What drive train? What terrain do you race in?
I have a Pinnacle Ramin 4 (Evanscycles in house), running Rockshox recon gold soloair 120, tubeless rims by alex, continental mountain kings (2.4 at front, 2.2 in rear, tubeless), shimano deore 2x10 and the terrain is sorta muddy hills, trails mixture of custom made and just roots and rocks. theres quite a lot of variation in terrain, so im currently running stiff forks and soft tires (23 psi)