Another thing you have to sacrifice with a FS is chainstay length... or rather lack thereof. My old fully rigid 1990 Nishiki Ariel was an excellent climber due to its 16" chainstays... shorter than most MTBs of the day and much shorter than many FS bikes of today. Additionally the short chainstay made for really quick accelerations and the bike seemed a lot nimbler than my current FS XC bike. Sometimes I miss my old Ariel which I stupidly gave away when I got the FS. I'm contemplating getting a hardtail now because in some ways, it's more fun.