Originally Posted by bdinger

Seriously, after this weekend I wonder what it would take to actually break one. I did 30 offroad miles between Friday and Sunday afternoon, not one of them would I consider "easy". My 360+ pound butt got air, did some hard log crossings, battled with rocks and roots.. but not with my Hardrock. I have a bone stock '07 Hardrock Sport, FWIW.

When I say "did some hard log crossings" and "got some air" I'm putting it mildly. I beat the *tar* out of my 'rock over the weekend. I thought I had been mean to it before, but I've never done anything like this. Even with air and hard landings, log crossings, and everything I threw at it - it didn't pop a spoke. The rear wheel is true. Nothing is busted. This is *after* almost 900 previous miles under my large behind.

The only failure was the front wheel, but I don't blame it. Doing around (I'm ballparking BIG TIME here) 15mph it caught a tree root/branch in the ground and sent both of us flying. It got thrown out of true pretty good. I unhooked the front brake and kept going, over more logs and crap, and so did it. Thankfully a marshal had a multi-tool with a spoke wrench, so I heaved it back into true. Not a single busted spoke, and with some work last night it seems to be true again.

Seriously, if you are considering a new bike that you don't want to brake, get a Hardrock. Forget the Hoss, I hear you can actually break them, and you can buy THREE hardrocks for the price of a Hoss. This thing is in-freaking-destructible.

It's earned a permanent place in my stable. The stock fork is crap, but it dampens out the trails quite well. I'm concerned about the plastic stanchions so I'll replace it. The Acera group is pretty heavy, so it'll get replaced too. Ditto on most parts. But the frame and the wheels, they're sticking around. One must reward a loyal steed, and reward it well.