hardtail limitations
 

are there any limitations with a hardtail mtb in terms of jumping or drops. what height is my limit?

Depends on the hardtail, and depends on your skill level.

Some hardtails are made for doing that sort of thing and some aren't. Some riders can kick ass on any bike, some riders are complete hacks.

Your height limit is 5' 7 1/2".












I've got one of those Red Bull (Boston I think) street comp's. Some trials dude did what looked like an 8-10' to flat on a hardtail...sick skill.

If you want to get a hardtail for jumping or drops they have specific bikes for those.

You know... pick up "Decline" magazine. There are TONS of reviews, photos, articles about bikes that are specifically tailored for freeride in that mag.

I agree with everything above and do not want to contradict any of it. I would like to add one thing just to give the OP some sort of frame of reference, though, beyond "well, it depends" (which, of course it does).

I've generally considered drops in the realm of 4- or 5'-to-flat about the outer limits of what you might want to routinely punish yourself with on a stout hardtail. There are tons of skilled riders out there that can finesse more, for sure, but it seems to me to be a good starting point. And that's with some speed behind it.

Jumps are a sky's-the-limit thing with a hardtail - - totally dependent on the rider's skill, the type and shape of the jump, the size and slope of the transition and on and on. I happen to like jumping with full suspension because I'm not that gifted or smooth, so it gives me some forgiveness if I case the landing or otherwise blow a jump. But a hardtail rider can probably jump anything there is to jump.

Wow...not what I expected to hear from ya, D;)

It's about 2 feet for me, three if I wear my mouthpiece. A friend of mine can ride his hardtail on anything I can ride my 6" bike on and then some. I can suck down more beers afterwords though so it's a wash in my book.

I've done approx 40" with the FRHT and thought it was pretty okay. The only thing that keeps me from going bigger is the thought of destroying a $500 wheelset that wasn't made for FR.

Danny Mac can jump 20' on full rigid........

Oh Lordy...here we go again.

wow guys tons of good info. ill take it all in to consideration. thanks a ton!

I feel that the rider is the limit to what the ht can do. I rarely ride my HT because I would rather "sit-n spin" But when I do HT, I HT Dos Equis.

I've dropped a good 4 ft on my GT XC hardtail. I don't think my old junk Rockshox's work either