gargant

I have a trek hardtail which i love. I use it for downtown, biking with my friends, and trail riding. Can i use it for downhill? All i ever see is bikes with rear suspension. I dont have that. Would it be a good idea to do this?

mystolenbikes

One way to find out...take your bike to the trails. Ride it down and see how you like it.

crazyotte

This is true... You may not be blazingly fast, but you can make it down.

3speed

I don't see why you couldn't(depending on the model/components). Hell, you don't even "need" front suspension. I've seen a couple guys at my local trails doing a drop that's ~6'+ on fully rigid bikes. I've done ~4' on a rigid. Suspension mostly affects your speed, but if you're not trying to win any races, have fun. It's actually more challenging and kinda fun in that sense to have no suspension at all.

LesterOfPuppets

Are you talking about racing downhill on hardtail? You won't be competitive but it's not impossible to ride down a hill on a hardtail.

Dudes used to race downhill on hardtails. Some of them were lucky enough to have suspension forks too! Seems a lot of those Euros wound up hucking their bikes in the woods, though.

Ooh, I did see at least one full-squish in first video (an olde Offroad) and at least one in the second (an olde Trek)

roastbeef

haha, awesome video. seems like it was more of a contest of who could make it down in one piece, not who could do it the fastest.

crazyotte

YES! Hahaha all Michelin Manned up in the body armor

3speed

I don't even understand the video. I, and I know Lots of others, bombed flights of stairs in their youth before they got a suspension MTB. And those guys were wiping out like crazy?

LesterOfPuppets

Well, it's clearly a blooper reel. Watching all the riders that cleared those sections would be boring.

Some of those dudes hauled ASS at those steps. And they're awkwardly spaced railroad tie steps not nice, even, uniform concrete steps - much harder to ride down.

electrik

That is because they were riding with hipster sized bars.

Vicelord

My question is if you are riding your bike around town, what do you mean when you say "downhill"? When you ride a bike around downtown, and can't tell us what model bike you have, it leads me to believe you are a casual rider. When a casual rider says "downhill" they likely aren't thinking of the same things experienced riders are.

Now, to address your question, you can ride anything with wheels down a hill. It might not be fun depending on the terrain, as I discovered Wednesday night on a fast rocky descent on Squaw Peak in Phoenix. I was on a 22lb carbon Scott hardtail 29'er, and about half way into the descent I felt the back of the bike just bouncing around haphazardly. You've got to be a little better at maneuvering and managing your speed. Still though, I will only ride hardtails until I can't anymore.

Svr

Most of the time, it's the rider's skill that matters.

Moozh

it very much depends on what you categorize as "downhill" and what modifications you are willing to make to your bike. For true DH I would say "no effin way", but if you are talking about trail/lighter AM type riding then probably...."yea, it might go well with appropriate mods".

You do not mention the model of the bike you ride so that we can get some idea of the spec/componentry on it, but that vid posted just prior to my message is good to take note of.

shorter than XC style stem (90mm or less..ideally 70-50mm) and wide bars. That hardtail in that vid looked to have a set of Race Face Atlas FR bars..those are some wide mofo's and awesome for downhill and give you a lot of control, that partnered with a short stem to allow you to slow the steering and get back behind the saddle and lower your CG will help enormously.

Big, fat cushy DH tires for grip and traction beyond what skinnier XC tires will give. Perhaps 2.4" in the front if your forks will allow and 2.3 or 2.2" in the rear, but go as big and plush as they will allow. It will absolutely change the nature of your bike and likely make it a pain to pedal about in regular trails and suck at climbing hills as there will be a lot of rolling resistance (generally blockier-bigger tread, soft compound and low pressure) but it will pay off big time when heading down hill. Lower pressures is the norm for cush and traction and to manage as best you can from taco'ing your wheels.

Lower the seatpost to allow you to get behind it and below it and if you are agreeable to put your in all liklihood xc/trail spec'd and constructed frame thru the punishment of AM style downhill, you just might live to tell the tale. I would certainly not do anything extreme as I would presume your frame and fork are not ideal to manage that level of punishment. Remember that rocks and roots can at best break your bike and at worst break your face! Use the appropriate gear for the task at hand.

They make AM hardtails for just this task that paired with a long travel fork are quite great. As always, every eventuality is fixed by throwing cash into its resolution...