[Closed] Anyone still riding, ragging, jumping and loving their hardtail aged 35+ ?

I'll be 35 tomorrow, won't be stopping riding my hardtail (or my rigids, or my full sussers 😉 ). It's the mountain bike I ride most.

Over 30 and still hardtail riding here too! Can't imagine I'll stop anytime soon!

Cotic BFe here, age 53 (me, not the bike), not particularly big on jumps but everything else from playing in the woods to Antur via Lakeland rock descents is fair game.

Blimey, I've just turned 30 and I feel better than I ever did in my teens or twenties.

I'm hoping to ride any bike till i can't no more.

30 is still very young in my eyes.

Just turned 35 and have a torn ACL but still managing to ride my HT without issue...in fact loving the HT so much the FS isnt getting much of a look in at the mo.

48, and of the other guys I ride with the HT boys are 48, 37 and 37

40 still riding a hardtail/rigid forked singlespeed, and racing cyclocross, so come on kids, man up or whatever the youth say today.

43 here and just built up another hardtail. The full suspension bike has hardly been used this Summer.

37 (38 next Tuesday) so technically an adult and I spent Saturday on the uplift at bike park Wales on my BFe.

Mid fourties here. Two hardtails, rag the chameleon good style. That bike doesn't lime being on the ground.

Hardtails are for wusses anyway, cx bike for tough guys.

44 here and still riding and racing my Ti hardtail, SS hardtail, and cyclo cross bike. In the summer I was at a new enduro style trail centre in Germany and according to Strava was the KOM on a couple of the descents all on my SS hardtail. 😈

Yeah. Just been out for a quick blast on my Soul. Seem to be enjoying it again. 59 next month.

40 here and riding a soul. Got a pinned and plated heel/ankle and a shocking back from that accident but hardtails just feel right. Just looking at a 29er hardtail to go with the soul. Got to be steel though. 8)

I'm contemplating do I reallly need a full suss. I think it's peer pressure from riding buddies two who have 130 and 150mm full suss's and my best mate who keeps saying we both need get full suspensions. He rides a 130mm Hardtail at moment and me a 100mm one yet I'm the quickest on the majority of the strava segments at Gisburn and the quickest on Hope Line.

I don't want to do 20ft drop offs. I do like getting air on the hope line jumps though.

45 here and have just bought a Cotic Solaris after years on a full sus.

Like soops - got to be steel.

I'm just a few days off 38 and it's not even entered my head that I'll not be riding my rigid bikes, let alone my hardtail for the foreseeable.

33 here and cleared my first double on my HT at the weekend 8) (that's first double ever, not the first one since I switched from a FS, just to be clear...)

42 here with a blue pig X and ride most of the Dh stuff at FOD.

44. Riding full rigid. Don't own a bouncy bike. I do ride real slow tho..

I have a HT but it only gets ridden on the smoothest trails really and road, which is probably only 1 in 10 rides over my Anthem

47 (next month) an old Kona Kilauea hardtail and a home grown rigid Kona Hahanna SS!

42 and have a steel SS and carbon one
not sure i could be classed as still jumping on one mind but i am not scared of the wheels leaving the ground.

Just bought a new Scott hard tail after a long hiatus from biking. Just back from a 9 miler tonight which has put me in a great mood. I'm 32 and am hoping my new hobby sheds some of my excess beef, if you know what I mean!

42 BFe and loving every ride. 🙂

i'm 62 and have just got into proper mountainbiking as opposed to bridleway riding. Just built an old fashioned wheel size bike......a Soul! I love it

41 here. Just decommissioned my Orange SubZero but only to nick a couple of bits for my new Five. Will rebuild the hardtail when I've room for 3 bikes.

40 here.. Not too fond of leaving the ground unless I have to, but find the time time to get sideways and nearly out of control on the superfast super steep rocky rooty stuff whenever I can..
Never owned a FS cos whenever I've ridden one they feel baaaaaaaad

I turned 35 last Sunday - been doing far too much road riding, fixie riding, full suss riding and not enough hardtail riding I reckon. I'll get it out at the weekend and smash it round the park.

46 and still playing on either my Genesis Latitude or Piglet 2 🙂

Another 40 something Bfe owner here and love it.

Cheating as I'm only 32 but this was me at the weekend racing hardtail cat at sw champs, Gawton on super tavi http://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/542423 spend a great chunk of the summer hitting our local big stuff on the hardtail, all good 🙂

Hi,

45 and bought a Blue Pig 2 yrs ago, just to avoid being That Guy when riding with my GF who was new to the sport. I have barely ridden my other bikes since, great fun and a better work out to boot.

42 race DH on mine, all of them 🙂

Superfly Styler deluxe 853 steel.
Atomlab Pimp2, triple butted Daytona steel.
Surly Karate Monkey, double butted cromo steel.

I likes steel.

Edit
seen Steven's post..... thought you where younger than 32 🙂 the way you hit that jump (got beaten by Steven at Gawton)

I'm 45 and riding a HT, no intention of stopping!

43 and still ragging my BFe round the woods and down the hills. Not a dirt jumper by any means, but still not averse to getting my wheels off the ground.

Been riding various incarnations of rufty-tufty hardtails since the mid-90s and don't intend to stop any time soon.

Just turned 40 here and have a nice harsh aluminium HT as my go to trail bike. Had a brief flirtation with a FS as my main bike in my early 30s but back on hardtails now.

I don't really get the switching to FS due to injury thing. Unless you get seriously overbiked and want to just pedal through the rougher stuff then I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference.

Just turned 40 and love my HT, I have never tried a full suss so cannot say that I would not like one but I love the feedback I get from my HT.

I grew up riding Raleigh Bombers/rigid MTBs and have never really grown out of that! That is probably why I like my cx bike so much as it takes me back to my roots!!

I'm 41 and my only bike is a steel hardtail and I love it. Been riding with a few different people lately with a real mix of bikes and I haven't been left standing by a full suss yet 🙂

Each to their own, but I'm finding my hardtail so rewarding to ride at the moment that I keep thinking the full suss riders are missing out. Hard tail riders just seem to get more of a buzz out of riding trails & that's really what it's all about, isn't it???

ace - I'll take that as a compliment unless It was my lack of maturity that made you think I was younger 🙂 We were on the podium in age order, Seb the pinner is still a student and definitely has youth on his side! Great weekend, hardtails rule!

stevede - that drop has made you practically famous!

Apart from Chris and his ribcage 🙂

Been looking into Sebs ride, those 7070 alloy Dartmoor Hornets look nice, guess they are out of stock because they are rather good and only £189 🙂 tempted to try a coke canner again.

38 years young next month and now that my youngest has started school full time, I'll finally have the time to thrash my lovely carbon Focus Raven and my Whyte 901 (not at the same time, you understand) further and harder than ever. Gave up on FS years ago - they never live up to the marketing hype.
Just been up to trails in Kielder today actually - I had the whole place to myself and threw myself around like a loon. Just me and the dog and we didn't see another sole so I suppose there is a bit of the unsociable, miserable old b@$t@rd in me!

35 last month and still ride HT 90% of the time. The other 10% on a full suspension is driven by consumer guilt

Was 36 on Fri, and have a HT. Which I am thinking of replacing with another HT.

winch 🙂 Jon Credi did it on a curtis MX24 pulling one handers few years ago, there is a video on youtube or pinkbike of a pink halfords carerra (however they spell it) doing it too. Got to be unhinged and good rider to do that (i went round it) Not too many have done it, might be the first Ti bike, Steven's got skills 🙂

47 here. Sold my 5 in the Spring and got a Soul. Don't miss the FS at all.

I am 42 and ride a Jones steel space frame. I have owned a couple of full sussers and tried a few others too, i just prefer a rigid bike. My top tip though for all day comfort is wide rims, big tyres & and a well padded saddle, and forget that weight weenie rubbish too.

I was 35 last Saturday and 2 of my 3 bikes are hardtails.

I'm 40 and still got 2 HT a 17 year old Beast of the east and a Cotic BFe for Aggro duties. I have never even ridden a FS .Too much maintenance and too pussy!!!!!!!!!

Ace is right, Credi is the man, bags of skill and style for miles on any bike, he's hit bigger too at tavi woodlands! £189 for the Dartmoor Hornet is deffo a bargain, looked long, stable and fast (red).

So stevede or ace, how big is this drop then? Anyone got a link to a youtube vid?

43 and riding On One Inbred and a fully rigid aluminium Marin. Ride a full susser as well but the HT is getting used more.

40 in a couple of weeks - still love riding a hard tail (and have done for the last 20 odd years). Have also had full sus bikes for the last 6 or 7 years - love riding those too, but my hard tail is my go-to bike.

34 and still riding my HT in the peaks, borrowed a full bounce this week end and although it was a bit more comfortable I still only got my 3rd fastest time on starva down lockerbrook.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEzKilpHwEs about on a par with Seb and Steve's time on sunday, as normal with camera angle the track looks smoother than it is 🙂

52, and still riding the original (and best) hooligan bike, a red GT Zaskar from '96. Done everything from SDW to PPDS.

68 in a few weeks, 10 bikes, all ridden 🙂

Winch - here's one I found http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/video-mondraker-summum-downhill-bike-30382/ no idea on size, nothing heroic, it's just a mind over matter line, the fact it's made of wood with huge metalwork supports makes it look more beastly than it is. It's just a matter of commitment, the smaller gap before it is technically more difficult but people don't think twice about hitting that one.

Whoa! That's a big drop! Kudos. Funny how it really looks like not a lot on the vid ace posted! Kudos

34 and just bought my first (proper) hardtail - new soul! Loving it so far, just seems to make local riding more fun!

Not me - I'm 39 and don't think I'll ever ride a hardtail mtb again. Feeling fitter than ever and having more fun of my FS bike than ever.. can't see myself riding anything other than a FS again.

Still riding my HT, yes, but not the other stuff.

Yes, yes, not as much as previously (big old frame that's not too special at the jumping) and yes. Pretty hard to tell the future but i don't think i'd ever be without a hardtail.

Big 50 next year! Ride a Marin B17 AXC HT Built like a bomb shelter 🙂
Flew down the Pink Heffer this evening,great bike,great fun.
Gravity next year so looking for a full sus now.

Was out with a friend of mine just last week on the Malverns. He's 69 and took a tumble. He laughed it off and carried on. Admittedly, he wasn't especially radical, but 69!!!!!

Riding definitely yes, ragging maybe, jumping hardly at all on a rigid singlespeed. I'm 60.

I'm 34 and loving my bfe - used it for Afan and other xc but still riding some big dirt jump at the track portreath and some dh fun not yet risen gawton on it but should be fun I've done the drop in the pics above on my spicy but not sure about on my hardtail ill have a look when I go next
By the way the spicy hasn't been out the shed since I got the bfe

Turned 40 in July, and still getting sicktacular on my Prince Albert.

Fifty next year, and loving my Soul. Great for thrashing on twisty bermy stuff, and my lad has just this month managed to teach me to jump tabletops and trail bumps .... can't get enough of it! I have a knackered hip which means I choose a FS for long days out and rocky stuff, but that's as much bravery as anything else! I did the Holme Valley challenge on the HT and just can't fault it.

Not sure if this counts as ragging but I'm 40 next year and still enjoying the hardtail. Made this vid of me mucking about on some local trails about this time last year.

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37 and probably stronger than I've been for a while so now don't ride my full sus any more. Fully rigid for me these days

Nice little vid dropseoi. I've been to that little jump spot and it looked like fun, though it was really wet so thought it best not to ride it. I'l definitely go back sometime soon though as I'm in Leicester fairly regularly. Good to see there's hope for me for plenty of years to come 🙂

Nice vid btw dropseoi

47 and normally ride full sus but live in Scotland and ride proper trails. Use the hardtail Kona Shred in the shittty winter weather.

Northwind - how strange, we share the exact same birth date

My long lost twin!

40 and a half here and hardtail only.
Don't ride MTB so much as road these days but still love my Soul and no intention of changing it for anything else. I can't imagine finding a nicer ride tbh, and for Surrey Hills I find a hardtail is more fun than full suss. I do lots of core work so my back can take it aok

Hmm, this very thread may just have prevented me splashing out in a full suss frame tomorrow.