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Do many of you who have a FS tend to put it away for the winter and ride a HT to save on wear and tear in mud and rain?
I have a 650b HT for winter/wet rides off road and a 29er full rigid for road winter riding
No, its false economy.
A hardtail's not just for Christmas 😉
UK riding and weather being what it is I tend to ride mine all year round.
I do ride my rigid SS more than my geared hardtail in winter though. Even less to wear out!
Do own an FS, but only ridden it twice this year (out of about 100 rides so far).
I've kept my old skool 26" short tall and steep fs for the winter, mudhuggers front and rear. Treated it to new bearings before I swapped to the new mince-machine in the spring so it'll be fine for a few more winters yet.
I ride a HT mostly, but not exclusively in the wet season.
The maintenance thing is mostly bullshit unless you run a rigid singlespeed.
I find in the depths of winter, the slop and the absence of grip greatly reduce the benefits of an FS, which mostly come at speed on chunder. When the average speed is 50% less or slower than the dry season, I prefer the more direct experience of a HT.
Conversely, when grip is good, you can't see from vision blur, your legs can no longer absorb hits from the rear wheel and action at the back is coming through to affect how the fork manages the front end - it's time for the FS!
@four it may cost you 100 quid say, in a set of bearings, every year.
Buy a HT at 1000 quid, even if you don't factor in the other wear and tear on the ht that you have to pay for, the payback isn't worth it.
I do.
I also really enjoy riding a hardtail. May not be as fast but I really enjoy the challenge of getting down the local trails compared to the cushioned sofa.
Ride both FS & HT all year round. Both just get washed more often in winter.
I prefer riding a hardtail in the summer, full suss in the winter. It's a grip thing.
I like a hardtail in the wet slop. There is no grip anyway so having a bit less on the hardtail is fun. Although it’s not for the maintenance thing. I ride my hardtail all year as it’s just as fun in the dry. Equally ride the fs all year as it’s fun
If you are worried about maintenance maybe don’t ride bikes near mud! I’m joking obviously!
Low maintenance hardtail, you say?
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Unfortunately you have to go the full hog to get something with little to no maintenance.
If it's an excuse for N+1 (which I suspect it is!) then go right ahead! 😀
I never really understood the ‘hardtail for winter’ argument, don’t you want to have as much traction/grip as possible when it’s wet and slippery out. It’s not like modern bikes have the shoddy bearing seals they used to.
I love having no grip and being on the edge of control! I think it helps my riding skills long term, like dealing with wheels giving out or lack of grip
I don't think there's much in it when you're sideways over slop covered roots...
And for me it was the hour of washing the FS bike after an hour ride that was just a pain. With mine, I can just stick it in the garage after a ride with zero washing/lubing required.
Pretty much. I'm largely on the hardtail through the worst months of slop. Not necessarily just for wear and tear. It's generally slower going so the full sus isn't as appealing. Hardtail is easier to clean. And I've got an XTR cassette on the full sus which I'd like to last!
How's the pinion build going @ta11pau1? I nearly went for some of those wheels but ended up with some rovals for easy freehub compatibility.
I have a hardtail and a full suss. I have done since I started my first proper job.
They are both fun in different ways. They both require maintenance but hopefully not at the same time!
Its like the folk with a "winter" road bike. An excuse to have two, three......all the bikes.🙂
I turned up on a club road ride. Some bloke looked my road bike over and said, "that's a very winter bike". I have one road bike and it's not the mudguards and rack that stop me keeping up on fast road rides.
If you want a hardtail, get one. I try and keep a difference between them. At the moment the full suss is heavier and has a sticky shorty on the front. It feels much more like hard work, until the trail points down some slick roots or slippy mud.
How’s the pinion build going @ta11pau1? I nearly went for some of those wheels but ended up with some rovals for easy freehub compatibility.
Good, took it to the Lakes for some proper stuff a few months back, I was the weakest link, after 2.5 days on it my legs needed the FS, but it handled everything there with ease.
TBH I haven't been out on it much the last few months, house move and work being extremely busy hasn't helped.
My FS bike is currently hanging beside it with no crank and BB, waiting for it's 3rd BB to be bought and fitted, I'll get that sorted soon but no rush tbh. It was my FS bike being covered in mud for the 1st 6 months of it's life that partially made me want this HT.
Hardtail gets the most use during winter, though TBH its had the most use all year round anyway! Full suss is a Five so it stands up well to winter slop anyway, tend to save it for the big rocky rides.
The amount of extra maintenance for a full suss is pretty trivial tbh, it's not the dark ages any more, shocks are well sealed, bearings are cheap and easy to swap and most bikes are pretty well designed.
OTOH it's easier to put a mudguard on a hardtail.
Not really to do with wear and tear for me, hardtails are for rides and loops which dont have much tech or gnar and so are routes that are generally done in the winter months when other trails become more treacherous or the speed drops enough that a FS isn't really needed. Unfortunately just had to sell my very nice hardtail to buy a house but where I live now winter months will generally become the winter road bike and FS.
Seeing as someone argued the point between winter and summer road bikes. My summer road bike is full carbon di2 and my winter road bike is an aluminium CX bike with full mudguards which therefore has a slightly longer wheelbase so is a lot more stable over the winter and has cheaper inexpensive gearing!