[Closed] When does it get too much for a 29er hardtail.

Never. A lack of suspension will limit the speed at which a given rider can get down a trail but is unlikely to make anything unrideable assuming you trust the tyres in those conditions.

A 29er on a red trail! My god man, are you mad?
The wicker basket on the front might fall off...

Mine have survived Scottish blacks fine thanks. Snowdon was alright too.

To be fair though I don't have a basket fitted to mine.

To be honest, an Avalanche is about as harsh as it gets. I built one up once, while I was repainting my FS, & it had some nice kit...maxle Revs, XT / Thomson etc. It was still awful. No offence to those who like them, but to me it was a massive step backwards. Compare it to something like a Soul & your into a different league. A 29er changes things again, you'll lose some of the chuckability at the extreme end that smaller wheels & a more compact bike offers, but you gain in other areas & it sounds like that's what your after. There obviously does come a point where FS is a more sensible option, but if you tried something more "modern", so to speak, you'd probably have a different opinion. I certainly don't find my 29er limits me, I'd happily ride it anywhere I rode a FS bike, its just that for me, how, when & where I ride these days; a 29er fits the bill.
I've been riding long enough to know what works for me.

And khani does indeed ride with a wicker basket...

29er sounds absolutely fine for what you want providing you get a decent one.

A better hard tail will give the rider more scope for riding but also more scope confidence to exceed ability. Same with a FS. At the level you are at decent forks and frame will probably make more difference. Get out and demo some kinking tyres in the shop/internet is no substitute for riding.

29ers are not less chuckable!. A 29er hard tail is a perfect weapon for red trails. I've got a 29er XC bike with a mere 90mm of travel and it eats red and (the easier) black trails no problems, the limiting factor only being its riders skills, and the size of the riders gonads! It also goes fine over none trail centre terrain, unprepared routes through woods and it handles the Peaks just fine. Your legs have far more travel in them than any full suspension bike. I'm after a full Susser as a 2nd bike mainly for use in the summer, but I don't feel I necessarily NEED one.

I wouldn't risk taking a 29er on a red trail after all the reports i've seen about the wheels exploding.

you don't need big wheels you know ikkle ones on a hardtails can ride some very gnar stuff as well

viddy of bloke hooning down whislter runs on a 26" hardtail

And khani does indeed ride with a wicker basket

And I've also got a GT Avalanch and it's a right lump, I think it's cos it's made from Aluminum instead of Aluminium..
That's what the sticker on the frame says anyway...

I'll tell you in about 6 hours. I'm taking mine downhilling to Blaenau .

Will they allow it on the uplift trailer?

Exploding wheels? That's the best piece of anti-29er propaganda I've heard yet. I'm pretty sure my rims are made of regular 6061 Al Alloy and not Nitro Glycerin, and my tyres are full of regular air and not Propane. I'll be sure to check before my next ride though.

Suspension will make you faster and lazier.

If you want to get more rad on your current bike, put wider bars on (pretty sure this rule applies to about 98% of mountain bikers to be honest).

Exploding wheels? That's the best piece of anti-29er propaganda I've heard yet

It must be FACT.
I read it on this very forum. 😉

If you need more proof.

Rorschach - Member

I'll tell you in about 6 hours. I'm taking mine downhilling to Blaenau .

It's been well over six hours now and still no word.
I bet he was killed dead by shrapnel from his exploding wheels.

I did a fair smattering of hopton Woods downhill tracks at the weekend on my hardtail 29er, . . . it was mostly held back by my summer tyres and the meager fork travel, other than that it was fine.

Maybe consider a 29er with a 120mm fork, correct tyres for conditions, . .off you go.

You'll get less tired riding a FS and you will probably go faster. But you'll get more lazy at technique too, and find them a big weird at lower speeds. For best result, ride both FS and HT.

Great information. I conclusion, I think I will stick to blue trails.

To Quote a certain American guy who rode a few bikes .....

"It's not about the bike "

Don't stick to blue trails - the reds and blacks are all good fun. And if you don't fancy a bit of a trail you can usually avoid it or walk.

You'll be missing out! They reds are not much harder and to be honest neither are the blacks aside for a couple of little sections.

singlecrack - Member
To Quote a certain American guy who rode a few bikes .....

[b]"It's not about the bike "[/b]

Aye, it was about the doping..... 👿

Can still ride a bike better than most though ....with or without doping .... 😉

Tazzy, that video was sweet, makes me want to ride RIGHT NOW!

Don't you already have a 29" though?

You know the one you asked what tyres for spinning?

I survived.
My bike survived.
No explosions (though my arse was a bit twitchy).
Joy.

It may be because the bikes front forks are on there last legs, but I felt their were times when I was getting too much abuse

as much abuse as you are dishing out to the english language?

At what point (in terms of toughness of trail) do you need to swap the hardtail for a full suspension?

errr... as said above, never.

FS allows you to ride lines that you might shy away from with a HT. in short it makes you lazy. 🙂

Exploding wheels? That's the best piece of anti-29er propaganda I've heard yet.

I rode a 29er once and it gave me the bad AIDS.

At what point do you need to switch to full suss... Maybe downhill racing, at fort william?

[img] [/img]

Oops, nope. Mind you he does have proper sized wheels, he'd no doubt have died on a 29er.

What about the Intense 29er downhill bike? That wouldn't explode, would it?

[IMG] [/IMG]
They should call it the Apocalypse....

I rode a 29er once and it gave me the bad AIDS.

I read a report about someone that was rumoured to have an uncle that looked at a 29er and i exploded and died on the spot.

It's fine though as i've recoverd now.