Throwing in the towel...

mattbarnes

People

After 8 years and 5 different frames, I've made the decision to abandon the world of full suspension. After recent reflection on the kind of riding I do, it has dawned on me that I don't need 4 or 5 inches of rear wheel travel for fast fireroads and tarmac ( :oops: sorry for using the 'T' word) training rides and am embarking on the quest to find a decent hardtail. Being the sad individual that I am, various elements of cycling such as pedaling efficiency, weight and asthetics all matter to me and have considered purchasing a carbon frame to compliment my needs. Herein lies my problem. Being 6'2" and the best part of 14st I'm unsure whether this is the right material for me or whether I should go for an alloy hardtail to avoid that constant nagging in the back of my mind that the frame is going to splinter into many pieces if I was to hit a pothole. Doing get me wrong, despite my cumbersome size I can, and do, ride with a degree of finesse with the days of catching 'sick air' and 'gnarly drop-offs' well and truly behind me.
Are there any big riders out there currently hammering a full carbon hardtail frame without incident or is it something I should avoid to save a spell in my local A + E dept?

Amos

I think a lot of carbon frames have a maximum recommended weight, and iirc its usually more than 14st. Is there any frame in particular that has caught your eye?

supersonic

Hi and welcome.

I'll start by saying that 14stone and 6ft 2 aint that big! A little above average, but I know a few riders (some on here) who are very happy hammering a carbon frame at your size!

People associate the frames with full bore xc race, but frames like the Zaskar carbon are designed to be stiffer and stronger than their counterparts.

Also we have carbon and alloy hybrids.

Don't diecount titanium either, as similar prices.

Chaka Ping

14st isn't heavy mate, especially at your height.

If you are worried though, just make a point of checking out the frame warranty replacement policies.

andrewjoseph

I don't mean to awkward, but if you are riding just fireroads and tarmac, you don't need front suspension either.

I have a mount vision (full sus), for fireroads and tarmac, I lock the suspension out. makes a big difference to pedalling efficiency.

If you are no going to use front suspension (you don't need it on tarmac and fireroads), you can save a lot of weight on the bike.

Dazzza

As said a decent full susser won't be far off a hardtail in terms of efficiency, i use a pushed fox float rp23 on the back of my tomac and it's by far the best shock ive come across, works great with the reba's up front.

As/when you get older you will be grateful for the rear shock.

Not to mention it makes me faster in technical areas than a hardtail would anyway, i am gradually knocking one up using my old coyote ht5 ali frame but that's more for nostalgia than anything else.

mattbarnes

Crikey!

I wasn't expecting anyone to respond so quickly or so positively!

While the overall weight of the bike is important, it will come second to strength. By moving to a hardtail I'll be guaranteed to lose at least three pound from the overall bike weight (currently riding a Litespeed Niota AL) which can only be good. As for saving even more weight by losing the front suspension, I am currently using the FOX F100X which has the inertia valve keeping it locked out until I hit something. Some people love it (me) and some don't. Again, this purchase came down to pedaling efficiency, especially when climbing and it is heavy but the line has to be drawn somewhere, I'm not giving up the front shocks as well!
As for what frame I have in mind, I've been looking at everything from the Kinesis Maxlight with the carbon seat stays all the way up to other end of the price scale; Specialized S-Works HT or a little bit of exotica, the Storck Rebel Carbon. What has caught my eye, and you're probably going to laugh and scoff, is the Viper Carbon Pro that CRC have been fencing out over the past 18 months.

Your opinions please?