Afan and HT's ? reallycompatible ?

GhallTN6

Silversurfer has hit on something here..

Age is a big factor, I'm 37, been on/off bikes since I was a kid, and now I'm more into thrills and spills than trying to pick my way through a trail, yes, do Afan on a hardtail, but a full suss is so much faster and (for me), more fun.

You'll also find that most (not all), Hardtail riders, especially newbies, will prefer the climbs, this is usually down to confidence, going up you have more control than going down. But if you've cleaned a climb once, there's nothing to challenge you on that climb again. Take White's Level, you clear the climb to the top every time, perhaps taking a few minutes off every time you do it, but you clear it, and after 20 times it becomes a bit tedious, but once you point your bike downwards, no matter how many times you go down, your senses will be alive, and every bit of your mind body spirit will have to tune into that trail to nail it.. you'll want to do it faster, beat your friends, beat everyone else on the trail, beat god himself on his own turf.. and the only way you would be able to do this would be on a full suspension bike!!



1995.. Muddyfox chromo, rigid, loved it.. until it got nicked..
2005.. GT Avalanche 1.0 Disk, HT.. Loved it, but wanted to go faster..
2007.. Marin Mount vision.. 100mm full suss.. loved it, but wanted to go faster..
2009.. yeti 575 Carbon.. after one ride, love it, makes me go faster!

lawman

the age thing is true, my dad rode a ht for nearly 15 years then bought an fs when he hit 40 and hasnt ridden a hardtail since. as for me well im 18 so i got a few years left yet, but i still want an fs, purely for tartyness

Kiblams

In my experience, new riders on any type of bike prefer the downhils as they are less strenuous, the are just very slow and cautious.

You are not likely to ever find me hitting a DH course and flowy trails (generally red graded) are where I am happiest so my rigid bike does me fine.

Horses for courses my friends! :P

Bikerbaboon

GhallTN6 wrote:

Silversurfer has hit on something here..
t a full suss is so much faster and (for me), more fun.

But if you've cleaned a climb once, there's nothing to challenge you on that climb again. Take White's Level, you clear the climb to the top every time, perhaps taking a few minutes off every time you do it, but you clear it, and after 20 times it becomes a bit tedious, but once you point your bike downwards, no matter how many times you go down, your senses will be alive, and every bit of your mind body spirit will have to tune into that trail to nail it.. you'll want to do it faster, beat your friends, beat everyone else on the trail, beat god himself on his own turf.. and the only way you would be able to do this would be on a full suspension bike!!



1995.. Muddyfox chromo, rigid, loved it.. until it got nicked..
2005.. GT Avalanche 1.0 Disk, HT.. Loved it, but wanted to go faster..
2007.. Marin Mount vision.. 100mm full suss.. loved it, but wanted to go faster..
2009.. yeti 575 Carbon.. after one ride, love it, makes me go faster!

from what you are saying if you go up... every time you do you want to try to knock timer off the run.... and on the way down you want to run faster ( i dont see the differance)..... but going down its the only reason to ride could be you just dont like climbing but the satisfaction you can get after a good hard climb can be every bit as invigorating as a qick nip down a black run.

trying to say that there is a right bike or a right way of haveing fun on a bike getting muddy in the woods just does not work.

there is only realy one rule for me out on the trail... if you are not haveing fun you are doing it wrong.


back to the op get back from a normal ride and mesue the disance between the corner of your mouth and your eye. then next week go out on a rented or test full sus bike and do the same mesurement. finalt test run a high end longtravel HT and again mesure the distance between the corner of your mouth and your eye....

now the bike that gets the corner of your mouth closest to your eye is the right bike.

bomberesque

Age can be an issue, but it certainly is not the be all and end all, more like an indicator of other potential problems.

More to the point is physical condition, not just fitness but injuries and general flexibility too. Any back problems will tend to point you towards FS, I lose count of the number of my mates who bought an FS "because of my old sore back". I'm not meaning to demean them (I do that to their faces ) a bad back is a bloody annoying thing, but these too can be helped by doing regular stretching (not just before you ride; yoga is bloody magic for hamstrings). Of course an actual back injury is something else entirely then I would listen to your physio/doctor (luckily it seems all physios in Belgium ride bikes)

As for me; I'm 39 and ride 95% on HT (I have a kona stinky that gets to stretch its legs once or twice a year, just enough so the missus doesn't make me sell it )

Riding bikes is the only regular exercise I've ever really done, but I started riding a lot more last spring and so was able to compare my trip to Afan last May with the one this summer (our club do a road trip to wales each year). I rode the same bike both times (steel HT) but last year I really suffered, especially on the downs where I wasn't strong enough to keep myself in the attack position (off the saddle) through the whole descent and so got punished by the bike. This year I was much stronger "in the back end" so to speak and it made such a difference to my descending ability, I'm really not even sure that the extra straightline speed that an FS may have given me would have made me faster on the white's descent fro example, I'm not sure my skill level would have been up to making use of it.

GhallTN6

Oh dear, I was a bit bored at work and thought I'd throw my tuppence in above, however, I remembered what these forums are like..

Everyone has an opinion, no-one is right, everyone has a different style, my bike is better than yours.. blah, blah!

The only person who can decide is yourself, whatever you decide upon, I hope you have a cracking time, I'm going to Afan on the 30th and can't wait to challenge myself on the climbs and then blast down that perfect single track, it's what life is all about!

projectsome

If the front wheel goes over a rock, then the back wheel should follow unless it's detached...

Northwind

projectsome wrote:

If the front wheel goes over a rock, then the back wheel should follow unless it's detached...

Or unless it stops, which it might. Or deflects round it, which it also might, but that's not as troublesome.

weeksy59

projectsome wrote:

If the front wheel goes over a rock, then the back wheel should follow unless it's detached...

Yeah that's a lovely world, right up until there's 30,000 rocks in a section and the rear is getting pounded 30,000 times as there's no suspension. LOL.

stevet1992

Ive riden most of the trails at afan on my 100mm hardtail

Windy point got a bit bumpy but was bearable and enjoyable !

projectsome

weeksy59 wrote:

projectsome wrote:

If the front wheel goes over a rock, then the back wheel should follow unless it's detached...

Yeah that's a lovely world, right up until there's 30,000 rocks in a section and the rear is getting pounded 30,000 times as there's no suspension. LOL.

lol who mentioned comfort?

sascos

...If Carlsberg made Hardtails.....they would really be HARD...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/44034391@N08/4194780255/

I saw this bike locked up outside a pub in Cologne earlier this year.........clearly his wife just wouldn`t let him have that new frame !!

sam_commencal

within you c2w budget, this would probably be your best bet for "value vs fun".

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_229915

A shorter travel FS should give you more enjoyment on the downs, without making it too easy and it shouldn't be too much more work than a HT on the climbs.

Northwind

Halfords' Idrive makes for a brilliant trailbike too, it's a 5 incher but it doesn't do that hoverbike thing that a really good full suss does, so it doesn't make the trails as dull as some can. though it's a bit weight.

RIP-MK3

Im sure everyone sort of sways to thier preference a bit - which is only natural. I ride mainly trails/long distance and not much downhill over rough stuff. I have had a hardrock as an entry level and then onto a stumpy and I definately found the stumpy better when I did do the odd bit of rough stuff, and i could keep up with my mate who had an fsr xc (sort of spec you would get @ the same price i suppose)

I have to admit, I wasn't enjoying it as much though. Getting 'through' a certain section isn't the same as enjoying it on the trails and the climbs though the stumpy would come into its own and I loved it.

I would say buy the bike for what you will be doing 'most' of the time.

weeksy59

I went for a Commencal Super 4.3.

100mm travel

Should do what i want/need i rekon.

Cheers for all the replies lads.

stomith

It would be nice to see how it all worked out in the end?

Was it the right choice?

weeksy59

Hi mate,

Yes very much so. The Commencal Super 4 was a wayyyyyyyyyyy superior choice to the HT. This was in part due to the race riding position and the over the bars geometry of the Commencal compared to some other FS's i've tested and ridden. I much much prefer mine to them for that reason.

I was lucky that in many ways the Commencal is like a bouncy HT.

First place i noticed it was on Whites. There's a small rock step up (about 4-6 rocks) of about 3' near the end of the penultimate section of the climb. Well every time i've tried that before was a failure and on the Commencal i just got up it 1st time with ease.

On the Sunday we did the Wall and on the last sections, Graveyard and Zig Zags the bike was again brilliant.

The simplest answer is NO you don't NEED a HT for Afan. But in some ways, it's a lot nicer to have it.

I was lucky that the Super4 was the right FS... i think if i'd chosen many others i wouldn't be writing the same answers now.

It proves what people say, as test ride is VITAL before buying. I only sat on it in Evans car-park and pedaled 20-30m on it.. but it felt sweet.

legin

i use my mmbop for everything afan isnt technical im as quick as anyone on a full sus

Basil Hume

I've had hardtails on and off since the start of my MTB career in 1993.

I always seem to come back to a good HT after a full sus - my last Orange 5 was replaced with a Pace RC305 and now a Cotic Soul. I've ridden them all at Afan and, while a HT gives a different ride, they're all capable.