too soon for full - sus?

FloydFlesh

Not sure what to do...

Im new(ish) to mountain biking, but have some limited skills from motorcrossing a few years back.

I've had a Giant Revel 1 (hardtail) for a couple of months and am enjoying it (Llandegla and Macc Forest) but can't work out whether it is up to regular trails with my confidence growing and pushing the bike a bit harder.

Im thinking i should have gone for full sus instead, just read the glowing reviewof the Giant Trance x4 in mbr.

Any advice on whether i should not get ahead of myself and give the hardtail a good run, or would i not look back with the Trance x4?

Any views on either of these bikes?

Thanks

cooldad

Why should it be too soon? If you want one get one.

angry_bird

Get one, it will make you more awesome, you won't regret it at all.

supersonic

The bike is fine for regular trails: a full suss may or may not make it any better or easier for you.

bamba

A lot folk will tell you that you learn some key bike skills riding a ht ,and going straight or early to a fs may prevent some of this learning,I have watched some people like this, with no regard for line choice or obstacles and generally ploughing over stuff like a tank,just because they can.
Having said that ,I was in your position last year and rode my ht for 12 months,an after trying to convince my self that fs wasnt nessacsary the voices in my head made me get an X4,an no looking back since.The X4 certanly performs well over regular trails including climbs.

FloydFlesh

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

scarbs85

I've just gone full suss, Trance X4. It isnt arriving until late next week! Dam bank holidays :roll:

But I'm keeping my hardtail too. You pick up bad habits and choose bad lines your soon going to realise it. Ride it winter, or when your going with others on HT's or whatever. It will keep you honest, as they say.

ljs1977

I had a HT for 12 months and went to a Cube Stereo. I was addicited before; now, I have never enjoyed riding so much.

Being generally scared most of the time makes me pick good lines anyway, just when you inevitably cock it up your FS tells you off but does not spank your bottom!

rockmonkeysc

I bought my Trance X3 after 3 months riding a budget hardtail and certainly haven't regretted it. The Trance is a fantastic bike, I test rode loads before buying mine & it rode better than bikes costing a lot more. It climbs really well & is really excellent at traill centre red/black descents, I ride every jump & drop at afan on mine & easily keep up with bigger all mountain bikes.
Full sus does make you a lazy rider which I have built myself a hardtail for downhill & freeride.
Might be worth having a look at the new Trance X LTD, much better spec than the X4 for only a couple hundred pounds more. Well worth it for the much better fox air suspension, spec is very similar to my 2010 X3 and not far off the £500 more expensive 2011 X3.
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 1b4s1p3619

cat_with_no_tail

If you want one, and can aford one, try one out and then buy one.

There is no such thing as "too soon", and the pople who talk about being "overbiked" are, as a general rule, full of crap.

Remember to test one first though. Some people just really don't get along with FS so it is potentially a quite expensive mistake.

s_blanche@hotmial.co.uk

@bamba.. may I be the first to admit it, but when your on a FS or even a HT and the chance arises, ploughing over obstacles like a tank can be pretty dam awesome at times 8)... until you go over the handle bars that is lol

Getting a FS will be money well spent

ljs1977

Cat With No Tail wrote:

... pople who talk about being "overbiked" are, as a general rule, full of crap.

or empty of money. Who here would drive a Focus or Mondeo if they had won the lotto!

sheepsteeth

its never too soon to get a fs bike but i would give some a try before buying, they are very different to riding hard tail bikes, so different infact that when a lot o people buy them, they report how long it takes them to get used to the new techniques required to get the best out of them.

the reason for this is that they are 2 different beasts.

do you know what riding a hardtail is good for? riding a hardtail. you have to do a lot of different things in order to get the bst out of riding a fs bike.

as far as i can tell, the people who learned to ride bikes back in the day, did so on ht bikes because back in the day, FS bikes were rubbish. this is no longer the case and even some 300 quid fs bikes can be ace fun, different to ht bikes of course, but ace fun all the same.

i would wager that the reason those dyed in the wool ht riders are good* on a fs is nothing to do with the type of bike they rode and more to do with the fact that they rode bikes at all people tend to get good at stuff when they do it for a while.

a fs bike isnt automatically going to be the best bike in the world, there are tonnes of people who love hardtail bikes and would never change(many of those people do change in the end though) and you might try one and think it doesnt suit, it might not be as much fun, it might not offer as much satisfaction, fs bikes are good, they are not necessarily miracle workers!

i would love to know what all of these shocking , terrible habits we FS riders have and how they impact on our days out riding our bikes?

s_blanche@hotmial.co.uk wrote:

@bamba.. may I be the first to admit it, but when your on a FS or even a HT and the chance arises, ploughing over obstacles like a tank can be pretty dam awesome at times 8)... until you go over the handle bars that is lol

Amen



*what the hell is good anyway, who runs the bike exams and when do i have to take my test?