Sell a FS to get a HT??

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country

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Pyres

Posted: Jan 21, 2021 at 13:46

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Enduro, all mountain rider for many years and I have no intentions to change it...

I love to ride every weekend, I climb to earn it, cardio fitness and beers!

I ride some bikeparks, and all kind of trails, except real hardcore DH courses.
After owning a ‘16 Transition Patrol, great bike but with 2 snapped seatstays, both payed from my pocket, I gave up trying to snap the 3rd one and went for an amazing carbon Sentinel. It really is amazing, but karma is a bitch and I have a cracked rocker link....warranty...covid, waiting time with no rides on the weekend!

So, I started to consider an Ht, a steel all mountain/ enduro ht to avoid these issues. Thing is, at 44 I have concerns that a ht will give me a beating and eventually I give up.

Has anyone done it, I mean, sell a great ride for a Ht? Any regrets? Or should I just wait for the damm rocker and shut the #### up? Maybe give up on Transition bikes and get another bike brand....

Sorry for the long post, it’s frustration...

AarontCO

Posted: Jan 21, 2021 at 15:48

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I also used to own a '16 Patrol, and now have a carbon V2 sentinel and a steel hardtail, Transition TransAm. I personally wouldn't give up the Sentinel for a hardtail, I'm 41 and can't ride our rocky trails nearly as aggressively on the hardtail. Now if you can afford a hardtail as a supplementary / backup bike, I highly recommend that. I use mine mostly for mellower trails in the off season, makes those more fun. I think if you are breaking bikes now, you stand just as good a chance of a hardtail breaking, maybe more so because of the lack of suspension to absorb stresses.

DJR2013

Posted: Jan 21, 2021 at 16:40

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I agree I wouldn't sell the FS. I would look at adding a decent HT. If cost is an issue then get a solid frame with more basic parts. Ideally it would share the same standards as your FS so you can share or swap parts if one or the other is down for maintenance. That also lets you start some trickle down upgrades where the FS gets the shiny new parts and those are then transferred to the hardtail. Rinse and Repeat.

Pyres

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 0:02

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Thx guys. I ride fast but anything crazy or gigantic drops. Having said that, the Patrol from that year has an habit to snap seatstays. My v1 Sentinel on the other hand, well, I believe it’s just bad luck, so...

An hardtail is a lot cheaper to get, but I m not sure I m ready to modify my riding style because it’s slower/ harder on the body.

To get a frame with the same standards is a great idea, specially hubs and dropper. Didn’t consider it before, so I appreciate the tip.

I don’t know, with that tip I can also consider a fs frame from another brand.

Web, here I go

Thx again guys

dww504

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 7:14	Quote
As a 44 year old too I only run HTs and can keep up with my buddy's on their FS bikes. That said my bikes are very slack and modern. HTs don’t change how you ride you just can’t get away with anything, poor line choice and you will know it.

Explodo

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 7:25	Quote
Get a hardtail that you can overfork or one that will take a long(160) fork to begin with. You can have a hell of a lot of fun on a hardtail.

lifted-d

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 14:38

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Pyres wrote:

SC Bronson imo. or Nomad depending on your parts, ambitions

BooZiggy

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 18:02	Quote
I’m 48 currently. 4 years ago I bought a steel hardtail. I live in rocky/rooty New England. I absolutely love the bike (it’s an Advocate Hayduke, now known as Esker). However, it beats me up too much to be my main mountain bike. Long story short, I have a Ripmo AF on the way. I wouldn’t forgo a FS bike.

DHhack

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 20:05

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Depends on the trails you like to ride. If most of the drops have nicer landings, the only thing getting in your way is solid rock gardens. There’s plenty of riders out there on hardtails making some people look pretty foolish on their fancy enduro rigs. Borrow one and see if you like it. I’ll always own both and ride them on the same trails, albeit at slightly different pace and dodging one or two nasty drops to flat.

jeremy3220

Posted: Jan 22, 2021 at 20:52

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Who cares about that one guy that's really fast on a hardtail and how slow your friends are on full suspension bikes... The only thing that matters is how you feel on the bike.

I just sold my hardtail. First time since I started mtb that I don't have one. It took a while for me to learn to take advantage of the full suspension but once I did I greatly preferred the handling characteristics. I kinda hate the imbalance between the suspended front and rigid rear. My background is bmx so I think that's why full suspension and full rigid feels right to me. I also was over the need to prove that I could ride anything on a hardtail. I didn't enjoy riding it anymore. It was uncomfortable, slower, handled weird and less fun. Also, while I can ride anything on my local trails on a hardtail, I did notice that I was holding back a bit and changing my riding style to be more passive.

Pyres

Posted: Jan 23, 2021 at 2:00	Quote
Exactly the type of real world feedback I was looking for!! Thank you fellas I have all kind of trails, and the more I think about it, the more a aluminum frame makes sense. A Ripmo at, or something that I could move all my parts. Carbon is amazing, they say....

FLOWDogg

Posted: Feb 9, 2021 at 12:42

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sell it build a hardtail up, Steel with good forks and 29er or 27.5 plus wont regret it. Reason is cheaper no swing arms, bearings to replace. It makes you more alive riding ht by thinking how ride, line choice etc. Im 40 + and ride a Steel frame Chromag 170mm. travel on front and more than capable bike to ride anything. few bikes brands I can recommend. if worried about getting beat up on a ht, stay relaxed and loose, only thing should be in contact is hands and feet with occasion sitting down for breather. Love Hardtails

joelsman

Posted: Feb 9, 2021 at 20:16	Quote
I wouldn't want a hardtail as my main bike unless my trails were slower or smoother. I have a basic hardtail i use to commute to work and have taken it on real trails once, a few years ago....slower trails were fine or smooth trails, fast rough made me want to ride a different trail.

natas2125

Posted: Feb 9, 2021 at 23:10	Quote
hardtails can be fun and use to be my bike of choice for rocky, tech terrain but I did get spoiled over the years and probably only get the hardtail out once a week now. I enjoy having a hardtail but am happier having a choice of fs as an option, so if you can swing it I would have both.

trialsrookie

Posted: Feb 10, 2021 at 4:13

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I can echo what the (I believe) majority recommended: keep the FS and ideally add a HT. I have both and would not want to sell either one. They compliment each other perfectly.

I ride probably 70 % with my HT, because my home trails are pretty smooth and having a playful HT is just fun. Also I don't have to worry about (extra) maintenance of the links, shock etc. Especially in winter it is great as well as there are fewer things to take care of.

For the other 30 % (bike parks, alpine trails) I just take the full squish Enduro and would not think about the HT. When I was younger and had only the HT, I took it to these trails as well, but man... It is exhausting, even to my 10 year younger body back then (I'm turning 40 this year). It's just that you have little recovery time on gnarly terrain, as you constantly need to be out of the saddle and can't coast moderate passages on the FS. Also margin for error is lower on the HT, so when you get tired your concentration has to stay high and focused (which is hard). Not saying it's not possible - but you have to accept these factors.

Back to the home trails: none of the issues I mentioned for the gnarly terrain applies here, so a HT makes perfect sense. Also no technical climbs here, no issues with rear wheel traction.

Hope this helps!

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