bc original Podsol – The Trail Hardtail for Everybody

Before we dive deeper into the story of the bc originals Podsol, all the numbers, specs, and why an online shop starts producing its own products, we should ask one question:

Why do we really buy hardtails?

Hands down, with full suspension bikes getting better and better, there are obviously not many reasons to buy a trail hardtail. The main ones are the low price and high reliability. Hardtails are very appealing for new riders in our much-loved sport as you don’t have to sell a kidney to get the party on the trail going. More experienced, (let’s face it: older) riders probably choose a trail hardtail because they still have this romantic vision of their early days in mind: The golden days when crashing heartless was the standard and fear was an unknown word. Maybe they also choose a hardtail because of the high reliability, easy serviceability, and the fact that you train your skills.



Why does bike-components produce their own bike frame?

What’s the reason that bike-components aka an online retailer produces a hardtail frame? The first thing you have to know is that the team here is full of enthusiastic bikers: We love trails, we love bikes, we love new stuff. If you want to learn more about bc – it’s worth reading the From the top-interview we did last year.


When we were dreaming of a trail hardtail 4 years ago, there was no real good product available. Everybody was talking about 29er full suspension bikes, but nobody made a great AND affordable trail hardtail. Yes, there have been tons of carbon fibre XC machines, but no hardtail made for heavy trail abuse. No bike you want to ride all mud-season long and session it with your buddies on your home trail. Thus, we started with the idea of making our own bike. How come that it took soooo long? Well, to make a long story short: Our first prototype bikes failed in the lab test we did together with the Zedler laboratory here in Germany, and we had to change the manufacturer in order to fulfill our own expectations. But now it’s here – and we are damn proud of it.


What makes for a great trail hardtail?

We had four main characteristics on our wish-list when we started the bc Podsol. First: it has to ride great! Who wants a ride that sucks? On a hardtail, you skip all the myths and headache-making theories going into the kinematics of the rear suspension, but you still have to work out a proper geometry, stiffness to weight ratio, and tons of other small details that affect the trail handling.
The second aspect which was very important for us, is easy serviceability. We ride our hardtails mainly in the dark, cold, and wet period of the year. The time, when every part wears out twice as fast. For that reason, we chose to have a bsa-bottom bracket and external cable routing. We chose the most common standards for the headset, dropper post and rear axle. Riding a bike is more fun than working on it, so servicing should be as easy as possible.
Finally there are the factors reliability and safety. We want to sell a frame that lasts, a bike that fulfills the hardest tests. We want to be able to go to bed at night and be sure, that nobody gets harmed riding our bike (maneuver-initiated crashes not included).










Why do we believe the bc original Podsol is a great hardtail for trail riders?

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Geometry Geeks watch out: here are the numbers of our hardtail.

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Our top tips for riding a trail hardtail

Before we end, we want to give you three tips for setting up your trail hardtail for maximum fun. Riding a hardtail is different than riding a full suspension bike just because of the fact hat you have no rear suspension and because of that often more pressure on your front. With that in mind, we recommend setting up your fork a bit harder than you would do it on a full-suspension bike. Maybe even mount a handlebar with a bit more rise as you would normally and last but not least, mount a tire with a heavier casing to get more damping, grip, and comfort on the rear.

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