Seriously, if you are 5'7" to 5'10 and want to get into Xterras you need to buy my Santa Cruz Blur for $2300 plus shipping. It comes with full XT integrated disk brakes, Fox Fork, XTR Wheels, 5th element air shock, and has only been ridden THREE TIMES! Yes this amazing bike is truly for sale and in breathtaking citrus anodized. Read on and if for some reason you are actually interested in this bike (retail is near $4200 with all the goodies) let me know. If not I'll see you out there at the races. I'll be the one coming from behind on the bike as some of us Hawaii people like myself absolutely SUCK at wetsuit swims yet freeze to death otherwise.

More seriously, I would say that you'll be fine on a hardtail for most Xterra courses. This is of course after you get used to mtn biking a little more. That being said a FS will make the learning curve a little bit easier and I really don't see any downside to it. I just switched from a Hardtail to a FS and I'm loving it. My FS is pretty light, around 25lbs, climbs great without bobbing, descends much easier than my hardtail and spares me those whiplash inducing rear end jolts that my hardtail used to dish out sometimes. I have a Litespeed Niota with 4" rear travel, 3" on the front and it's very very sweet. I'd say get a FS, do the races, practice on the mtn bike and once you get good you may want to pick up a superlight hardtail for some of the Xterra races that aren't very technical or bumpy and then use the hardtail for those only. A friend of mine who was in the top ten at Maui last year is looking for a superlight hard tail right now. I'm helping her do the shopping. She rode a FS (a sickly light pimped out one) last year and will continue to ride it for most of the races this year. But for some of the races that have lots of climbing and aren't really that rough she'll use the hardtail, which knowing the way she builds her bikes will be something like 18lbs or so:)

FS. I have a Superlight and love it.

How old are you. Hardtails will be painful as you get older.

Ah, the age old hardtail vs. full suspension...

As somebody who did some research into the matter, let me put it this way... You'll be fine in most races with a hardtail... However, a full suspension in some rather rough terrain races can be beneficial. This is even more apparent in XTERRA races where the extra shock absorbtion will help for the run.

Couple of notes:
- The old concern with Full Suspension used to be weight. That's not as relevant now... However, I would still go with V brakes (Note: my sponsor is sending me disc brakes... would have rathered one with V-brakes)
- Conrad Stoltz won a bunch of XTERRA's on a full suspension bike.. Not sure what Elanos was riding this year
- For the first time a few years back... Roland Green (fellow Canuck) won the MTB worlds on a full-suspension bike.
- As far as not seeing a lot of full suspension at races... I think there's a bit of North America vs. Europe mentality with this debate too... I know in Canada when you see guys from overseas racing... they generally have superlight hardtails with tight suspension... Where you'll see some North American guys riding full suspension.

Thanks for the ace reply. I'm probably stuck between having a Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail (light)or the GT XC idrive (about 28.5 lbs). My plan would be to save weight on the wheels where possible to get the rotating mass down but over in the UK the elite MTB riders still seem very split about frame type although i get the impression the very decent ones have both hardtail and sus bikes to choose between depending on the course (we should all be so lucky). I would be looking at Xterra though and the sus ride surely must help save the legs.

Incidentally, why not disc brakes ?

The general thinking is that Disc brakes will cost you a bit in weight department... They've managed to make the FS frame lighter with design improvements... However, the disc brake is still significantly heavier (sorry, I don't have the numbers)...

Here's an interesting note though.. What's good for one, is bad for the other... My girlfriend and I are planning on eventually doing a wicked MTB stage race here in Canada on the west coast called "Trans Rockies Challenge" Basically it's a 5 day stage race over the rockies. From talking to a few guys that did that race... They said that you almost need to have disc brakes (and full suspension) The reason??? In a longer stage race (especially on some of those tough trails) you're almost guaranteed to bend a rim. Which will cause you a ton of grief with V-brakes however, won't affect disc brakes.... Go figure!

Cheers

Ooohh ! Trans Rockies, I ordered the DVD for that to check it out, haven;t got it yet. I think I may have a domestic if I teamed up with my girlfriend in that one though.

Go with a FS. A good XC Race FS isn't that much heavier than a hardtail but rides so much smoother.

Supergo was practically giving away some K2 Razorback Team RS last year. I picked one up. XTR rear deraileur and rest XT 23lbs for $899. Unreal. Maybe they still have some.