OK, convince me why I should get one or the other… I want light and fast, live in CO (new resident), and see myself riding more rolling/fast than highly technical or hucking off rocks, and maybe doing some racing out of tri season… Thanks for input!
You’ve pretty much answered your own question. How much descending do you plan to do and how good of a bike handler are you? If y don’t draw clean lines the hard tail is going to punish you. I ride an all mountain bike. Climbs good enough and descends great. The Specialized brain works very well. Locked suspension for climbing, plush suspension for descending. Check it out.
Based on the way you describe your riding style and the type of trails you will be hitting, I’d say its pretty much a no brainer, HT 29’er all the way.
you can get a 4" full squish bike nowadays that performs just as well as a hardtail, yet will save you from feeling beat up after every ride. or better yet, get a 6" All mountain rig and go over anything in your way.
Unless you are a great bike handler, full susp is the only way to go. So much more forgiving when you dont take the perfect line, and like was mentioned before, the weight penalty is almost negligible now. I have a Niner Jet 9 RDO built up to just over 23lbs, and compared to a HT the ride is just so much better for a guy with mediocre skills. When I ride a HT now, I find myself bouncing off of the ideal line, which slows you down in the end.
Also do yourself a huge favor and go XX1 or XO1. Not dealing with chain slap/dropped chains has changed my life. At $4699, the new Jet 9 Carbon XO1 is an amazing deal and what I would purchase if I were in your situation. Just about perfect for how you plan to ride.
Go with full suspension…better handling and you won’t be as beat up after the ride. Plus if you are going to race it, you won’t be riding just non-technical terrain. Most races have some pretty technical stuff that you’ll be happy to have rear suspension on. In terms of the 26" or 29er … that depends on your size. I’m 5’6" and the 29er feels too big for me but I do like the way the 29er rolls…just too much bike to throw around unless you are taller.
I have two Niner mountain bikes; a hard tail EMD9 and a full suspension Jet9. Even on flat to rolling terrain, the Jet blows the EMD’s door off. Nuff said!
Where in CO are you and where do you plan on riding? I’ve ridden pretty much everything in the Front Range, Breck, Keystone, Vail, Crested Butte, Winterpark, Fruita, Durango and stretches of the CO Trail. I ride a FS 29er and have never even remotely wished I was on a HT.
I’ve had a 26 HT, 26 FS and a 29 HT
I like the 26 FS the best right now only because the 29 HT was too big for me.
If I was a few inches taller I’d go with the Niner Jet9.
jaretj
I’d go for HT 29" for sure.
the consensus on this thread is full suspension. is there a learning curve to those? should a first-timer buy a cheap hard tail to learn prior to getting the FS?
Unless you are a great bike handler, full susp is the only way to go
Agreed
I don’t mountain bike a lot. In fact it’s been a few years since I was out on one. Last year at Interbike, I was at the demo day and Melanie McQuaid who is a good friend suggested I come out with a group of dealers that was heading on out for a test ride with her. Mel got me hooked up with the Big S’s top-of-the-line full suspension 29’er MTB. That thing was a freak-show!! I true hero bike in that, I was riding through and over stuff that I truly had no right to be doing. In that one very short 30 minute ride, I was a total convert to full-suspension 29’er bikes. Problem was - that bike I was riding was worth $11,000. And people thought road/tri bikes were expensive!
the consensus on this thread is full suspension. is there a learning curve to those? should a first-timer buy a cheap hard tail to learn prior to getting the FS?
Quite the opposite. Full suspension covers up mistakes. And trust me, as a new guy, you will make mistakes. However, for a first timer, I might suggest alloy over carbon. That would keep the cost down, and you wont be quite as sad when you slam. And you will slam. The good news is that slams (usually) hurt a lot less than on road bike.
Take all of this coming from a guy who has spent the last two years converting from a roadie/triathlete to an MTB guy. These are all things I wished I knew or was glad someone told me.
I ride 3-4x per week with a couple Pro/1 types. I have ridden both HT and FS bikes with them, and the bottom line is when I am pushing out of my comfort zone to keep up, my FS allows me to make more mistakes and keep rolling. I am always slower when trying to ride a HT because I have to go slower and pick my way through the technical sections.
Weight is just never a concern at my level. To use a golf analogy, full squish bikes are like cavity back irons. They make it easier if you suck. If you are good enough to shape shots then you would use blades. Same concept with a hard tail. The fastest guy I ride with rides one. Because he can.
Make sense?
Get the best quality full suspension you can afford. The differences in compones such as fork and suspension are huge. You will not have fun with crappy components. Also, don’t just jump on the 29er bandwagon without test riding everything that fits you. Everyone has said enough about why you should go with fs, so I won’t beat that horse. I have both fs 26 and ht 29 and would nit recommend the ht for a beginner. Its just not fun - faster in places and on some courses but not as much fun. I also have to be a lot more aware of my technical riding when on the HT.
If you are only going to have one mtn bike make it a full suspension. If you can get more than one then you can have horses for courses. I have never heard anyone on a FS say “I wish I had a HT for that course”, but I have heard from people with a HT “I wish I had FS for that course”.
My suggestion is Niner Jet 9. Aluminum, great ride, reasonably priced for a race bike nowadays.
OK, convince me why I should get one or the other… I want light and fast, live in CO (new resident), and see myself riding more rolling/fast than highly technical or hucking off rocks, and maybe doing some racing out of tri season… Thanks for input!
The type of riding you described is made for a HT 29er.
I ride a carbon Giant XTC 29er with tubeless tires. I can’t imagine riding a full suspension bike, although its been years since I’ve had one. Living in NY, I see very few FS bikes at races. Most bikes I see are HT 29er!!
Where in Colorado? Many trails here are extremely rocky and I would hate riding them on a hard tail. It sounds to me like you should get a full suspension bike with a moderate amount of travel… like a Cross Country setup.
Agree with the other posters. I ride a HT 29er. Did a 25 mile mtb race last Sunday and it took 3 days for my ass to recover. So FS if you can afford it and get quality suspension components such as Fox Float CTD or RockShox Reba forks. also as someone else posted, unless you are climbing mountains a 1 x 10 or 1 x 11 is a pretty sweet gearing option. 27.5 is now an option that should be considered for wheel size, not sure I would go with 26, I love the way the 29’s roll.
OK, convince me why I should get one or the other… I want light and fast, live in CO (new resident), and see myself riding more rolling/fast than highly technical or hucking off rocks, and maybe doing some racing out of tri season… Thanks for input!
This is a great question but one think I didn’t see anywhere was how much you are looking to spend. If you are only wanting to spend $1k I would steer towards a HT 29 because you will get a lot more for your money than a new FS in that price range.
I have a HT 29er and a FS 29er. I really like both of them and they both have XX1, SID WC forks, carbon bars and seatpost, carbon wheels and similar tires. my HT is around 21.5lbs and my FS 22.5lbs. with pedals and cages. I usually enjoy riding my FS just as people have said it takes a little bit more out of your back and I can push downhill a little more because it will eat up small chatter and keep the tire planted on trail.
Another thing to think about is how tall you are. I am 5’10 and fit well on Medium 29er frames. If I were much shorter I think I would look at a 650B bike as I think the fit will be a little better. My wife is only 5’5 and if/when she starts wanting to ride again I will no doubt look at a 650B for her to get the benefits of better frame fit and more tire rollover than 26.
IF I was to get a MTB now, I’d get FS. I love carving up corners and having a well dialed in suspension means I can go that mcuh faster. Not much of a significant weight penalty. Besides aero trumps weight anyway right?.. or wait we’re talking MTB. That woudl be corner speed trumps weight unless you ride courses with wide open single track and long climbs. Out West, weight might matter more. Out East it’s usually tighter hillier and more wooded, so I think cornering and handling is key.
That being said, I still take my steel hardtail with worn out 14 y/o fork on some trails when I visit my parents back home in Michigan. It does just fine. Its’ still 90% rider 10% bike. I take my kids car seat and rear rack off first. Funny how that is. 14 years ago I’m racing MTB in college, now it’s primarily on kid transport duty. Works great for that function too.