Those are some gnarly lines on the hardtail Cam! Glad to hear you had so much fun on the bike.
I'm with Alex here, my speeds on a hardtail and FS are similar, as are my smiles. The margin for error does go way down, but that's one reason I like it. It keeps you really engaged. And night rides in the snow on hard tails are next level fun, even on easy trails. I find my limit is t-ing up new gnarly lines and jumping into things with blown out landings. My number one hardtail detonation mechanism is stuffing the back wheel into a blown out hole in a landing or runout and getting launched.
I fully agree, I think hardtails (and even short travel duallies) are underappreciated. I progressed more riding on my hardtail and short travel bikes than any of the long travel bikes I've owned. There's a lot to be said for the simplicity of an HT. While a fully might save your ass, a hardtail is going to prevent you from getting into those situations and allow you to build your skills.
Long live the steel hardtail. Too bad I'm not in the market for one, buy it right once and keep it forever.
March 5, 2021, 9:04 a.m. - Sanesh Iyer
Those are some gnarly lines on the hardtail Cam! Glad to hear you had so much fun on the bike. I'm with Alex here, my speeds on a hardtail and FS are similar, as are my smiles. The margin for error does go way down, but that's one reason I like it. It keeps you really engaged. And night rides in the snow on hard tails are next level fun, even on easy trails. I find my limit is t-ing up new gnarly lines and jumping into things with blown out landings. My number one hardtail detonation mechanism is stuffing the back wheel into a blown out hole in a landing or runout and getting launched. I fully agree, I think hardtails (and even short travel duallies) are underappreciated. I progressed more riding on my hardtail and short travel bikes than any of the long travel bikes I've owned. There's a lot to be said for the simplicity of an HT. While a fully might save your ass, a hardtail is going to prevent you from getting into those situations and allow you to build your skills. Long live the steel hardtail. Too bad I'm not in the market for one, buy it right once and keep it forever.