Noob; Needs advice hard tail vs soft tail, etc...

[dooblavey]

Due to way to many speeding tickets ive decided to switch hobbies and take up Mt biking. Starting to get into it seems to be a bit over whelming and i seem to be getting more of peoples opinions rather then legitimate advice/facts. Ive done a bit of trail riding, but yet to have any true down hill experience. In the next few weeks im planning on renting a bike at whistler and doing some downhill. That being said, even if I love doing the downhill, im also looking for a hobby that I dont have to spend 100 bucks every time I want to do it, which is one reason im leaning more towards trail riding because i do live in a location where there is many desirable trails at my back door.


That being said, Here are the few questions/areas im struggling with,

Should I be look for Hard tail or Soft tail? Ive found a lot of people saying beginners should get hard tail but I have yet to find someone to explain to me why.

Is it realistic to search for a bike that allows me to do Trail riding as well as down hill? Or should i buy a good trail bike (which would be the majority of my riding) and find a cheaper used bike for when I do downhill?

As a beginner is there any common misconceptions/mistakes alot of people make that I should watch out for?




Thank you very much for any responses, from being a frequent messager in multiple forums I know 'newbie posts' can be extremely redundant to a lot of existing members, I do try my best to use the search function before just asking generic questions which get covered 100 times over.

 

[Nukuhiva]

Imho, full-suspension bikes are only good for downhill - which is what they were designed for.
Going uphill or on flats on one of those feels like pedaling a couch.
If you want a bike for playing on dirt, get a hardtail, if you want that bike to also work as a travel/commuter bike, get an unsuspended one.
If you decide to ditch the car and commute by bike, get a road bike.

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by Nukuhiva .

Imho, full-suspension bikes are only good for downhill - which is what they were designed for.
Going uphill or on flats on one of those feels like pedaling a couch.

+1. Skip the rear suspension unless you are a competitive downhiller. Why? More weight, more maintenance required, more to go wrong, less efficient energy transfer overall.

A decent quality MTB with front suspension can do it all pretty well - ride trails, ride downhill, ride uphill.

 

[2kwik4u]

I don't have a ton of Mt Bike experience, but I have been riding for a few years. With that said, I've been riding bikes that are friends of mine and currently don't own one. I have ridden an older Pro-Flex full suspension bike, a newer Lightspeed Sewanee full suspension, and most recently a Specialized Rock Hopper hardtail. Here's what I've been told, and what I've learned.

Get a hardtail if you want to accelerate faster, and climb better. Get a full suspension if you want something a little plusher, and more forgiving.

I've been told that a beginner should start on a hardtail as it teachs you to choose the right line due to the hardtail being less forgiving if you choose the wrong line. Once you are good at picking your line, then that just makes the softail that much more forgiving, and plush. I started on a soft tail, then moved to a hard tail. Whenever I purchase my own bike, I'll be getting a full suspension machine. The trail riding with a softail is simply more enjoyable to me than the hard tail. I can sit more without getting kicked in the seat, and enjoy the scenary. The hard tail has been nice in terms of power transfer when I REALLY needed it (those last couple of pedal strokes to crest a rooted uphill), but I think with some better fitness (to gain momentum on uphills) the full suspension might still serve me better.

I would buy the bike that fits your needs the best as often as possible. Just like my road bike. I do 90% of my rides with friends, and on courses shorter than 70miles. I carry limited supplies, and will be home before dark. As such I got a full on road bike, not a comfort bike, or a touring bike, or a commuter. I can still ride it to work (and often do), I've also done a couple credit card tours on it as well. My point being that if you're going to be trail riding more often than not, get a trail bike. You can always run it downhill when you want, it's not like it won't roll downhill and suddenly be unusable.

The best advice I can give is to see if there is a local mountain bike club, or shop that would let you test ride a few different bikes. Then of course, choose the one that rides the best for what you'll be doing the most often