A manufacturer may offer some baseline settings, but feel free to tweak it in small increments to tune it to your liking. The rear suspension linkage also needs routine attention to keep it working smooth and reliably. Each of the pivot points should be inspected for wear that results in side-to-side play or binding as suspension moves through its travel.
Keeping the bike clean prolongs pivot life and gently pushing the rear wheel side-to-side provides a quick check of wear. Pivot bushings or bearings can be replaced as needed to keep the linkage working in the same plane as the frame. Full-suspension bikes offer amazing comfort and control, compared to their hardtail siblings and there are designs suited for whatever type of riding you like to do.
Choose a bike with an appropriate amount of travel for your trails, adjust the suspension to suit your weight and style, then see for yourself why so many people are making the switch!
Happy Trails! Basic Terminology and Styles Full-suspension bikes come in many different flavors. Frame Materials Looking at Full-Suspension bikes, you will commonly see frames made from aluminum and carbon fiber, depending on the price range and style you are looking at. Maximizing Your Full-Suspension Ride While a Full-Suspension bike can offer you an unparalleled riding experience, they are more complex machines and require a few things that other mountain bikes do not.
A quick look at any modern full suspension bike reveals plenty of features that make them faster and lighter than many hardtails from only five years ago.
The weight penalty is comparatively small compared to what it used to be, with most full suspension frames being around a kilo heavier than a hardtail counterpart. Full suspension bikes used to suffer from poor pedalling performance, but those days are well and truly over. Manufacturers are now offering front and rear lockout at the flick of a switch, turning your full sus rig into a mean pedalling machine. That rock garden that had you terrified on a hardtail now becomes a fun feature to barrel over.
Struggling on that off-camber root section? Full suspension will give you the confidence and handling a hardtail never could. Cross country riding is only getting more technical and this is where full suspension bikes really shine. I agree that a sweet riding hardtail with an ace fork is probably the best overall UK trail bike: Cheaper, lighter, lower maintenance etc and fun.
But a lightish FS is faster and less tiring uphill, downhill and cornering because it forgives your mistakes, increases grip. I would accept another HT over my TranceX, but it would have to be a lively sub 25lb with a mm air fork.
Seems like the perfect UK trail bike. I mostly do rocky riding in the lakes and for me a burly full suss bike is definitely the best option — personally I am very happy plodding uphill fairly slowly then ragging it downhill as fast as I dare.
My bike is perfect for that. I will also be taking it to the alps in july — for me at the moment there is no way I can afford several bikes, so one bike that can do everything is ideal. This topic has 53 replies, 40 voices, and was last updated 12 years ago by chakaping. Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 of 54 total. TomB Full Member. Thanks, Tom Posted 12 years ago. Go and try some out Posted 12 years ago. Demo something. Posted 12 years ago. At least thats the way I see it anyway Posted 12 years ago.
Bushwacked Full Member. You can try loads of different demos in your neck of the woods Keswick Mountain Bikes Wheelbase should get you started Posted 12 years ago. Bippa Free Member. Cheers all, food for thought. Why shoud you buy a full susser? Rich Free Member. Try before you buy. It makes climbs easier, less maintenance, more fun on downhills :o Posted 12 years ago.
Simon — How are climbs easier on a hardtail? I find technical climbing much easier on a FS bike. Neb Full Member. Reluctant Free Member. Put it this way, I have both, each built up with good kit. The bikes we chose are the Merida One-Twenty 7. The added complexity also comes at the cost of durability, with service-prone components in the way of a rear shock and pivot bearings or bushings added to the frame. Built with fluid-forming processes, the tubes are formed into wild shapes using high-pressure oil.
Merida has done a good job to provide modern features in both frames; however, an obvious exception is seen in the use of a straight head tube on the full-sus bike, while the hardtail receives a tapered unit — a near standard addition on premium bikes. Frame summary: The frames are clearly the biggest factor in this whole battle. In pure terms of design complexity and highest tech, the full suspension is the winner.
Following the frame, the front fork is the most important component on a mountain bike. Performance wise this overshadows the more basic SR-Suntour fork of the One-Twenty — the latter does feature an adjustable air spring, rebound damping adjust and remote lock-out like the RockShox, but lacks its chassis-stiffening 15mm thru-axle and tapered steerer. After the frame and fork, the wheels play the next most important role.
While the triple offers a wider overall gear range, the double has fewer redundant crossovers. Furthermore, the hardtail uses a more modern external bottom bracket the bearings between the crank which is lighter, stronger and easier to service. Here, the two bikes are quite similar with the key difference in name-brand treads on the hardtail, while the full suspension bike gets generic items. Components summary: With the full suspension putting its cash into the frame, the hardtail is free to pull way, way ahead in the components game.
Here the hardtail wins without dispute, offering a vastly better suspension fork, drivetrain, brakes, wheels and even tyres. At the top end of the sport where money is no object, the lightest hardtail is commonly 1kg lighter than the lightest full suspension ride.
For example, our budget Merida full suspension weighed This is a nearly 15 percent weight difference and one that can be felt climbing, guiding the bike over obstacles or any other time you accelerate or decelerate.
In every aspect, the hardtail is the winner here. What does water have to do with a battle between hardtail and full suspension?
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