On Hardtails

 By Scotty Mac

When did the hardtail stop being the go-to weapon of choice for the core mountain bike enthusiast?

That’s a great question. 

It’s a great question because up until the last 7-8 years or so, the hardtail was seen in certain circles as the first and only option. Granted, those circles had been rapidly reduced to go-fast, shaved leg, cross-country racers and decidedly retro-hip singlespeeders, but still. Their eyes would glaze as they looked at the exquisite simplicity of a double diamond, hardtail frame in the material of their choice, lost amid thoughts of dominating their local race series or whipping the geared riders up climbs… as my Ascent Cycling buddy Cups once said, “crushing souls.”

Maybe that’s what did it. Maybe your average enthusiast saw what hardtail riders had become, decided they didn’t want to be mountain biking’s version of a “meathead” and went a different route. Maybe they never considered that with the right build, a hardtail could be pretty darn fun. Or maybe, I’m just deluding myself because you and I both know why hardtail sales have dropped off the map in that magic, $2500-$3500 range.

Full-suspension bikes are just flat-out better.

Spec for spec, a fully is one-and-a-half to two pounds heavier than a hardtail. Two pounds is nothing. Two pounds is an extra twenty minutes a week on the trainer in the offseason and one less slice of pizza at dinnertime. And what do you get with that extra two pounds? Brilliance. Full suspension is so good now, you guys. It keeps your wheel tracking true over the terrain even under hard braking, and most models have sneaky-good compression settings to keep the back end from making like a pogo stick while climbing. But we already established you knew all that.

Riding a hardtail these days when you could be on a full suspension bike is like being a Duke basketball fan in North Carolina Tarheels country (That comparison is going to go over like a lead balloon after March Madness is done. –Ed.). You could, but… man… would you really want to? One thing’s for certain, you are in for a bruising.

So, yeah. Looks like I dig me some black-n’-blue.

Here’s the thing: I’m willing to stipulate to all the points above, but I don’t know what it is, I just don’t care. I love hardtails. Always have, always will. I admire an uncompromised design and a hardtail is certainly that. Rear-end cushion? Sure. Whatever you say, Chief. You’ll stay out of the saddle on that rocky descent and like it. You’ll feel the back end of your bike dancing this way and that seemingly of its own accord, like a twenty-something on Day Three at Burning Man. No easy days, no easy rides. You can see the appeal. What’s that? You can’t? Okay, maybe you don’t see it yet, but stick with me here.

We’re in an era where the vaunted, venerable hardtail has wised up to the game, and figured out its angle for staying at the big kid, enthusiast rider table; if you can’t beat ‘em, be such a hoot and a holler that ol’ boy or ol’ girl piloting your trick titanium tubes won’t care. Slack the geometry out, tuck in those seatstays so cornering is right now, rock a big-travel fork, embrace thru-axles, do it all. Swallow those 2.3” tires with clearance for days. Be the wisecracking kid everyone loves because she keeps it real. Appeal to those times ‘back then’ when it didn’t matter what brand you rode, just that you rode.

Bikes like Kona’s Honzo and Specialized’s Rockhopper EVO are exactly all about that. You still have your carbon fiber, fighter jet race bikes, but these models I just mentioned are designed to be simple, stinkin’ fun. Yeah, you can’t pancake a landing and, okay, you’ll need to be smart when picking a line down a particularly nasty, technical section, but you’ll monster it just the same.

I continue to have skin in the hardtail game. In addition to my Kona Unit singlespeed, I just finished building a 2013 Kona Big Kahuna frame I’ve had in its box in my basement for the last two years. It’s a bike that’s aimed predominantly at the XC-racer-on-a-budget crowd, but I decided to go a different way. A 120mm Rock Shox Revelation fork, Roval Fattie wheelset, 180/160mm Shimano SLX brakeset, SRAM X1 gruppo and Specialized Gravity Dropper post later, I had exactly what I was looking for; a hardtail that didn’t take itself too seriously. Its eyebrow is cocked, it has an impish smile on its face, and it’s begging me to be in on the joke. Its level of jocularity is an 11 out of 10.

In short, it fits me perfectly.

Mac out.