Tell me about your hardtail mtb

Hey

what kind of hard tails do people have? also, what upgrades? 

I will start us off.

Older Diamondback Response*

*i bought this from a friend with all the upgrades already done

Upgrades

Fox 32 float forks

shimano deore br m615 hydraulic brakes(bonus: i have no idea how to service them...)

brand new SRAM PC971 9 spd chain - i did that myself. it sucks when you don't have much experience... 

shimano slx drivetrain

some other things i can't remember and too tire to go upstairs and check...

Specialized HardRock. I don't remember the details but it has served faithfully since about 2001. The only issues are that it doesn't like deep mud, and the chain slap was nasty. I rode it this morning with smooth tires as part of my workout.

I've got a 3 year old Diamondback Overdrive Sport. 

My older son has a GT aggressor nought last year. Both are 27.5"

My younger son has an older Gary Fisher Tyro 24"

All are stock at this point, although the GF has had some repairs made using stock equivalent parts. 

I have a Schwinn Moab 2 Disc (from back when they were good) that is still stock other than the seat post (stock one stripped out). 

Used to do a good amount of single track trail riding. Other than the seat post it held up very very well. A series of wally world bikes before it perished on the trails. Usually hardware failure. 

Need to get new tubes for it and another pesta adapter, been riding, but with a toddler trailer attached, so trails arent going to happen much for awhile. 

that's cool. i forgot to mention that my bike has 26" tires.

I've got a Cannondale Trail SL2 from 2013. 26" hardtail, rockshox fork. The only real upgrade I've done to it so far is get rid of the front derailleur and go with a 1x10 setup. 

I know 26" tires and hardtails are supposed to be out-of-date in the mountain bike world, but it's a fun bike! Starting to show its age a bit so it may be overdue for a refresh.

One day I'll get a decent bike but I've made do with cheapies that I upgrade a bit. 

I will say though that even though rear suspension takes a little bit of oomph out, it's far more comfortable to ride for me.

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

I have a cheapie that has rear suspension that I've been puttering on. There is some comfort in having it soak up bumps for casual riding. Also, for higher speed stuff I would value the suspension keeping it from skittering about.

That said, for single track, the lack of rear suspension on the schwinn allowed me a lot more feel for available traction. Speed control was rarely an issue for the single track trails I rode, so I valued the precision.

Durability aside, the biggest improvement with a more expensive/quality bike is less weight. EVERYTHING works better with lighter weight. 

In reply to Apexcarver :

Yeah, weight is the huge downside. I've rode some nice light bikes before and it is pretty astonishing how much better they were.

In my case I originally did it for fitness, which meant weight just made me work harder, and for a limited amount of time.

One day I'll get a nice bike, apparently Jamis is a good value for the price I'm told

I have a Jamis Dakota Pro. It's a 29er hardtail. I got a good deal on it when I bought it, but think I would've been better served by the medium frame instead of the large, but the LBS only had one they were trying to get rid of and it was a large. It's 7 or 8 years old at this point, and I barely make time to ride it.

There's usually good deals on used ones as well.

I only went new  because I had points from work that I was able to convert into gift cards that covered about 75% of the cost. 

artur1808 said:

I've got a Cannondale Trail SL2 from 2013. 26" hardtail, rockshox fork. The only real upgrade I've done to it so far is get rid of the front derailleur and go with a 1x10 setup. 

I know 26" tires and hardtails are supposed to be out-of-date in the mountain bike world, but it's a fun bike! Starting to show its age a bit so it may be overdue for a refresh.

same here. except mine is a 1x9

2002 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. Used to ride the hell out of it, not so much the last few years. I also still have the 92 Trek 950 that I rode when I was really into it in my mid-20s.

I have a Schwinn Moab 1 from back in '95? The last year chromoly was an option.  3/4 pound heavier than the aluminum frame, but a little more flex which is nice for a hardtail.  Rockshox Judy and 26" wheels.  The only mods are gripshift and pedals. I commuted on it for a while, but it has been a garage queen for years.

BEWARE OF MEDAL PEDALS xD. they are a legit pain in the shins. xD

1995 Brodie Expresso. Fully rigid, signed by Mr. Paul Brodie himself.

Deore XT/LX groupset with a good helping of blue and purple anodized parts from Odyssey and Profile.

Fast as hell.

i have two hardtails (also hard fronts).

The collector's item is a 1985 Nishiki Cascade.  One of the first ever mass marketed purpose built mtb.  It was originally raced by Tec Thomas in NORBA,  He modified it for speed with a 53 tooth big ring up front. He upgraded to a newer model in 1986.  I wanted to try off road.  I raced it years ago in the masters class.  Only real mod was shortening the handle bars to make weaving through trees a bit easier.  Crazy heavy when compared to anything modern. Used it as a serious workout bike on local rail-trail.  When i got off it and on the road bike, made me faster on the road bike.

More often for casual riding I'm up on a 1990 Schwinn Paramount Series 30 PDG.  It's the one that now travels with the motorhome.  At least its chrome moly.  Has held up remarkably well.

The road bike that has done many thousands of miles, but now hangs in the rafters of the shop.  An 1986 Italian Super Strada, chrome-moly, all Campy.  Big gear on the rear wheel is a 19.  I'm barely in shape to get it up any paved hill anymore.  Hard to believe at one time I raced it up Mount Mitchell in the 100 miler.  Saw 63 mph one time in a 6 man pack on a long downhill on the blue Ridge Parkway.  Original Look pedals.  Cable shifters down on the lower tube.  Antique now. Neat bike that the grandkids wouldn't understand.

I've had many over the years. While most of my time these days is spent on full-squish bikes, I still like to have at least one hardtail in the stable. It's a fun diversion depending on the situation. I especially like riding one in the winter.

Right now it's a Vassago Verhauen steel frame setup with 27.5" "plus" tires. It's fun, although I would like more rear tire clearance so it'll be replaced with a Santa Cruz Chameleon I bought last year.

I also still have a Independent Fabrications Deluxe from 1997, although I started parting it out last year. I also have a Cannondale Delta V Headshok frame I haven't touched in over 20 years. 

I have three hardtails, two old and one new.

I bought a Cannondale Cujo 2 last year and I absolutely love it for most of my riding. It has 27.5+ tires, so that makes up for a lot of the lack of rear suspension, and I love the simplicity of 1x11. the only downside I see with the Plus tires is that it makes the bike long and tall, which can be tricky if you ride a lot of narrow, rocky singletrack. It is four inches longer that my full suspension bike, and that can be a lot in the woods.

I went over the bars on it the other day. It was the wrong bike for that particular venue.

I also have a Cannondale Delta V with the headshock, and a full rigid Killer V that's nice and light.

Following the trip over the handlebars, I got all of my bikes together last night and measured them for overall length, wheelbase and BB height. I haven't had time to crunch the numbers yet, but the info should help me decided exactly what would work best for me in my next bike.

In reply to Woody :

"Long" pretty much describes all modern bikes these days.  My current short travel XC bike has a longer wheelbase and more aggressive (slack) geometry than my downhill race bikes from 20 years ago.  That bike you saw in my van when I picked up the lift is crazy-long.  Longer than even the fairly modern 27.5" DH race bike I had from a few years ago.  But holy crap is it stable in a straight line.

Going from a 90's 26" bike to a bike made within the last few years might feel like a pretty drastic change. For better or worse, I went through a few 29ers around 2009 and then a 27.5" "enduro bike" in 2014 so the change has been a little more gradual for me. 

I ride a lot of rocky singletrack typical of the Northeast. Modern bikes require a bit of a technique adjustment.  For one, then tend to be more speed/momentum bikes that want to go over obstacles rather than around them. Even with my DH experience and general straight-line riding style, I still have to remember that sometimes and I'll get caught out.

I have  Cannondale 'Beast of the East 2' that I picked up in 2016. 27.5+ and 1x11 setup. I also have a rigid Rocky Mountain Fusion that I got in 1989. It still has the original BioPace chainrings.

I will buy a full suspension bike, but I really enjoy riding the hardtail.

In reply to eastpark :

I had an original 1993(?) M800 Beast of the East as my first mountain bike. I rode it for years. It was super light and the geometry was perfect for New England single track, even though the bike was a little too big for me. I bought an XL and a Large would have been a better fit. That lightweight rigid bike is the main reason that I searched for the Killer V a few years ago. 

If anybody’s interested, here are my notes from last night’s bike measuring session. I still haven’t looked too closely at them. All tires were at about 30 psi, but there are variations due to tread pattern and wear. The numbers to the far right are from the ground to the center of the bottom bracket. 

The Delta V and the Killer V are early mid-90’s, the Rush Lefty is a 2007(?), and the Cujo 2 is a 2019. 

Forgive my hyroglyphs...this was never intended to be shared. 

In reply to Woody :

Woody, do you have a dropper seatpost on the bike? I almost went over the bars on a steep decent because I was too lazy to lower my seat before going down that section of trail. It make a big difference in how to keep control. 

In reply to eastpark :

I use my dropper post more often than I shift these days.