Getting new Mt. Bike. Full Susp. or Hardtail?

I'm looking to get a new bike to ride some of the trails here in Abq. I had a full suspension before and didn't like the fact that when I was cranking away, alot of my power was being robbed by the rear shock. I know technology has come a long way with these bikes, but I was wondering what you guys had to say on the subject. As of now I'm leaning toward a Cannondale hardtail.

 

i prefer hard tail, but If I had the cash to spend on a very expensive bike I would get a high end full suspension.

 

i have a trek 6700 hardtail with fox front shocks.i love it.i agree with wasting energy with the rear shock. hardtail will be fine. dont they make a seat/ seatpost that has a shock in it in case the hardtail is.....hard?

 

who sits down?

 

only to pee

 

More's the question - 'who stands up'? Keeping your butt on the seat when climbing saves an awful lot of energy.

You can get rear suspension with a lock out that stops bobbing. Not all full sussersd are the same, take a couple out for a test ride to see what you like/don't like.

 

GT has a fairly new system they are putting on their full suspension bikes. the suspension linkage is set up with a limmiter between two of the pivot points, so when you pedal, standing or sitting, you lose no power to suspension flex. but when you hit rough terrain and obstacles it absorbs like a regular bike.

http://www.bikemagic.com/news/images/gt_idxc2_04_linkage_big.jpg

unfortunately this is the only picture i could find of it. it's the strap on the frond side of the suspension.

 

If you want to stick with Cannondale ??? I have a Profhet 3000. Is an All mountain bike, little bit expensive but it will change your mind about full suspension bikes. Mine is a Lefty but you can get it with standard fork and ---- hey if $ is no object you will be surprise how far the technology is from 10 years ago. Want's you have an idea of your budget go on MTBR- very popular forum and spend a good week. After that you should have an idea of what you -
-#1-you can afford
-#2-what you are going to do with(cross country, down hill, fire roads,etc)
-#3- what would fit you (based on your height,weight)
-#4- witch company deserve you $( product quality,mixture of strong, reliable and new technology)
-#5 -what would be pretty enough so that your friends won't make fun of you
and I am pretty sure that the guy's there will jump in with more sougestions.
Don't be afraid to register to the forum and ask any questions no matter how stupid you think it may be. Someone told me me that the only stupid ?? are the one we don't ask.

Good luck with your decision and welcome back to a beautiful sport

Oh my God ,,, I just saw where you living. You are living in one of the best State for mountain biking. Hrrrr,, I am jealous.

 

Trek Fuel EX8... rear lock out. Great all around bike. A bit on the expensive side, but this would be the last bike you'd want to ever buy.

 

first off i would make a budget....
its gonna cost you about $2000 for a decent entry level full-suspension bike, where as you can get a damn good hardtail for $1500. Don't forget to add expenses like pedals, shoes, helmet, cycling apparel, and what not...

On today's full suspension rigs, the rear shocks (at least Fox does this) there is a lever for what they call Pro-Pedal. When you flip the lever it changes the interal valving allowing the suspension to firm up and take away any suspension bob from pedaling. From first hand experience my Trek Fuel Ex 9.0 will accelerate like a hardtail.

Also from current mountain bike trends the death of the 26 inch hardtail is coming....

Personally I am not a big fan of Cannondale for various reasons. Companies I would look at would be Scott, Trek, Specialized. FWIW go down to your local bike shop and ride what they've got there.

 

Sounds like a new vrsion of the I-Drive that I have on my GT XCR1000 (which is about 8 yrs old). It works ok, but if it goes wrong, mucho dollars to fix.

 

it is similar to that. I work at a bikeshop that sells them, so i've ridden them enough to say that does make a difference. as far as breakage on the new ones goes. if you mannage to break it (i've never seen a broken one and i'm a bike mechanic) all you have to replace is that little piece that i pointed out in the picture a few posts before. i believe gt has a lifetime waranty on their frames, seems liek that would be covered in that since it doesn't move. but if not, my guess is that the part would not cost more than $20.

 

this is true...but the bike mechanic will be the person who does the paperwork and sends a broken bike in...so if you know one well, or buy one lunch, they'll usually be able to work around stuff or fudge what realy happened to the bike, to get it replaced. it also helps to go to a reputable store. i rarely have trouble warrantying parts and frames customers bring to me.

I also agree with starting on a hardtail. of course it depends on what kind of trails you ride becasue some trails are geared toward full suspension, but i've been seriously riding/racing for about 6 years now, and refuse to ride a full suspension. but sometimes i'm just stubborn

 

I like my full suspension bike - the trails where I live are pretty rocky (South Mountain FTW!)
The new full susp bikes are awesome, they have really changed a lot in the last 4 or 5 years. You really don't feel much pedal feedback or energy sapping from the rear suspension at all. I had a Santa Cruz Blur, and I ride an Ibis now, and they are the best climbing bikes I've ever ridden. Better than any of my hardtails. Look for a bike with Virtual Pivot Point or DW link suspension. Like a previous poster pointed out - pro-pedal works too.

Of course, that is for cross-country / all-mountain full suspension bikes. When you start getting into freeride or downhill oriented bikes, that's not a machine for climbing or trails anyway - they tend to be heavier too.

When I went to Abq, my fs bike seemed like overkill. I bet a hardtail 29'er would be great over there. Have you looked at the Gary Fisher 29'ers?

There are shops in Abq that do demos - take a couple out and ride a few to see what you think. If it has been a while since you rode a full suspension bike, you will be amazed at how good they are now. I gave my confirmed hardtail riding friend my Blur for a day, and he wound up buying one.

 

The main reason I'm considering the Cannondale is because I bought a Cannondale CAAD9 R6 road bike and the shop I go to has a Trail SL with the same paint scheme (Red & Black). But I'm not going to base my purchase on that alone. It IS a good bike, but I want to weigh my other options and see what I think.

Oh and Abq is great! We moved here a year ago and I'm just barely getting to know just how much fun it can be!

Good info, thanks! The shop I go to is really good about letting you try it before you buy it. They were really awesome when it came to finding the right road bike for me.

I'm not a little guy (6'1" 215lb) so I'll see how the fulls hold up. Either way you guys have been helpful! Thanks to everyone for their $0.02! I'm happy to see a mountain bike post got this much of a response. Goes to show we have a lot more in common than our trucks!

 

If you have the dough, full suspension the way to go. I've got an old GT i-drive that I love it. No torque robbing on the hill climb. The only downfall is it's heavy has hell compared to things like the trek EX8. If you're worried about robbing torque get a front and rear lockout.

Or if you want to be really hardcore, get a 29 inch single speed. The guy I bought my Tacoma from builds 29er frames. Cheapest one he builds is $1400. There is a whole community of these 29ers that swear by them.