"Progressive" hardtails - yay or nay?

[SchralphMacchio]

Sweet bike! That’s a great deal. Ribbon Air would be awesome!

[grskier]

Nice work B. That thing looks rad and a pretty decent deal.

[springsproject]

Damn yeah, hardtails are super fun. Sam, building that thing up single speed or what?

I just snagged a new wheelset to 29erize my sergeant. 2.8 tires are fun and all, but after blasting around on my 29er drop-bar-gravel-thing, the big tires on my hardtail are feeling extra doggy.

[GeorgiaSnow]

Nice find on that surface. Looks great.


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[beaterdit]

Damn yeah, hardtails are super fun. Sam, building that thing up single speed or what?

I just snagged a new wheelset to 29erize my sergeant. 2.8 tires are fun and all, but after blasting around on my 29er drop-bar-gravel-thing, the big tires on my hardtail are feeling extra doggy.

I’ll definitely have the option. Have work on my legs and back a lot first.

Lots of love for the RSD in here, thing is sweet!

[beaterdit]

That’s a sweet lookin whip Tindy.

[frorider]

Got some real rides on the blue pig now, stoked. Fast and precise feeling. 29 lbs as pictured, which means I saved a whopping 0.5 lbs vs my mojo hd frame lol.

[AckshunW]

Hey all!

lots of great hardtail inspiration in this thread. I’m paring down my quiver and about to make a Guerrilla Gravity Megatrail or Chromag Stylus my all around ride. Northeast rider, lover of slow tech. Thinking the megatrail would help me get more comfortable at speed on rough trails, and my foundation of slow tech will pull me through on the tighter stuff where the megatrail is not ideal. Or should I lean in to my core skills and go for the hardcore hardtail? Been considering this for a while and still looking to hear opinions and experiences.

Thanks!

[Robik]

Hey all!

lots of great hardtail inspiration in this thread. I’m paring down my quiver and about to make a Guerrilla Gravity Megatrail or Chromag Stylus my all around ride. Northeast rider, lover of slow tech. Thinking the megatrail would help me get more comfortable at speed on rough trails, and my foundation of slow tech will pull me through on the tighter stuff where the megatrail is not ideal. Or should I lean in to my core skills and go for the hardcore hardtail? Been considering this for a while and still looking to hear opinions and experiences.

Thanks!

You need both! So add Pedalhead to Megatrail because you want your bikes to be different.

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[farmguy]

I have a Transition Throttle, CF 140 front, 27.5. It is basically a Transition Scout but a hardtail and it is a blast to ride, climbs amazing and it has enough front squish to really calm a trail down. slack enough to feel very very comfortable both up and down. For referance, I have had a scout, bought then bought throttle, sold the scout bought a patrol. Life is good.

[AckshunW]

Ha! I know I NEED both, but temporarily at least, it need to be one.

You need both! So add Pedalhead to Megatrail because you want your bikes to be

[AckshunW]

Thats good experience—the fact that the Throttle made you want to lose the Scout tells me the Chromag could be my all-rounder.

But now that you have both- which would be harder to pry from your hands??

I have a Transition Throttle, CF 140 front, 27.5. It is basically a Transition Scout but a hardtail and it is a blast to ride, climbs amazing and it has enough front squish to really calm a trail down. slack enough to feel very very comfortable both up and down. For referance, I have had a scout, bought then bought throttle, sold the scout bought a patrol. Life is good.

[toast2266]

Hey all!

lots of great hardtail inspiration in this thread. I’m paring down my quiver and about to make a Guerrilla Gravity Megatrail or Chromag Stylus my all around ride. Northeast rider, lover of slow tech. Thinking the megatrail would help me get more comfortable at speed on rough trails, and my foundation of slow tech will pull me through on the tighter stuff where the megatrail is not ideal. Or should I lean in to my core skills and go for the hardcore hardtail? Been considering this for a while and still looking to hear opinions and experiences.

Thanks!

Megatrail. Definitely.

Hardtails are awesome, but they're a quiver bike, not an only bike. (At least for anyone whose riding preferences lean towards descending on rough trails).

[HAB]

Megatrail. Definitely.

Hardtails are awesome, but they're a quiver bike, not an only bike. (At least for anyone whose riding preferences lean towards descending on rough trails).

This. I LOVE my BTR Ranger, but I wouldn't want it as my only bike.

[miahw2828]

I have a Transition Throttle, CF 140 front, 27.5. It is basically a Transition Scout but a hardtail and it is a blast to ride, climbs amazing and it has enough front squish to really calm a trail down. slack enough to feel very very comfortable both up and down. For referance, I have had a scout, bought then bought throttle, sold the scout bought a patrol. Life is good.

How did you like the scout? I had a bandit 29 before that and loved it...got stolen and replaced it with the scout and just didn’t mesh...I know a lot of folks loved it


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[dfinn]

I love my Rootdown. It’s great for making tame trails exciting and we’ve got no shortage of tame around SLC.

Had it stripped and repainted last fall. Need to start getting it rebuilt soon.

[wkd-rdr]

For anyone who rides one, thoughts on 27x2.8 vs 29x2.5?

2.8s handle like shit. Get a 29 x2.5.
Cushcore in rear, beat the piss out of it.

[farmguy]

Thats good experience—the fact that the Throttle made you want to lose the Scout tells me the Chromag could be my all-rounder.

But now that you have both- which would be harder to pry from your hands??

I sold my Scout, they were almost the same bike except for the rear squish and I really really liked that bike. Both Scout/Throlle climbed great and even going downhill unless it was super rough the Throttle kills it. However, I upgraded to a Patrol for even more squish, the Patrol is more bike that I will ever use, Im not a jumper, I dont heal as fast as I used to but downhill hill now is like driving a Cadillac.

[SchralphMacchio]

There you have it: Throttle / Patrol quiver is akin to going Stylus / Megatrail.

But I like having my hardtail be the 29” (running 2.6F/2.4R) and my full suspension being 27” (Bronson with 160mm fork). Some days I don’t know which bike to grab for short/medium rides (long rides FS no question), but I’ve set up the 29” tires to deal better with wet conditions and running higher speed tires on the 27” so it makes the decision more straightforward.

[gravitylover]

2.8s handle like shit. Get a 29 x2.5.
Cushcore in rear, beat the piss out of it.

And my preference leans towards 2.8-3.0 so... Not only do they not handle like shit they corner far better and the wider rims you should be using with tires that size are stiffer.

[wkd-rdr]

And my preference leans towards 2.8-3.0 so... Not only do they not handle like shit they corner far better and the wider rims you should be using with tires that size are stiffer.

Ooof, we'll have to agree to disagree, with every point there

[D(C)]

I bumped my Rootdown's fork up from 150 to 160. I was finding it to feel a bit too over the bars at 150, so hopefully this helps.

[SchralphMacchio]

OTB feeling on a Rootdown eh? What size frame and how tall? Did you try making the fork more progressive before deciding to bump travel?

Or maybe it’s time to trade that for a Doctahawk with a Lyrik and let us all know how it rides

[D(C)]

OTB feeling on a Rootdown eh? What size frame and how tall? Did you try making the fork more progressive before deciding to bump travel?

Or maybe it’s time to trade that for a Doctahawk with a Lyrik and let us all know how it rides

It's a M/L and I'm 5'8", so it's on the big end of the spectrum for me. I run the fork firmer than I would on my full suspension to keep it higher in its travel.

It's more that the bike is designed around a 160 fork. At 150, the reach gets even longer and the STA becomes really steep. 160 seems to pull things back a bit, which is good. I had been a bit resistant to running that much travel on a hardtail, but I think it will benefit how the bike rides both uphill and downhill by making the geometry a bit more comfortable.

[dfinn]

I've only ridden mine at 160 but definitely don't get any OTB sensations from mine.