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Writings on Riding
This is the place for monthy content from a few of our local members. Here you may find articles about events in the Triangle, interviews with local mountain bike leaders, write ups and editorials. Check back here often for new "news" stories. Want to be a regular contributer? Contact the webmaster at [email protected].

Obit for an Icon
 by Wil Mikes
Feb 2003

Born to Gary Fisher not so long ago, the Hardtail Mountain Bike has had a relatively long and fruitful life. It taught millions of people around the world the joy of riding through the woods. Its squishy brother, the Full Suspension Mountain Bike, survives it. A funeral mass will be held at the Sacred Heart of Moab Catholic Church, with a graveside service to be held at Whistler Memorial Park. Burial will follow… or will it??

Folks like Kevin Franks of Specialized (Sept. 22 issue of Bike magazine, fighting words) might think so, but then again, he's in the business of selling bikes. Occasionally, this bike mag or that will say the hardtail's dead, but they make money from advertiser's selling FS bikes. The folks at Mountain Biking Magazine, in their annual Bike of the Year Article, raved about 5 different hardtails! In the category of XC Race, the favorite bike was, tah dah!, a hardtail. In the Dirt Jump bike category, the only bikes listed are hardtails. The hardtail is dead? I think not.

When I started this article, I was concerned that I might not be completely unbiased in my thinking. I began this article by writing with pen and paper, not on a computer. When taking photographs, my best pictures come from my 30+ year old Nikon FG and 20+-year-old Olympus XA, not my 1999 Nikon N-80. My favorite cars I've owned were a '74 VW Super Beetle and a '73 MGB. Almost nothing of the modern era is my favorite, with the exception of the Internet. So I asked the "experts", my friends and LBS. And yes, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Question: Is the hardtail dead?
Stephan: "What? Why? Hell no." Being the fit, yet stout person that he is, he says that he has yet to find a FS that doesn't bob like crazy when he's pedaling. On top of that, more parts means more things that can break. - And more cost!

Question: Is the hardtail dead?
Bradshaw: "What? No way man." This guy even has a full suspension bike! He likes FS, but then asked, if you didn't learn on a hardtail, what are you gonna learn on? Admittedly, I haven't seen a whole lot of FS kid's bikes on the market, though I know that Kona has one legitimate FS rig for kids.

Question: Is the hardtail dead?
Nole: "And exactly what would I be riding?" Yeah, full suspension is getting less expensive, but you don't get the good designs that eliminate pedalbob, so why bother? And, since we live in the triangle area, where do we ride around here that would actually necessitate FS?

Okay…, maybe I'm not as biased as I thought. Yes, I've put together a FS rig, but that's for a specific riding style. A hardtail is what brought me back to riding, and I plan to keep my Marlin for as long as it lasts. All right, so if anybody would say that the hardtail is dead, it'd be my LBS right?
Question: Is the hardtail dead?
LBS (Aaron): "Nope." About half the bikes sold at the Bike Rack are lower end hardtails and the other half is higher end FS and road bikes. As an individual, Aaron rides Dual Slalom and Urban on a Lifetime hardtail by Endless Bikes and proclaims he'll never have a FS because of how vague they feel out back.

Limiting ourselves to FS is just that, a limit. Mountain biking started as a way around limits. Mountain Bikers don't fit into neat little categories. The article in Mountain Biking Magazine had 7 (!) different categories for mountain bikes and they left out trials, cyclocross, and singlespeed! But counting what they left out, there are at least 5 different styles of riding where a hardtail is preferred over the FS.

With all that being said, I'd say its official. The hardtail is NOT dead. As long as there are people out there trying to ride, there will be hardtails.

By the way, folks interested in burly, chromoly steel hardtails and supporting local folks, Endless Bikes handbuild a model called Lifetime. Formerly located in the Triangle, they are now located in Asheville and are developing a FS, but that's down the road a bit. Check them out at Endlessbikes.com.

Why ride a single speed mountain bike?