For me, there is no ‘best’ answer, there are pros & cons to each. One pro for a HT, it may help you develop smoother riding skills that a FS bike may ‘mask’.
One major thing I learned, be aware of your technical skills limitations!
Years ago, a friend got me into mtb, I was riding road at the time and my power was pretty decent. Unfortunately that meant my legs were writing checks my off-road skills couldn’t cash, and I had a steep learning curve and several pretty bad crashes from going wayyyyy too fast for my skill level, luckily with no broken bones…
As I improved, I got into racing XC, then started to podium, and eventually won a provincial series, and that was on a hardtail ::
If you have any kind of itch to ride the fun stuff get the Canyon and save yourself an upgrade later. It is “justified” as you’ll be saving money in the long run.
I’d get a hardtail first. They are way more versatile (you could turn it into a gravel biek, touring machine or a commuter with an easy fork swap and other ways). You can grow with it and the suspension design will not get outdated where you feel compelled to replace. If you find yoruself being under biked and really get the MTB-Bug then you can always start the search for an appropriate FS.
If your friends are on hardtails, and your main goal is to ride with them, it’s a really strong case for you to pick up a hardtail! Less expensive FS bikes will be a lot heavier, so it might make you feel outmatched on the climbs. Unless you’re way fitter than them - then go for the FS.
I have ridden HT’s on up to 160mm enduro and love them all for different types of riding. I would recommend at least 120mm front suspension as this will add slackness to the HTA, meaning when you do encounter the occasional steep downhill or drop, it will feel safer, less like you will go flying over the bars.
really appreciate the replies. After doing some more research I am super interested in the Grand Canyon 9 by canyon. 1799 and it has 120 travel fox rhythm, built in dropper, and overall seems to be a solid build. It’s not dual obviously, but it’s also cheap enough that if I offload it next year for less than I paid and get something dual I will not be upset .
@fleadram For riding “gravel plus” with friends who also have hardtail bikes, I think a hardtail makes sense for you, especially with your budget. As many have said, if you really like the trails, you may move on to a full suspension in the future.
The Scott Scale 940 and Canyon Grand Canyon 9 are different bikes in terms of geometry. The CGC is a hardtail trail bike with a slacker geometry. It will be more forgiving, but not as quick. The Scale is a fast XC machine. The Scale with a dropper added would be a fast, fun bike too… (but add ~200 for the dropper). I’ve had two Scott Sparks and would lean towards the Scale, but I think either would be good for you. If you can only afford the dropper by buying the Canyon, do that.
My humble opinion… start your mountain bike journey on a hardtail. I think about a lot like learning to play guitar… start on an acoustic, it will make your fingers tough and your sound smoother because it is less forgiving.
Learning on a hardtail will force you to think about things you don’t need to think as much about on a FS. Body position while climbing into order to maintain traction. Picking fast and smooth lines through technical sections. Staying loose on the bike in a technical descent. Master these on a hardtail, and when you switch to FS you will be faster and will appreciate the technology that much more.
Just to point out, but Shimano also does push push. Their shifters can be used as push pull or push push. The more technical the riding and the faster you ride, the more push push makes sense as you will be covering the brakes with your index finger.
Shimano used to only offer push pull, but had to meet market demand and reconfigured the shifter internals to provide push push as well. Below basic Deore is still push pull only, I believe (might be wrong).
Otherwise, I do concur with your summation that buying full suspension first off is the better way to go.
In Spain, the OP may be able to get a Decathlon Boss Nut out of the UK? Euro based, perhaps also look at Rose and Cube bikes?
Devil’s advocate here, but if you are a metal fan and want to shred, no point buying an acoustic guitar as you’ll get bored and give up! Same applies to bikes I think. Yep, riding a HT requires a different set of skills, but if riding bigger and more techy stuff is what you’re interested in then start with the right tools.
If you are a metal fan that wants to shred and are interested in being an absolute BEAST, learn to shred on an acoustic. If you spend a lot of time doing that, then when you pick up an electric, hook it up to a righteous tube amp, add a little reverb and delay, you will will be faster, smoother, more precise, and more musical, and it will be effortless.
The same is true with training for mountain bike. If you only ride outdoors, ride for fun, focus only on heart rate, have little stucture, and don’t push yourself, you will never reach peak fitness or peak skill. Getting to the top rung requires discipline and diligence. If your #1 goal if fun, then by all means start on a full suspension / electric guitar. If your goals is to maximize excellence, start with a hardtail / acoustic and add lots of structure and purpose.
I don’t disagree in principle, but there is also something to be said for confidence. While a FS can mask poor form, it also has a much wider margin of error. I’ve seen way too many folks give up on MTB when they keep hitting the ground or can’t do basic technical trails that friends are doing. If it was all about building form, we should all start with twitchy hardtail XC bikes because those are the least forgiving and you either learn to do things right or crash. I wouldn’t recommend that as a starting point any more than I’d recommend a long travel downhill bike. If someone has the funds and wants to ride technical trails with friends, I’d recommend a FS trail bike to start. It sounds like the OP will be doing tame single track and fire roads, so a hard tail sounds like a decent choice there.
I’m sorry, but that’s absolutely not true at all!! Try learning boomer bends, legato, sweep picking, pinch harmonics, two hand tapping etc on an acoustic guitar with a neck the size of a tree trunk and strings that’ll cut your fingers to shreds! Try playing along to Children of Bodum on an acoustic guitar - it doesn’t work. You’ll lose motivation and give up. I’ve always told my students buy the guitar you want to play, the guitar you like to look at and the best guitar you can afford. Learn to play music you like and make it fun. If you have no interest in acoustic music, don’t buy an acoustic guitar. If having an Ibanez Jem means you pick it up and play it because you love it, you’ll be a better player than the person that’s stifled by out of date thinking.
Same is true of riding. It’s an outdated principle to think you need to learn your skills on a hardtail.
I started riding MTB before suspension even was an option. The original Rock Shox fork came out a year after I started riding MTB.
Purchased my first forks once I could afford them, a set of Manitou 2’s, and the range of terrain I felt confident to ride on increased tenfold. All with only 50mm of travel.
It was several years later that I got my first full suspension but once again the confidence to ride more challenging terrain increased.
Did I learn to ride better because of having ridden rigid and then hardtails? No. If anything, both bikes held me back.
I didn’t make my daughter ride a hardtails so she learned how uncomfortable they can be, or how sketchy they get, or how beat up you might feel at the end of the ride and never wanting to ride ever again. No. I bought her a full suspension and this has helped her enjoy the riding, gave safety margin where a hardtail wouldn’t, and has kept a smile on her dial.
If you haven’t the budget for a fully, then there is nothing wrong in getting a hardtail. But if a half decent one is within your budget, then buy the fully.
Enjoying the awesome discussion. I’m going with the hardtail for now, and saving like crazy for the full suspension in a year or so when I am hopelessly addicted to the sport and do not want to road race any more
I did the opposite - kind of!!! Grew up on old school MTB’s and raced XC in the '90s. Turned to the road, but gave up racing over the last couple of years. I bought a F/S trail bike to have fun on and enjoy, thinking my racing days were behind me. Also thought the techy nature of a modern XC course was beyond me!! Riding the F/S brought my skills on really quickly and got bitten by the desire to race again. Bought a XC race bike and can now ride the techy stuff on the hardtail. I couldn’t have done it the other way round!!
This is basically me. I was thinking of getting a new road bike, a buddy of mine told me to get a different kind of bike since my road bike was still perfectly good. The podcasts got me interested in mountain biking and xc type riding suits me and the trails around me.
I picked up a Canyon Lux Trail CF7. As long as the weather holds out I’m taking it for it’s first ride this weekend.
- then go for the FS.
