Mountain bike gear can make your riding much more comfortable and fun, but how do you know what you really need? It’s too simple to get sucked into the new flashy gear which may or may not really last you. The largest choice is often whether to get a full suspension or a hardtail, what are the pro and cons and is the extra money value it?

So having dual suspension is obviously going to give you more bounce and make it simpler to ride over rough terrain, but what?s the flip side of it? The largest one for most people is the cost. More moving parts, more springs and pivots are all going to add up quite quickly. In addition, due the pivot points which need to be strong enough to withstand the punishment routinely handed out by mountain bikers. This means that if you?re using the same materials, it?s going to be much heavier, or if you?re going to use more advanced materials, it?ll cost ya!

Cost up your sleeve, with a dual suspension bike each time you push down on the pedal you?ll bounce a small on the suspension. This bounce (also called bob) is energy that you?re expending that isn?t helping you to go forward. It force not be much, but it adds up when each single pedal stroke, you lose a bit of energy. This occurs to a degree in hardtails as well, but it?s really an issue for dual suspension.

Hardtails are always going to be more robust, with a more rigid frame. The whole frame is welded together, so extra strength can be added at high stress areas. The more rigid the frame the more responsive the bike is going to be. But you?ll feel the bumps a lot more and will tend to have the bike kick up at the back more easily. If this is happening all the time is can get really demanding. But, if the trails you?re riding are hard and honestly smooth, you?ll doubtless be better off with a hardtail.

Huge drop offs and rough animated tracks are where dual suspension really comes into it’s own. Dual suspension will help keep you in contact with the ground as you glide over roots and rocks. This means that you?re going to have a more relaxing ride and better control.

Dual suspension requires a quite different design to the normal bike frame that you’d be used to. This is a design feature that allows the rear wheel to go freely. In the last few years, there has been a huge variety of different approaches to achieving the same aim. To allow free movement of the rear wheel, while maintaining as much rigidity as possible. Some designs also have the bonus of making the wheel base longer as the travel in the rear suspension is used. This can be quite vital as a shorter wheel base makes the bike less stable while a longer one gives better stability.

Early designs, which kept quite close to the normal design, had a distinct disadvantage. As the rear wheel stirred up the wheel base would become significantly shorter. Over time, different designs were developed that changed the pivot point which improved the stability. What we really want is for the wheel to go up and down, rather than in an arc. So more often these days designs have two pivot points which make it closer to a pure vertical motion with only a small amount of curve in the travel of the wheel.

Many riders have at least a hardtail and a full suspension bike. They ride one or the other depending on the track they are going to be riding on any particular day. So, it’s not really a case of one being better in each case. More often these days you can buy rear suspension frames that you can ?lock out?. This means that you can stop the rear suspension from moving with the turn of a knob. So you can get the benefits of a hardtail and a full suspension in the same bike. But, weight is always a factor and if you spent an equal amount of money you?d get a much lighter, stronger hardtail.

So at the end of the day, it really comes down to the type of riding that you?ll be doing most. There?s no point having a fantastic heavy downhill beast that is too heavy to get up the track that you?re riding each week. The right mountain bike gear makes your riding simpler and so much more fun

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