sputniky

"These days"?

Compression lockout has been available for ~20 years.

Kapusta

Another thing to add regarding pro XC racing: Never take what pro XC racers use as the final word of what is fastest. Pro XC racing has been late to nearly every party in terms of MTB progression. Examples include....

-Dropper posts
-Slacker Head angles
-Ditching narrow bars, long stems, and bar ends in favor of wide bars and shorter stems
-Full suspension
-Larger volume tires.

After years of poo-pooing these things, all of these are now found on the pro circuit.

Kapusta

It has been at least 10 years since I even felt the need for a lockout on any rear suspension I have owned

sputniky

Horses for courses. My kid's 2019 race bike goes full rigid at the stroke of his thumb. It's a really well designed setup.

Kapusta

Yeah, I guess that makes sense for racing in some conditions.

PaulRivers

The context here was that the original poster said they had tried both full suspension and hard tail and couldn't decide between them.

Appreciate the links, the conclusion is that pro's are riding both full suspension and hard tails and winning right? The conclusion from your links is that neither hard tail or full suspension is clearly faster than the other. And this is with pro's who are no doubt putting quite a bit of energy into making sure their rear suspension is just right, dialed in correctly, right amount of travel, right amount of pressure.

In the context that I actually responded in - someone who had tried both types of suspension and couldn't decide - I would go with the hard tail because it's:
- cheaper
- less maintenance
- at minimum the same speed, or faster, in general vs a full suspension

Also other comments are suggesting some bikes have lockouts on the bars for the rear shock, something they wouldn't put on if the rear shock didn't sometimes eat some of the pedalling power.

If you look on youtube comparisons, clearly when riding uphill the hard tail is faster and the full suspension loses power in comparison. Could you lock out the rear suspension? Is it made up for by full suspension in more uneven terrain? Could be. With a hard tail you just don't have to worry about it.

I didn't raise this level of hysteria, that was the other poster.

I'm a casual rider, and the minnesota weather means you can't even ride until it's been dry a day or two since the last rainfal, so I don't get out all the time. Obviously the shock needs to be filled at some point so my approach was to recheck the shock every ride, so like every 2-3 weeks when I had the time to ride and the weather cooperated. I don't know how long it "needed" to be topped off at other than it would definitely lose some air by the end of winter. I do know that if you don't have a rear shock you don't need to top it off.

I have to top off my tires every time I ride (as I said I was usually riding once ever two or 3 weeks) it's not like it was maintenance vs no maintainence, it was just a bit of additional hassle I didn't have to worry about with a hard tail. Again my context is in the context of "hard tail vs full suspension: both felt good can't decide".

I had a $1,500 Specialized, that like I said, I bought at least 10 years ago directly from Erik's Bike Shop. I don't recall the exact model offhand.

Right, I wasn't trying to get into a debate on which is the "universal winner" or something, just if you've ridden both and you like both, my opinion is to lean towards the hard tail.

If you like full suspension better than a hard tail, no problem with me, I don't have the interest or the level of experience with them to try to talk anyone out of it. If someone finds full suspension more comfortable and more fun to ride - great.

sputniky

Nah, that was you.

Right here:"It's one more thing to have to fill/adjust every time you ride."

Again, you're doing it wrong. Every time you attach the pump you are taking air out of the shock.Shocks don't need to be checked every 2-3 weeks, let alone before every ride as you continue to claim.

Heck, even Fox doesn't recommend topping off your shock every ride, or every 2-3 weeks. If you are that worried that your shock is losing air (despite no fluid leaking out...) all you have to do is confirm that the sag is still in the right range.

Hilarious.

medic75

The Stache is not your average hardtail. Those 29+ tires absorb loads of energy which would otherwise be transferred to your body. This is no substitute for a FS, but it is hard to deny the capabilities of the 29+ tire. I just bought a Stache last week and I couldn't be happier. I am simply amazed with the capabilities of the bike and the tires (tubeless) at low pressures.

FWIW, take a look at the Stache 7. The carbon frame only saves about a half pound over the aluminum of the Stache 7. You could do a lot of upgrading with that $1,700 you saved.