Hardtail or Dually

ACNRS

Likes Dirt
what do you ride or what do you preffer, hardtail or dually, what are yur thoughts on them?
 
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scalpel

Likes Bikes
$$$$

Depends on how much caaaaasssshhh you have got - if you have plenty, then a high end 4 inch dually for xc, or 5 inch for enduro. Because these days you can buy some awesomely light dually's - that accelerate like hardtails. But generally they cost plenty !
 

JD26

Likes Dirt
Yes I agree, such a tricky question.

You have to ask yourself, what events do I ride? If you don't race, then how long do you ride for? What terrain do you ride? How good are you at climbing, descending and bike handling?

I have both. They do different things pretty well. If I race in Sydney, then the dually works well (it is usually rocky). If I race in Canberra, then it is a 50/50 depending on the location. Other locations around Australia are the same.

With the hardtail, it should be lighter than the dually (at least by a kilo, if you have the same components) and may be stiffer, so that can suit the shorter events. (up to 100km). Or where there is lots of steep climbing. Switchback climbing with limited gradient works fine on a dually.

You will find that there is no consensus though, and you will find that you probably will receive a 50/50 response for either.

As for my opinion, well, for the last 18 months I raced soley on a dually. It is great - 10kgs fast, resposnive etc. I recently got a hardtail - I ride it more, I love it for racing.

I also started racing in 1989 as a junior, when we had no suspension and toe clips were considered high-tech and before steel 'was real' - standard 'back in my day' square wheels story, so riding a sub 9kg carbon hardtail with suspension forks is F1-PRO in comparison.

The reason for going to a hardtail - I wanted the 20 second faster laps in a race. This works for me, and was important to me, your results may vary.

Also, what you get for your money will vary. $2500 gets a pretty good hardtail, but only dips into the lower end for a dually.

Talking to some mates who ride and race and own bike shops - this season, the hardtail is back in fashion, everyone who bought a dually learnt how much a bike could be pushed and ridden hard. These skills transfer nicely over to the HT. Plus you are stronger for having pushed the heavier dually around.:D

There is no correct answer......
 

Pebble

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I like a hardtail for everything, but I am putting together a dually for DH.
So DH - Dually, HT- Everything else and a bit of DH for good measure.

I had a 4" dually but since I mainly go for an hour or so XC rides it wasn't warranted, besides it was extra maintenance, harder to wash and annoying if I couldn't get the suspension perfectly set up front & rear & balanced. It's always a case of rear feels plusher than front (Trance) or rebounds aren't quite spot on etc etc.

But yes in an ideal world you could have one of each, but still in my opinion there is not point in that unless both bikes are getting used!
 

Trevor_S

Likes Dirt
what do you ride or what do you preffer, hardtail or dually, what are yur thoughts on them?
Depends what sort of riding you want to do and what sort of riding is available or if you intend to race alot. Well groomed single track ? 4-wd trail, HT is probably fine, "rough as guts single track" and or lots of rocks, probably not so much fun.

I was recently (3 months ago) setting up a track for a local race (Paluma Push), we had marked out a new section about 2 km long, cleared it off, I grabbed my mates HT and rode the new bit of trail to see how it flowed... fark me.. never again... I had been thinking about getting another decent HT, after that short ride, I would never go back to a HT (I had one a few years ago)... what a horrible ride :) Hell, I went the other way and now have a Santa Cruz Blur LT :) 5.5 all the way :) Hopefully I will be able to set up some Super D racing next year and make even better use of it, until then I will enjoy the trail riding.
 

JD26

Likes Dirt
But yes in an ideal world you could have one of each, but still in my opinion there is not point in that unless both bikes are getting used!
Yes that is the hardest thing, 7 days in the week. When the training is 50/50 MTB to road there is not a lot of days to ride all bikes.

The last time I rode the dually was 17th August!:( (NSW Titles)
 

slowK

Likes Dirt
I have an Avanti competitor hardtail and a Specialized Stumpjumper Comp dually. For the stuff I do (firetrails, the odd adventure race), I actually prefer the hardtail. I'm definitely faster, and climb better on the hardtail.

I am the same speed as my mate when I'm on my hardtail but get left behind on my Stumpy. Did the Dirtworks 50 on the hardatail and was glad I did. The Stumpy is better on rough downs, but that's about it.

But horses for courses - I'm a small climber type who doesn't like super technical stuff. The Stumpy does give me more confidence on the rough stuff and is fun, but slower.
 

akashra

Eats Squid
Hardtail or Duallie for XCO, Hardtail or Singlespeed for Crits, Hardtail for Marathons (as they usually contain quite a bit of firetrail), Duallie for Enduros.
 

scalpel

Likes Bikes
Which One....

I have both, with high end build kits , and agree that it depends on so many things - but can honestly say that if I had the choice of buying a
$6ooo dually or a $6000 hardtail - I would go the dually. These days they ride so good - and weigh so little..........

But the point of how long you ride is a good one. If its short and sharp - the hardtail wins. But anything over 1.5 hours - go the dually all the way.
 

Coaster

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I just bought myself a dualie and I love the smoothness and wheel contact when banging along single track. I'm not a great technical rider but I found once I was used the geometry my riding style became much smoother and therefore much more efficient (i usually ride for 2 to 3 hours). It made me decide to do the Otway 100 rather 50, but I don't know if that's a good or bad thing!

Having said that, there's something about the honesty of riding a hard tail which is why I'm in the process of stripping mine down for a rebuild.
 

spudatm

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I think the Hardtail is becoming more of a race specific bike. I started on a Hardtail but recently updated to a dually {trance X1} This bike lets me do everything i want to do from XC racing to light downhill, i tackle terrain i wouldn't have dreamed about taking on on my hartail. I wouldn't go back to a hardtail. If i was given one or won one i would probably use it for XC racing but everything else would be on the duallie. Saying that if anyone wants to get into MTBing i always recommend getting a hardtail as i think it teaches you to be a better rider.
 

Lanky Love

Likes Dirt
I can agree with almost all of you that different people need diffeent bikes. I guess the main things to take into consideration are your weight (heavy=dualy, light=hardtail), your race distances (long time based enduros= dualy, XCC/XCO and marathons=hardtail), the terrain(rough=dualy, smooth=hartail) and your style. I generaly prefer hartails because the suit the racing i do (XCO and marathons) but for longs races like the 6+6hour in the solo 24hr i relay suffered and needed a dualy. so just think about what you will be useing it for and what your good and bad at.
 

mtb1611

Seymour
I ride a dually; most of the off-road riding I do is in pretty technical, rough stuff such as Lucas Heights. No long climbs and lots of rock/drops, therefore no need for a hardtail. Having said that, I'd love a high-end hardtail! I just couldn't justify the expense, as it'd rarely leave the garage. I've raced two different types of duallies (NRs and Reign) at various endurance events and must say that I don't think the Reign held me back any at my last race (07 Scott). However if I was racing XC with any regularity I'd grab a short-travel dually over a hardtail simply because of the descending, comfort and recuperations aspects.
 

Bodin

GMBC
How tall are you?

If you're 6 foot or taller, I'd strongly recommend you try a 29er hardtail.

I've been riding a standard 100mm travel dually trailbike for everything except DH for about the last 4 years. Great all round bike, no complaints. But I've just gone and bought a 29er hardtail because I've always wondered if bigger wheels make more sense for a taller rider and I reckon big wheels go a long way to making up for the lack of suspension. There are pros and cons that I won't go in to here, but it's really worth a thought if you're a taller rider.

Here are my thoughts on my 2 Stumpies: 26" dually or 29" hardtail. I honestly don't know which one I'm going to ride in the Odyssey next year, but I'm leaning towards the 29er.
 

ETSX

Likes Dirt
I do like to train a bit on the hardtail, it can really get your skills up, but I race on a dually. My H/T is a $1500 so it is not the best but good for training. I do find that it depends on the tracks that your riding, eg Stromlo vs Sparrow there are obvious differences. But generally for me the bikes I have I always pick the 4inch dually for racing and riding with mates.

It is great to feel as though you can really nail it on the dually after riding the H/T.
 

ACNRS

Likes Dirt
yea i have ridden both and the both go pretty well. i think the hardtail wins for XC though cause they get you uo the hills quicker (from expierience) and maby not as fast on the down hill but it still (for me) will beat a dualy in most occasions.
 

...jim

skanky media ho
If you're 6 foot or taller, I'd strongly recommend you try a 29er hardtail.
Having done similar, I can't disagree. The only time I pull out my dually now is when I *know* I need the travel. I'm using it for the 24hr this weekend because of the fatigue factor and because it's more forgiving when I stuff up a line at night. I'd be quicker over a single lap on the 29er - but it's not a one-lap race. Ain't much wrong with the yeti, mind, but I will be sacrificing the beautiful traction from those big tubless bags.

Simply put, a dually is a more all-around bike, hence easily the best choice if you can only have one bike. A hardtail isn't quite as versatile - but if you don't want to ride for long periods or do rough-tough trails, the simplicity, both in terms of set-up and maintainance, of a HT is a very good thing!
 
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