This Guy Hates Hardtails, Can We Change His Mind?

welcome back You Beautiful People most of you might know that I'm a humongous fan of the trusty hardtail it's the perfect Foundation to learn all of those mountain biking skills so you can get out there on the trail [Music] by myself and my new proof Scout I've been through a hell of a lot we've been Downhill Racing Enduro racing done in ews been bike packing on it I've even done the famous Mega Avalanche which is a crazy race in itself and it comes with a humongous fan base the hardtail but it's not for everyone our Rider of the day is none other than legendary embn presenter Stephen Jones everyone he's been involved in mountain biking since the very Origins and actually started his riding back in the days of the fully rigid bikes however these days you'll find them exclusively on comfortable electric mountain bikes with large amounts of rear travel and even a motor to help him out today we'll take him back to basics and see if we can change his mind to come back to the side of the humble heart tail like I said it's not for everyone now I've got my work cut out for myself today because I'm going to try and convince some special human AKA Steve Jones from ESPN now the hardtail is a really good bike to ride don't you think Steve right occasions straight yeah right let's cut the crap okay okay this is totally Off Script three things all right I don't hate hard Tails okay second thing is you miss something that bike you forgot you went on your paper out into the shops on it okay and the third point is that all those things you did truly immense but I think that proves is your skill rather than the ability of the bike oh well I wasn't expecting that anyway she want to go for a ride no no why not actually yeah let's do that let's do that your bikes here Steve hardtail yes I know all in hand don't worry [Applause] come on Blake you gotta ride the bike Steve not use an e-bike to carry this is gonna be tough I got my work cut out today if I call it work yeah convince him oh my God I asked Dave [Music] the bike we'll be using today is one of my favorites ever this is the new proof Scout it is Bomb proof in every scenario it's capable it's simple and it it can pretty much do anything you can but let's take a look at Steve's Bike because it's pretty cool so this is the bike that Steve Jones will be riding today thanks to Dottie for Lending it to him for a couple of hours this is the new proof skull it's an extra large size frame looks rather big in front of me we've got a massive dropper and to keep it in you know in tow with what Steve is all about e-bikes this is the ergon saddle it's an emtb uh climbing saddle it's got a nice swish to it this is the SME Mountain 29 inch wheels and he's running a weird combination so he's running the Victoria Mazza Endura on the front and on the rears running the Victoria Mazda Trail carbon fiber FSA gradient Wheels Shimano Dior XT drivetrain 1x12 and on the front he's got a 160 mil of travel thanks to the rockshog lyric in a beautiful green I actually like the green on these it's got the nice green ergon ge1 grips to match the forks as well carbon bars from nuke proof nice Chrome stem there you go pretty neat piece of kit [Applause] climbing Steve do you know what I think uh you know I might just but I think it is good to get some torque for your legs if you're if you do ride an e-bike all the time so I think on like a smooth track like this it's just a diamond oh man it's efficiency it's great you get the power down that's what I've noticed riding e-bikes you lose your bottom end you do you do actually so it's really crucial to do that look at that we haven't done much but what is it like without a motor well look as I said to you I think it's good to to get out on a non-e-bike to get some of the leg power but I think quite one thing I'll Blake actually is that a hardtail mountain bike is quite a different tool to hardtail e-bike yeah that's for sure yeah really I don't want to talk about that in a minute when it comes to the tools for the job if you don't mind yeah well at the top yep kind of made it to the top not even Puffin uh Blake Hey listen um one thing I'm going to point out I wanted to say um hardtail emtbs are quite different to hardtail mountain bikes I agree and part of the reason for that is with hartel mtbs you've got cross-country bikes dirt jump bikes trials bikes Progressive hard Tails just like these two gravel bikes all you know you've got lots of different tools for the job right and I think I think if you want to learn to jump in our trials go and get one of those bikes because they're fantastic I mean you've spent lots of time on those bikes yeah oh yeah yeah I spent years just hopping around hopping around but that's a diff that's a very specific tool which you simply don't have an e-mounted bike in no no what they can do though is it E3 to go uphill that is very true that's why you said uh down there you needed a motor anyway enough of that let's get into some flow some rollers yeah some you know some agility agile stuff where these bikes come alive again agility Blake agility uh monster truck we'll come to that hold on black severe you'll be fine follow me follow you what the last thing I said yeah what do you think of that Steve thank you my breath back I think yeah I think one thing's for sure I think hard tails on a smooth track they do not breath they do teach you good pump technique don't they yeah you've got that good engagement with the with the downslope in the back side of it of a bang could you call those Banks Landings Landing so yeah I think in that respect timing timing skills yeah tick [Music] Blake I'm sweating and dizzy already dude are you yeah oh yeah good for you yeah do you know likes like the good old days you know the the fat belts or back in the 19th century you've got that spell that went around you and you stood there that's what these do that's pretty much it yeah lose a lot of weight running on that subject can we actually move on to some proper Trails oh yes please we've got to go after cool I tell you what they are good for hiker bike I bet you can't do that with a new bike well they are good biker bike this is where the hotel Comes Alive man this is where it comes alive through this behind us you come alive that's for sure look this this is my point right you say hardtails to teach you great bike skills I think they just teach you different skills but more than that they teach you how to go slower they teach you how to go slower and they teach you bad technique because the only way to learn to ride a full suspension bike down through here in the dry and in the wet guess what is on a full suspension bike you talk in air pressure front and back you're talking the balance point in the bike you can't learn that on a hardtail you just learn about hanging on for Grand death and maybe choosing the smooth line You'll choose a different line than a fuller suspension bike okay I got that it's a good point good point is it is it fair it's very fair yeah I agree with it but also I also disagree okay because if you were to ride a hardtail through here at this point of right in your riding career you're pretty handy because you need to you want to go fast through here so your skills are a little bit higher but when you write three on a hardtail and then you get yourself onto a full sus if you can afford one or if you have one you'd ride this I would say quicker than if you were to ride it straight up on a full sus okay I think there's another point there maybe you'd be a break in the in the edit I think you brought up a point there earlier about this section is about afford it I think hardtails are more about money than they are about experience you get a hardtail because you can't afford a full suspension bike or maybe you get a hard tail because you're loaded and you want a couple of bikes in the garage I think that's also very true crack you were a greener on quite a few things yeah so we say in the hardtails are not that bad after all is it see it never has been no it's true it never has been but I also say okay one last pointer EST as I'm sweating one last pointer if you're a kid obviously your parents can afford no no no no when you're a kid if you were a kid I'd love to be a kid oh no too much pressure you've got to go through all that life stuff again you I say if you're a kid and you got yourself a full size you built you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth that's why that's my point I I think there's a I think there's you can buy hardtails you can buy BMX bike 100 quid going at the skip 100 credit Hard Sell for 500 quid get out riding balance timing all those things we talked about like down the pump track you can just go out in a car park in the nighttime and go up and down curbs fantastic base skills great you can do it anywhere anytime exactly but not bloody here no but you learn then you come here talk about that we're not getting you're not going to talk yourself out of writing this this no I ain't going down you're coming down dude I am 57 I've been beaten to sh for 54 years on a bike I am not riding a hardtail down through there [Music] even if you're just roll in from there dude if you can go down through there on a hardtail bike Fair dudes that is like a very difficult track no it's not Josh it's not difficult track right this is not hard it is come on get on that I want to watch you good answer there just watch The Beatles watch my line Choice and then follow yeah I ain't doing it dude you used to race World Cups oh come on where's the hard times please I'm sweating all right I'll push your bike up here you can pick that the best thing about the hardtail riding right is is picking the smooth line so find a smooth line I'll bring yours as well you take that one I'll take this one you're not doing it oh come on Steve I'll take your bike up there I'm not I'm not riding down through there can I take your bike up there it's it's it's not meant for hardtails yeah it is it's not where was mountain biking born hardtail life wasn't it beach cruisers and that no it's actually rigid 26 years rigid oh so this is a breeze you got full suspension yeah well this is like a full suspension on that subject why has Doddy got carbon fiber Wheels on a hardtail that's to me that's like that's amazing keep it simple sorry Daddy we'll come to being simple simple in a minute I can't see look I'll be your Sherpa ah what was that [Music] in in your words Blake you said hardtails Teach You To Ride Slow Ride it slow then look at the state of it how can you do anything but not the right slow through that plow but look if you look at your like 90 kilos of South African Power House Zimbabwe sorry Zimbabwe Powerhouse you can get through here at least it's not wet because exactly exactly in the winter dirty shitty wet off comp camber rooty slop on a hard telling winter game over say just be careful why are you going fast you serious that's it that's it now that is totally it I'm not doing that again it's like hang on Steve I'm coming [Music] all that proves because you got better skills than me no yeah there's a little trade secret trade I like that I'm in the trade anyway it's been clipped in on the hotel you ride a lot smoother see that's a great point you ride a lot smoother lighter because you're not fighting to keep the body weight down on your pedals in the rough however I've tried riding clipped in for 26 years because you prefer Wellies I like Josh enjoying the sweat Fest I'm just gonna find it weirdly nice oh you should come around hotels with me a bit more watch that back is wet and you know what do you know what I don't miss is this pushing up pushing bikes are pedals you ride up the trail do you know what that but then again that's why Charlie Hatton is the current world down champion because when he was a kid he pushed his bike up and down here all day long nothing wrong with that so I take it back take it back [Music] [Music] all right so I think about all that is I think it says it all on this frame in our house we are all equal very true Steve that's the bottom line right it is the bottom line we're all out there riding a bike and having fun no matter if it's a full-size a rigid a hardtail oh I'm crikey and pushing your limits as well yeah Blake is all about timing it is as ably demonstrated by our friend in the background anyway hope you lived he's fine he's all good thank you very much for watching and if you write a hotel give us a thumbs up like let us know the comments down below and we see you next time see ya cup of tea definitely nice Steve convinced you I've always been convinced oh I've always been convinced there's a time in a place I get listen I just get I just get rattled these days I get rattled Trails like this dreamy yeah yeah dreamy can you get that corner of it better watch this foreign [Music]

Channel: Global Mountain Bike Network

Views: 240,830

Keywords: hardtail mtb, what are hardtail mtbs good for, how hard can you ride a hardtail, are hardtail mountain bikes good, what can you do on a hardtail, hardtail skills, GMBN, Global Mountain Bike Network, mountain biking, mountain bike, Bicycle (Product Category), MTB, Bicycle, Downhill, XC, Cross Country, Enduro, MTB skills, bike skills, mountain bike skills, bike, bike riding, cycling, gmvn, blake samson, steve jones, sec-feature, 5170, ᐶ, ߚ‎, 1k, 1o, 1a, ᢜ, ኽ, Ꮖ, ꔇ, ፕ15, パ, 𑣞‎, ꕉ, ꚱ, ή, β, ε, η, ι, μ, ς, ፎ, ዏ

Id: thl02SS5olQ

Length: 15min 55sec (955 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2023