Retro feel on a modern hard tail.

[Neil G]

Isn't this the sort of riding that most of us do? - just ragging a bike around some nice trails.
Who needs more than a nice, agile hardtail for that?

Exactly!!

Why people haul massive travel full sus bikes around is beyond me. Isnt "AM" just putting a granny ring on a DH bike? Looks that way to me.

On a recent ride I was one of only 3 riders on a hardtail in a group of 32. Most of the serious guys were on 130mm travel front and back pushing 30/32lb up the hills. All we were riding was forest singletrack with a few roots and the occasional little jump. Needles to say me on my 23lb hotrodded Lava Dome had no trouble hammering up the climbs and I was right on the back wheel of the 2 fastest riders during the downhills. I got me thinking how pointless these modern bikes are for the type of riding most of us do. I get the feeling people are just following the current fashion and paying tooo much attention to what the magazines tell you to ride.

In that video the guys on a circa 24/5lb steel hardtail with what looks like 100mm forks. Its an excellent example of why we dont need to push huge travel bikes around. Great vid too!!!

That's just mountainbiking for you, it seems to be full of people with lots of money (you can spot them in their crap X5s at races with about 5 bikes on the roof) and not much sense.

These folk do keep the industy going though to some extent, even now I bet they are getting worried at the thought of their forks being last years models!