Hi, Mel. I have a question for you. I have three Mountain bikes: one full suspension for training ( simple equipment, but good ), a very light Hard Tail ( 8.3 kg on a Large size ) and a very light full suspension ( 9.0 kg , large ).
Do I need both of them or should i keep only the full suspension ?
These 700 g lighter of my HT are significant ? Or should I ride 700 g more and have a rear suspension for the descents ?
Do you think there are courses that a HT is better, even with only 700 g lighter than my full suspension ?
I already have these bikes, the problem in keeping the Hard Tail is the upgrades. If I have two top bikes I'll have to up grade both of them on the next years... If I keep only the full suspension I'll save half the money on the next years.
Thanks, Luiz.

Hi Luiz,

Good question. I thought there would be no reason to have a HT if your FS was within a pound or two of it. However, here are my thoughts on bike choice for Tahoe. I am bringing BOTH in case I change my mind but in general, Tahoe is a ROAD. There is really no need for suspension anywhere. It is high up and dry. So weight is a factor because of altitude. So my decision to probably ride my hardtail is that is has a slightly better chain line in the big ring, which I would use quite a bit on that course, I can carry two bottles at the beginning of the race (two cages on the hardtail) and at the end of the day, it is about a pound lighter and I can't really utilize any suspension since it is so un technical. However, looking at the races over the course of this year, this would really be the only course where that would make sense. Most of the others would have enough technical aspects to justify a duallie. You could spend double the money to get an even lighter duallie and then you would never ride a hardtail again probably.

Hope that helps!