What do a peace tank, freezer fire and trail hardtails have in common? They are all so-called oxymorons. Word creations from two contradictory, mutually exclusive terms. At least at first glance. After all, mountain bikers who want to cross the Alps, crank along narrow low mountain trails with their mates or seek an adrenaline rush on difficult descents reach for a fully. In times of increasingly cleverly designed rear suspension, easy-to-use lockouts and electronic suspension systems, bikes with a rigid rear end have a hard time. This is also shown by our large BIKE reader survey: just 38 per cent of BIKE readers still ride traditional bikes with an unsprung rear end.
Hardtails embody the tradition of the sport like no other mountain bike. They often pave the way as solid aluminium bikes, are the only real thing for tens of thousands of racers and serve as technology carriers in the Formula 1 of bike sport. But anyone who thinks that hardtails are only for beginners and racers is wrong. Because with longer suspension forks, geometries transferred from enduro bikes and dropper seat posts, the original mountain bikes are intended to compete with trail bikes and sporty all-mountain bikes. These trail hardtails have been appreciated and loved by the British for decades, whereas here in Germany, hardtails on steroids were only something exotic for a long time. However, you can now find such bikes in the model range of major manufacturers such as Ghost, Giant, Cube and Trek. And compared to our last Test in BIKE 7/17 the choice has become even greater. That's why we invited four of the latest trail hardtails to a test of strength.
The entire article with all the test results for these trail hardtails including points tables, technical data and grades is available as a PDF in the download area below:
- Orange Clockwork Evo S
- Radon Cragger 8.0
- Transalp Summitrider X12 AM Ltd.
- Whyte 905
You can find the complete comparison test including all data, points tables and the score overview in BIKE 10/2019. The comparison test costs € 1.99 as a PDF. Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in BIKE. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, hundreds of thousands of euros every year.
You can read the entire digital edition in the BIKE app (iTunes and Google Play) or the print edition in the DK shop reorder - while stocks last:
