I had that 'new bike itch' again, but despite the advances in lighter materials and better suspension, I'm still a hardtail die hard at heart.

I went out on my first mountain bike ride in a few months this week. It was great fun, I'm hoping to get out a lot more often now that I have more time and family life has settled down again. Our youngest is finally sleeping a lot better thanks to his new inhalers, my freelance career is steady and my bike came out the shop with a few much needed upgrades a few months ago. My bike is an On-One Inbred steel hardtail with mid-travel suspenion at the front. Steel has been a favourite of mine since I got my first mountain bike as a kid, a Kona Fire Mountain. I love the feel you get on the trail as you're riding. I have tried a couple of aluminium frames in the past but you can feel the harshness of these frames as you're riding. Every bump on the trails is transferred through the frame to you. When it gets bumpy you can feel it.

I've also tried a couple of 'hardcore hardtails' for more aggressive riding in the last few years. These bikes are great for downhilling, jumps, and bigger drops than your typical mountain bike could handle. Those days are long past me though. Hefting such weight about on the trail can take it's toll. I'm reaching my late thirties now and I don't have the stamina I had when I was younger, so when I want to get out and ride, I just want to ride. Which is why I eventually settled on the bike I did, a plain hardtail trail bike.

After talking to a friend about his new full-suspension bike, I got that 'new bike itch' again. So last night at 2am while our youngest was demolishing a bottle of milk, I started browsing for full-suspension bikes on my iPhone.

Having never owned a full-suspension bike, I've nothing to compare a hardtail to in terms of riding, but for the purist like me I think that they're more suited to more extreme trails. They have their advantages when setup correctly, even with the extra weight they carry (which is becoming less and less of an issue), they allow for faster lines absorbing all those bumps and roots in the trails that other bikes may opt to avoid. I'm not going to get into a debate with the rest of the mountain biking community over hardtails versus full-suspension, for me I do prefer a well built hardtail.

After 30 minutes of browsing the many online bike stores, one thing was clear to me. Full-suspension bikes are more expensive than their hardtail counterparts, but even aiming at the £1000 point there are few full-suspension bikes that would win me over. I'll admit it would be hard to get a decent full-suspension bike at this price point, going higher would definitely open up more options, but I couldn't realistically pay anymore than £2000 for a mountain bike. If I had a budget of £1500 I would definitely buy a hardtail every time. The simplicity of the setup is what sells it for me. A bike that you can simply ride anywhere. Yes it might not handle the more extreme trails in the Alps, or even the black routes at the trails centres across Scotland, but it will handle the 90% of my riding needs. Also at this point you can push the boat out to getting yourself a better than average bike in terms of components.

The new bike itch is still there largely in part to the changing sizes in wheels that bikes are available in. I think the 650B size will eventually become the more popular wheel size in general with a minority number of bikes coming in the 29" size.

I'm not ready to buy anything just yet, but when the time comes, I will definitely be looking towards the hardtail market again for a new bike. It's a proven design that has lasted for decades and hopefully will last for many more to come.