MAKING THE SWITCH
Changing From Full Suspension to Hardtail
It all started in the winter of 2000. I started to get more serious about mountain biking and was hitting trails, like Kelso, on my Canadian Tire bike. Wanting to step things up and avoid breaking every component on my less than adequate bike, I decided I needed a new one. After test riding a Cannondale Raven FS, I was hooked. I went out and bought a Cannondale Super V 700. I thought it was fantastic. I had it set up for XC riding. At some point I figured that XC riding became boring to me and I began to lose the excitement of just riding trails. It was a culmination of riding with people that were urban riding and a little brotherly competition that inspired me to begin learning skills associated with freeriding and trials. My Cannondale began to transform into a moderate travel, urban bashing, dirt jumping, hucking machine. Although the bike metamorphosis helped me to get started in my new riding style, I soon found that it was holding me back from skills that I could possibly attain. While improper drops were helped by the rear suspension, catwalking was made difficult and trials techniques like: hopping in place, trackstanding, and ride-ups were strenuous, tiring and energy wasting. Every move had to be exaggerated to get the bike to move the way I wanted it to. It was soon after this epiphany that I realized a good hardtail with the right geometry would be beneficial to my riding enjoyment.
After a few months of drooling over every “cool” hardtail that came along in bike mags or bike shops that I would frequent, I started to do some serious research. I was looking for frames that would be light, strong, short for trials and dirt jumping but long to suit my body size and most importantly, compatible with the components that I would be transferring from the Cannondale. I was thinking about a Norco Rampage, Kona Stuff or a Brodie. They all had good features about them but as a whole, none of those bikes suited my needs. I heard about Planet-X bikes through one of my urban riding buddies and started to explore the website. Everything about the “New Jack Flash” seemed to conform to my required specifications. It has a 4.75” head tube, (great for my already cut fork), 12.5” seat tube, 22.5” top tube, 16” chain stays, clearance for a 3” tire, mega-gussets, a frame mounted bash plate and a killer paint schemes.
I found myself browsing around in a Mississauga bike shop while on a Port Credit urban ride. To my excitement, there was that very same frame hanging on a rack. I was so impressed with it in person that I almost bought it right then and there. What held me back was that it wasn’t the paint job I wanted and I couldn’t justify the expense of $750 plus tax at that time in my life. It was a few months later and my every other thought was about the Jack Flash frame. I finally found myself with a good opportunity to buy the frame I wanted at a “fairly” reasonable price. I will admit that just building the bike up was half the fun. I ended up getting rid of the front derailleur and replacing it with a Truvativ chain guide. I didn’t think I was quite ready for a single speed so I kept the rear cassette. I like my Manitou X-Vert dual crown fork so I kept it. It’s good for dirt jumping and urban riding. Top it all off with a Thompson Elite seat post, Funn Full Throttle seat and ODI Lock-On grips and the package is complete. Getting used to the feeling of a hardtail was not as hard as I thought. It took less time for me to get oriented on the Planet-X than it did for the Cannondale FS. It’s my theory that this phenomenon is caused by the feel you have between you, your bike and the road. It’s easier to adjust balance and make quick movement decisions while in a possibly precarious position if you can “sense” the contact with mother earth, (or any obstacle for that matter).
The Jack Flash is more nimble, has better balance, is lighter and is much more rigid than any full suspension bike. It feels so good riding it and the lack of suspension in the rear doesn’t bother me in the least. It’s quite a unique frame with a teardrop downtube that meets the top tube before the head tube making a big mass of metal where it’s needed. The head tube itself has oversized cups and is machined on the outside. It has discreet but strong gussets on every main tube and the chain stays and seat stays are about 5/8” square each. The 3” tire clearance while maintaining 16” chain stays is accomplished with a CNC’d arch. It has very beefy standard dropouts with both disc and V-brake mounts. It’s the ultimate versatility bike.
I feel that only four types of people should be riding full suspension, 1) Downhillers, 2) Insane freeriders who respect their bodies less than their bikes, 3) XC racers who don’t want to worry about picking the cleanest lines, and 4) People with back problems, but that’s just my opinion. After a short time riding the hardtail, I have become a much smoother rider than I was and I have a new respect for my bike, not to mention it looks pretty frikkin’ cool.
