- You might remember that a few weeks ago
I went out and rode a cross country bike,
a hardtail and a full suspension bike
to try to work out which one was the fastest
and which one was the most efficient,
but the results weren't very good.
So, this test is completely ruined.
I apologize for that.
I'm gonna have to hold my hands up and say
I need to redo the test.
I need to redo the test,
redo the test.
So, I promised ya that I'd come out and try it again.
So, today I'm gonna do that.
I've got both the same bikes again,
hardtail and full suspension bike,
but this time I've got a heart rate monitor,
and I've got a power meter on each bike
so I'll be able to work out which is fastest
but also take a look at the data
to see how hard I had to work on both bikes.
We also spoke to Nino Schurter
about he chooses which bike he rides.
- Hello, everybody.
I choose my bike
due to the track.
So, depends if it's a technical track, or fast track.
If it's a lot of uphill.
The track's getting more and more technical and rougher,
so I'm riding mostly now full suspension,
and, just for a few races, a hardtail.
We also did some science tests,
exactly measured with which bike I'm faster.
But, in general, I'm riding the most time
on full suspension bikes.
- So, the power meter on this bike is on the crank,
and I'm gonna swap that between both bikes
to keep it exactly the same.
Also, using the same heart rate monitor.
So, today's course is pretty punchy.
I'm just gonna go as hard as I can on both bikes.
I'm not gonna try and ride to a heart rate
or a power or anything like that.
It's short enough that I can get
two fast laps on both bikes,
measure how fast I am, but also, again,
look at that data and try to work out how I efficient I am.
Course today is quite undulating.
It's quite muddy today as well,
although it is nice and sunny.
Some short punchy climbs,
has some technical segments,
so I think that actually,
it's gonna be quite interesting to see
which bike is fastest.
So, in the last video I talked about the feel of the bike,
so how a hardtail compares to a full suspension bike.
We've done that quite a lot in the past actually.
Of course, the full suspension bike
is more comfortable to ride.
It's got more compliance.
You've got slightly more grip on the ground.
It's gonna be more confidence inspiring
to ride downhill, and probably easier as well.
But today it's not really about feel.
I know how both bikes feel.
Today it's about data,
and hopefully coming to a conclusion
about which bike is faster,
but also which bike was easier on the body,
so I have to put less power through the pedals
to actually go fast on.
So, test number one is on the hardtail.
I'm gonna go as fast as I can.
(energetic music)
Right, so time to repeat the test
now on my full suspension bike.
I've moved the cranks over to measure the power.
The bikes are really similar builds.
Both are fixed seat posts,
both have the same tires,
so there isn't too much gonna effect this test
other than the suspension.
So, just have to get out there
and get around these laps as fast as I can
on this full suspension bike.
(dramatic music)
I'm back in the shed.
Do I look tired? 'Cause I feel tired.
Did the tests yesterday
and the results are here.
First, talk about the course.
It was 4.31 kilometers long and 123 meters gained.
If you compare that to a Cross Country World Cup,
to the XCO, courses are four kilometers as well.
But they will climb a bit more,
so 180 to about 300 meters climbed in a lap.
This test was fairly similar to an XCO World Cup.
I think, actually, it was quite technical
the track I rode,
but a lot of the World Cups are technical.
So, to the results.
The hardtail, my Canyon Exceed,
which weighs in at 21 pounds, super-light bike,
I did the loop in 18 minutes and 39 seconds,
with an average power of 216 watts.
Then did it on my Lux,
which is 23 pounds, so still a very light bike,
only two pounds heavier.
And the results,
I was eight seconds slower,
so actually, it's incredibly close,
but I actually used more power,
so 221 watts average power.
So, I worked harder and went slower
on the full suspension bike,
which, I guess we kind of know that.
On some courses it's gonna be faster and easier
on a lightweight bike, the hardtail,
but I did feel that this course was muddy.
It was boggy.
There were some rough parts.
I actually felt I'm quite a lot faster
on the full suspension bike,
especially on the downhills.
So, it did surprise me that actually the results
telling me I was faster on the hardtail.
Let's take a look at some more of the stats.
My max power on the hardtail was 677 watts,
but on the full suspension bike it was only 621,
which I think means I was more consistent
on the full suspension bike.
On the hardtail it felt like I really had to
put really spikey power in to keep that bike moving.
Also, it was rough.
I felt like I was getting bounced out the saddle
quite a lot on the hardtail.
But, I felt like I could be more consistent
on the full suspension bike.
But also, if you look at the heart rate.
My heart rate average was slightly lower
on the full suspension bike,
so 167 compared to 170,
which I think means I could probably recover
that little bit better on the full suspension bike.
It did feel like that to me.
Some of the downhills I could just get behind the bike
and really try to get my heart rate back down.
When I was on the hardtail,
I was working hard.
It was pretty sketchy.
I was having to bunny hop over roots and things.
Definitely feels like, on that,
my heart rate's just gonna stay that bit higher.
Looking at the actual work I did,
I burnt 242 calories on the hardtail,
250 on the full suspension bike.
Yeah, again, I worked a bit harder.
Cadence was about the same,
so really consistent 78 RPM between both bikes.
That's just my normal I think.
So at the start of the video
I said I wasn't going to talk about feel,
but actually when I did the test,
it did come down to a lot of feel for me.
So, I love the idea of a cross country hardtail.
I think it's the coolest, pure cross country race machine,
and I do like full suspension bikes,
but it's only when I test them back to back.
Actually, I jump on the full suspension bike
and it just feels amazing.
It just feels so compliant,
so easy to ride fast downhill
even with your saddle up.
Did feel like I was recovering,
but also it felt so much faster.
On the hardtail, I actually rimmed out the rear tire
about 3/4 of the way into the test,
and I thought I was gonna puncture
and have to redo the test, but fortunately I didn't.
But, on the full suspension bike
just felt like I could go fast
and not worry about that at all.
What would I chose?
Well, I guess, if I was racing XCO,
you'd have to pick the fastest one.
On this course, on this day, it was the hardtail,
but personally I like riding these type of bikes
for sort of two or three hours, go for epic rides.
And, actually, I'd pick the full suspension bike.
I've got to say as well,
I didn't use the lock out at all
on my full suspension bike on that course
'cause it was so up and down.
If I was going for bigger days out,
bigger climbs, I could use that lock out,
and, again, that that makes my full suspension bike
that little bit more efficient.
I also find it faster, and easier to go faster,
on a full suspension bike.
Maybe that's me.
I've grown up riding full suspension bikes
for years and years.
So, how do the pros pick their full suspension
or cross country bikes?
Well, if you look at Stellenbosch,
the first round of the XCO this year,
there's only one man in the top ten who is on a hardtail,
and that was Anton Cooper on his Trek.
So, I guess it comes down to
the type of courses we're getting nowadays.
They're super technical
and I think even in my test,
it was so close that I would still pick
the full suspension bike just 'cause it feels like
I could go fast, I have less mechanicals,
and really not suffer enough with the weight
and the inefficiency of that full suspension bike.
For some more cross country videos,
click up there for the first part of this video.
This one's gonna make a lot more sense
if you watch that one.
And click down there for some
XC tech from Doddy at Stellenbosch,
talking about drop posts, full suspension hardtails,
tires, all the things they're riding.
Give us a thumbs up if you like these type of videos,
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