Poll: Hardtail or Full Suspension

Lots of racers have two bikes

A lot of racers have both fs and ht bikes and the one they race will depend on the course. Since your looking to buy a bike I can tell you from what I see at races about 70% of the bikes are full suspension. But if your on a budget and most of the course you are planning on racing are fairly smooth then give the race grade hardtail a good look. A lot of expert and semi-pro riders ride Fuel 9.8/9.9 carbon fiber, Giant XTC carbon, and Salsa, Kona, and Bianchi scandium frames. The carbon and the more affordable scandium softens the ride quite a bit.

I agree with borregokid, the answer "it depends" is the way to go. I have a Cannondale Scalpel that I race for the most part here in TX. I bought a 29er hardtail to try out and will be getting rid of it for a 26" hardtail. I am looking at a 9.8 and a Cannondale F2000sl aluminum HT. I will keep the Scalpel for the longer races and those that have more rock gardens in them. Most everything here in TX can be ridden with a hardtail it's just a matter of how my back feels in relation to the effort required for the day.

two bikes , but about 90 % of the time I race my short travel (3") Orbea Oiz ever since I built this up and it peadls so well I have raced all my cross country on it and only have used my hardtail for short track. I'm in Colorado and most of the courses have some sort of rocky down hill that I usally put a one or two guys behind me on the downhills due to the FS ! And the final part to this story is I sold my hardtail !! Get your self a race FS ang go for it !I see tons of Yeti's ASR-SL, then the rest are on Titus Racer X, Specialized Epics, FSR stumpjumpers, a few Treks Fuels!