They say you should never forget your roots, and for many of us, hardtails are the gateway into mountain biking that got us hooked.
However, there are some riders who continue to push their rigid frames to the limit.
Enter Marcin Matuszny, who tried to qualify for this weekend’s World Cup Downhill season-opener in South Korea on a custom Dartmoor hardtail.
The Polish rider, who has picked up the simple nickname 'Hardtail Man', has been racing his Dartmoor Hornet Pro fitted with RockShox’s latest Boxxer fork for a short while now and has collected enough points to race the UCI-sanctioned event this weekend.
However, as you might imagine, he struggled with qualifying, crashing three times in Q1 and didn’t make it up the hill for Q2, meaning we won’t see him in the start hut for race day.
It was surely still a dream come true for Matuszny, who managed to win the hearts of hardtail lovers with his underdog aims, but it hasn’t been all cheers.
A clip from a spectator shows Asa Vermette having to squeeze past the Pole on a loose section of track in his qualification run, surely causing a hindrance to the American, who still managed to qualify first in Q1.
While Matuszny’s attempt was admirable, you have to question his hardtail’s suitability for World Cup Downhill, and the issues it caused for other riders.
Over the past few years, the UCI has been trying to make downhill racing more professional, with regulations coming into place last year changing how riders initially qualify for the event and for race day.
These new regulations were supposed to maintain a higher level of competition at World Series events, but there are still some countries where it's easier to collect points as domestic competition is lower.
That's not to say this is how Matuszny got his entry – scrolling through his Instagram feed reveals a hell-raising rider who has no problem ripping up even the biggest lines on his hardtail.
However, there was another incident in practice, when Wyn Masters was swiped out by a rider who’d opted for the B-line on a jump and then cut across the landing, leaving the Kiwi with a distal radius fracture and severe AC joint separation.
At this elite level of the sport, the benefits of a full-suspension bike aren’t measured only in seconds; they’re measured in minutes, with Matuszny 2 minutes and 21 seconds back on Vermette.
There was a backlash from some riders under the clip of Vermette passing Matuszny on Instagram, with Red Bull-sponsored rider Brook Macdonald saying, “And they say the sport is elite”.
Canadian rider Remi Gauvin added: “A few riders had to pass him in their Quali run including the fastest of the session. This guy riding a hardtail for the views is not it.
“I have no doubt he is a passionate and talented rider and the world is better for having him spread that passion. But this is the world cup.”
It’s easy to see where these riders are coming from. If Vermette had caught Matuszny at a narrower section, he could have ended up losing significant time, which could have potentially seen the American fail to qualify for race day.
While I admire Hardtail Man’s daredevil nature and fun-loving vibes, there really isn’t a place for hardtails at World Cup Downhill races.
That’s not to say there isn’t a place for downhill or enduro hardtail racing in general; if you aren’t fast enough to finish on the podium in the main category, you’ve got to find your niche.
And for beginner riders, they’re often a no-brainer.
But at the top end of the sport, this one can probably be filed into the amusing but inappropriate folder.
